Procter&Gamble Co.’s share price down, posts a 1.7% increase in its third-quarter profit due to cost cuts

Procter&Gamble Co. made a statement, revealing that its profit generated over the third quarter increased by 1.7% from 2.57 billion dollars a year earlier and reached 2.61 billion dollars due to decreasing costs. The company shared that its sales slightly decreased, while core earnings beat analysts forecasts.

As reported by the Financial Times, the companys Chief executive Officer Mr. Lafley said in a statement: “P&G’s [quarterly] results came in as we had expected. This leaves us on track to deliver our top- and bottom-line growth objectives for the fiscal year.”

According to the companys statement, in the quarter ended March 31st, the net sales of Procter&Gamble Co.s healthcare, baby care, grooming and beauty divisions were lower. Only the companys fabric care unit posted increasing net sales, while the companys overall sales amounted to 20.6 billion dollars.

The Chief Executive Officer Lafley has been reported to be successfully reducing costs. Last year he returned to Procter&Gamble Co. and rushed for boosting the companys productivity by cutting its costs. The CEO also bets on manufacturing new products that are supposed to increase the market share and the revenue of the company.

He said in the companys statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: “We’re operating in a slow-growth, highly competitive environment, which places even greater importance on strong innovation and productivity improvement.”

As a part of the new products strategy, P&G plans to release the so-called ProGlide FlexBall, which is a new Gillette razor. The company also announced earlier in April that it had reached an agreement with Mars Inc. over the acquisition of a large part of its pet foods unit in a deal estimated to 2.9 billion dollars. The contract is expected to be sealed in the second half of 2014.

Procter&Gamble Co. was 0.38% down to close at 80.61 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of -2.34%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 19 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Procter & Gamble Co. have a median target of 89.00, with a high estimate of 97.00 and a low estimate of 76.00. The median estimate represents a +10.41% increase from the last price of 80.61.