Procter & Gamble Q2 profit falls

Procter & Gamble Co, the world's largest household products maker, reported lower quarterly profit on Friday, hurt by unfavourable currency movements and lower gross profit margin.

The maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent left its 2014 sales growth forecast unchanged. It still expects organic sales, which strip out the impact of currency changes as well as acquisitions and divestitures, to rise 3 per cent to 4 per cent, and core earnings to rise 5 per cent to 7 per cent.

The company earned $3.43 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended December 31, down from $4.06 billion, or $1.39 per share, a year earlier. Core earnings per share, excluding restructuring charges, fell 1 per cent to $1.21. Analysts expected $1.20 a share. Sales rose 0.5 per cent to $22.28 billion, in line with the average Wall Street estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Organic sales rose 3 per cent.

The firm's beauty division continued to struggle, with organic sales unchanged as skin care results slipped. P&G's health care segment reported the fastest growth, rising 5 per cent. P&G's gross profit margin slipped 0.9 percentage points, despite lower manufacturing costs. Rival consumer goods company Kimberley Clark Corp reported that organic sales rose 5 per cent, and forecast they would rise 3 per cent to 5 per cent in 2014.