“We delivered another quarter of steady progress,” said Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Bob McDonald. “Top-line growth was in line with our expectations. Market shares improved broadly. Strong cost savings enabled us to exceed our outlook on the bottom line. [...] We expect further top-line improvement in the fourth quarter, driven by innovation and portfolio expansion, enabled by continued productivity improvement.”
P&G is maintaining its organic sales growth guidance of three percent to four percent for the fiscal year, the company reported.
Beauty Segment
Net sales decreased in Hair Care and Skin Care in a period of heavy competitive product and promotional activity, the company stated. Organic sales increased in Salon Professional driven by strong innovation performance, partially offset by market contraction. Beauty segment net earnings growth was driven by higher pricing, manufacturing savings and a lower effective tax rate.
Grooming Segment
Blades and razors net sales increased versus the prior year driven primarily by innovation in the U.S. and pricing and product mix improvement in developing regions, the company pointed out. Net sales in Appliances decreased due to market contraction, competitive activity and customer inventory adjustments. All-in sales for the segment decreased due to the divestiture of the household appliances business and negative foreign exchange. Grooming segment net earnings increased due to higher pricing and overhead productivity savings, partially offset by an increase in marketing spending.
Health Care Segment
According to the company, Oral Care net sales grew in developed and developing markets due to innovation and portfolio expansion. Feminine Care net sales growth was driven by market growth and innovation in developing regions, partially offset by market softness and competitive activity in North America and Western Europe. Personal Health Care delivered strong sales growth driven by new innovation, market expansion and underlying market growth due to a stronger cold and flu season versus the prior year. The significant increase in segment net earnings was driven by strong sales growth and overhead productivity savings, partially offset by higher marketing spending.