Dear External Business Partners:
P&G released its second quarter earnings on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. During the October through December quarter, P&G reported net sales of $21.9 billion, an increase of two percent versus the prior year. Organic sales, which excludes the impacts of foreign exchange and acquisitions and divestitures, increased three percent. Diluted net earnings per share were $1.88, a decrease of 34% versus the prior year. Core net earnings per share were $1.88, an increase of two percent versus prior year. Operating cash flow was $4.8 billion, and net earnings were $4.7 billion for the quarter. More details are provided in the chart below and in the press release here.
In summary, a solid first-half of the year — a good performance in what continues to be a challenging and volatile economic and geopolitical environment. As a Company, we know that we will need to deliver a very strong next two quarters to deliver on our commitment for the year. The key to all of this continues to be the excellent execution of our strategy over the past six-plus years — pre-COVID, during COVID, through a historic inflationary and pricing cycle, and through geopolitical tensions. So, it should be no surprise, that we remain committed to our integrated growth strategy as this the foundation for balanced growth and value creation that has enabled our consistent results.
We are doubling-down on superiority across all five vectors — product, package, brand communication, retail execution and value. No single vector of superiority can carry the day by itself. It is all five together. We are improving productivity in all areas of our operations to fuel investments in superiority, mitigate cost all around. We are driving constructive disruption of ourselves and our industry – an invitation to change, adapt and create new capabilities that will shape the future of our industry and extend our competitive advantage.
We call this an integrated growth strategy for a reason. Each part of the strategy needs to be delivered – together with all of you. Each element is incredibly important. The real advantage comes from being able to do all these things at the same time, which requires the incredible partnerships of those external business partners within our supply chain to help us adapt faster to the changing needs of consumers, customers and society.
The volatile consumer and macro dynamics we are experiencing will continue so I am counting on all of you, our External Business Partners, to continue to partner with us to adapt and co-create new trends and technologies that will further shape the future of our industries. While on the subject of new trends, we have also updated our expectations for external business partners who use AI in their work for P&G, which you can find here.
Additionally, we believe that fostering real-time connectivity in our ecosystems with external business partners can enhance productivity, streamline collaboration, and effectively address emerging needs, such as regulatory compliance and ESG data communications. This connectivity, enabling smart data signals like digitized demand schedules, Advanced Shipping Notices, order and specification collaboration, and carbon footprint data exchange, will make sourcing events, decision making processes and supply chain execution more effective and efficient, reducing losses for all.
I invite you to actively engage with us, through your regular relationship owners in Purchasing, in our journey to digitize the interface between P&G and our external business partners. Together, we can create a more agile, transparent, and innovative supply chain that maximizes value for all. Thank you for your partnership and commitment to this vital endeavor.
We know that we are not able to achieve many of the breakthrough transformations that we need alone, which is why all of you remain in integral part in building superiority, reducing cost to enable investment and value creation, and to further strengthening our results. To close, I thank you for everything you’ve done to enable P&G delivering another strong quarter. We could not have done it without your commitment and partnership.
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.