(Reuters) – Procter & Gamble Co raised its full-year sales forecast on Wednesday as consumer demand for cleaning and personal healthcare products remains resilient despite rising prices, sending its shares up almost 2% in premarket trading.
Sales in its fabric and home care unit, the company’s biggest segment, rose 7%, as consumers stocked up its detergents and surface cleaning products such as Tide and Mr. Clean during the Omicron wave early in the year.
Sales at P&G’s health care business, which includes brands like Oral-B and Pepto-Bismol rose 13% in the third quarter.
The consumer goods giant, however, warned that higher costs could dent its annual core earnings per share, which it now expects at the low-end of 3% to 6% growth that was predicted in January.
Soaring commodity and freight costs, as well as a stronger dollar are expected to dent full-year profit by $3.2 billion, compared to a prior forecast of $2.8 billion.
The Tide detergent maker said net sales rose 7% to $19.38 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Analysts had estimated sales of $18.73 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Total sales volumes rose 3% despite price increase across most of P&G’s product range.
The company expects fiscal 2022 sales to rise 4% to 5%, compared with its prior forecast of a 3% to 4% increase.
P&G earned $1.33 per share, beating quarterly expectation of $1.29 per share.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
