Procter & Gamble is not hurt by the corona crisis. The FMCG giant saw a sharp increase in sales and profits in the past quarter, fuelled by increasing demand for laundry and cleaning products during the pandemic.
Growth in all divisions
Turnover increased by 9% in the first quarter of the broken financial year to 19.3 billion dollar (16.3 billion euros). Profits were also sharply higher at 4.3 billion dollar (3.6 billion euros). P&G is performing well above expectations: according to CNBC, analysts counted on a turnover of 15.5 billion euros and a profit of around 3.1 billion euros.
All five business segments of P&G reported organic revenue growth. The greatest progress, however, was in the laundry and cleaning products division, which recorded growth of 14%. Turnover of cleaning products (cleaning and maintenance products, but also, for example, dishwasher tablets) even increased by more than 30%, driven by a strong increase in demand for such products as a result of the corona pandemic. People not only stay at home more often, but in the current circumstances they also attach significantly more importance to good (home) hygiene.
Continuing to invest in marketing
Fortune also points out that during the crisis P&G cut operational costs, but not marketing expenditure. Often, companies cut marketing costs first in times of crisis. But P&G did just the opposite, highlighting its strong, well-known brands. With success, as it turns out. Or as CFO Jon Moeller himself put it: “This is not the time to hold back.”
