P&G's profit beats Wall Street on higher sales of beauty, home care

[October 20, 2017]  (Reuters) - Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co <PG.N>, which recently declared victory in an historic proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday but sales slightly missed Wall Street estimates.

The company, which houses more than 60 brands, saw higher sales of beauty products, fabric softeners and laundry detergents. The beauty business, which has the Olay brand, rose 5 percent helped by the rising popularity of its ultra-premium SK-II skincare products in Asia.

Strong demand for Tide detergents and Febreze fragrances boosted sales at its Fabric and Home Care business by two percent. The unit is the largest contributor to sales.

The company said it was maintaining its full-year organic sales and adjusted profit forecast, despite taking a $100 million hit from hurricanes that battered the southern United States.

P&G expects organic sales to rise two to three percent for its fiscal year ending June 30, while it estimates core earnings per share growth of five to seven percent.

Net income attributable to the company rose to $2.85 billion or $1.06 per share in the first quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $2.71 billion, or 96 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.09 per share, beating analysts' average estimates by 1 cent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net sales rose to $16.65 billion from $16.52 billion a year earlier, but were marginally below analysts' expectations of $16.69 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Gillette razor maker's shares were down about 0.8 percent in premarket trading on Friday, after rising nearly 9 percent this year.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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