How we're fighting strong dollar impact: P&G CFO
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) on Thursday delivered quarterly earnings that were in line with expectations, but revenues were slightly below estimates.
P&G shares fell in premarket trading following the report. (Get the latest quote here.) (NYSE: PG)
It was the fifth straight quarter of sales declines, hurt by a stronger dollar and lower demand for its beauty, hair and personal care products.
Procter & Gamble CFO Jon Moeller said moments after the earnings announcement that hedging is not the answer for making up shortfalls because of currency fluctuations.
"You need to solve it operationally," he added, citing attention to "pricing in developing markets" and "localization of sourcing."
"It's [also] just straightforward productivity savings. We had 410 basis points of productivity savings in the quarter. And you need them at a time like this," Moeller said on CNBC's " Squawk Box ."
The consumer products giant posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of 92 cents per share-also hit by the strong dollar. Revenue fell to $18.14 billion from $19.64 billion.
Wall Street had expected the company to deliver quarterly adjusted earnings per share of 92 cents on $18.49 billion in revenue, according to consensus estimates by Thomson Reuters.
Net income attributable to P&G fell to $2.15 billion, or 75 cents per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from $2.61 billion, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier.
Roughly two-thirds of the company's sales in fiscal 2014 was from outside North America.
Moeller said P&G's two biggest markets-the United States and China-showed promise.
"We're seeing sequential strengthening on the margin in the U.S. That's our largest and most profitable market," he continued. "China seems to have stabilized from a market growth standpoint."
In the earnings press release, P&G said it now expects organic sales growth of low single digits for the fiscal year. Net sales growth is expected to be down 5 percent to 6 percent versus the prior fiscal year, including a negative 6 percent to 7 percent headwind from foreign exchange and 1 percent impact from minor brand divestitures. P&G maintained its outlook for currency-neutral core earnings per share growth in the double-digits.
The company announced this month a 3 percent dividend increase. P&G said it plans to pay about $7.4 billion in dividends to shareholders in fiscal year 2015.
Earlier this month, Procter & Gamble also signaled CEO A.G. Lafley may be looking to end his second run at the helm and depart as soon as this summer. The Wall Street Journal also reported at the time that Lafley would likely remain chairman for a year or two to smooth the transition to his expected successor, company executive David Taylor.
P&G stock was off nearly 9 percent for the year as of Wednesday's close.
-CNBC's Terri Cullen and Reuters contributed to this report.
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