Dear External Business Partners:
P&G released its first quarter earnings on Friday, October 18, 2024. During the July through September quarter, P&G reported that organic sales grew 2%. This is against a comparison of 7% growth in the same quarter last fiscal year. On a two-year stack basis, sales grew 9%. Eight of 10 product categories grew or held organic sales for the quarter. Focus markets grew 2%, with North America up 4% (on volume growth of 4%) and Europe Focus markets up 3% (with volume up 4 points). Enterprise markets were up 1%. Core earnings per share were up 5% versus the prior year. This is against a comparison of 17% growth in the same quarter last fiscal year. On a two-year stack basis, core earnings per share grew 22%. Adjusted free cash flow productivity was 82%. More details are provided in the chart below and in the press release here.
You may notice in this quarter’s infographic that we have purposely called out the five vectors of superiority. Why? Because we know that our integrated strategy has enabled the strong results that the Company has produced over the past six years. We also know that our strategy only works when we raise the bar on irresistible superiority across ALL FIVE vectors. Not three or four, but all five. We continue to strengthen this strategy through four focus areas – supply, environmental sustainability, digital acumen, and a superior employee value equation – necessary elements in continuing to build superiority, reduce cost to enable investment and value creation, and to further strengthen our organization. And this is where you, our external business partners, are critical to our continued success. We must constructively disrupt ourselves and our collective industries by being willing to change, adapt and create new trends, technologies and capabilities that will shape the future and extend our competitive advantage together. And we must accomplish this with a strong focus on maximizing productivity, end to end. We still have work ahead on our ambitious journey, and I thank you and count on your partnership to embrace these challenges as an opportunity to win together.
Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention that October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and to emphasize the importance of collectively powering up our joint cyber defenses. Cybercrime is a massive and very active industry that keeps growing and becoming more sophisticated, and I know many of you are being impacted. This leads to significant losses and business disruptions that we cannot afford. I cannot urge you enough to continue building your cyber resilience to protect our common businesses and our consumers. Phishing and impersonation attacks are on the rise: if you are in doubt, reach out to your P&G contacts through established and trusted channels such as a verified phone or email address to ensure our collective security. Thank you in advance for all that you do to stay vigilant on this important topic to defend and protect our businesses together.
Chief Purchasing Officer
*See P&G’s investor website (www.pginvestor.com) for P&G's full Q1 earnings release issued October 18, 2024, the associated webcast presentation, definitions of non-GAAP measures and reconciliation to the most closely related GAAP measure, as well as cautionary information on forward-looking statements, which are based on current assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially.