P&G CEO Takes Blame for Company's Performance
October 13 2015 - 3:10PM
Dow Jones News
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive A.G. Lafley
acknowledged responsibility for the consumer-products company's
weak performance and promised better results in the coming years
under the leadership of his successor.
"We are accountable and the buck stops with me," Mr. Lafley said
Tuesday morning at P&G's annual shareholders' meeting at the
company's headquarters in Cincinnati. He was responding to a
shareholder who had criticized P&G's management for
flip-flopping on its strategy over the years and for its recent
stock-price underperformance relative to its peers. So far this
year, P&G shares are down 19%.
Mr. Lafley will hand over the CEO responsibilities to David
Taylor on Nov. 1, while staying on as executive chairman to help
pull the world's largest consumer products company out of a deep
slump.
P&G has struggled to accelerate sales growth in an era of
more frugal consumers since the 2008-2009 recession, and in its
financial year that ended in June, the company's performance was
particularly weak. Sales barely grew excluding the impact of
foreign-currency swings relative to the U.S. dollar, though P&G
noted that the 65 brands it is intending to keep did better than
those it is in the process of shedding. For the year, P&G
reported net income of $7 billion, down 40% from a year earlier,
and sales of $76.3 billion for the fiscal year.
When Mr. Lafley previously ran P&G from 2000 to 2009, the
company more than doubled in size and market value by acquiring
brands including Gillette razors, Wella shampoos and Duracell
batteries. Over the past year and a half, P&G has put in place
plans to shed around 100 of its 165 brands, including Wella and
Duracell, to focus its resources on growing core brands such as
Pantene shampoo, Pampers diapers and Tide detergent. The company is
also several years into a deep cost-cutting and restructuring
plan.
Currency weakness, meanwhile, reduced P&G's profit by $1.5
billion in the year ended June. The company doesn't use financial
contracts to hedge its foreign-currency exposure and instead tries
to mitigate the impact by sourcing materials and manufacturing
locally in the markets where it sells products, Chief Financial
Officer Jon Moeller said Tuesday.
The company reports results for the recent quarter next week.
Analysts are expecting P&G to post an 11% drop in earnings,
according to Thomson Reuters.
Mr. Taylor was present at Tuesday's meeting but didn't take the
stage. Mr. Lafley said his successor played "a central role" in
developing P&G's strategy over the past few months and Mr.
Taylor's track record shows he delivers results.
"We are in the middle of a big transformation, and we think we
are halfway through it," Mr. Lafley said at the meeting.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 13, 2015 14:55 ET (18:55 GMT)
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