Procter & Gamble Beats

Procter & Gamble's(PG) second-quarter earnings jumped 12% from a year ago, as balanced unit growth over all the company's product categories and regions offset rising raw material costs.

P&G earned $2.94 billion, or 74 cents, in the quarter ended December, compared with earnings of $1.81 billion, or 65 cents a share, last year. Revenue was $14.45 billion in the period, up 9% from $13.22 billion a year ago.

Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 72 cents a share in the quarter on sales of $14.45 billion.

P&G said unit volume rose 7% in the most recent quarter from a year earlier, while organic volume, which excludes acquisitions and divestiture, rose 8%. The company wrung volume growth in the mid-single digits or higher out of each of its geographic regions and all of its business units.

"We continue to see strong top line growth across all of our businesses behind consumer meaningful innovations and the strength of our brand and geographic portfolio," P&G said.

For the current quarter, P&G expects to earn 60 cents to 62 cents a share, with net sales growth in the high-single digits. Analysts had been looking for earnings of 61 cents a share in the period.

For all of fiscal 2005, the company expects to earn $2.61 to $2.64 a share on a similar rise in sales. Analysts were predicting $2.60 a share.

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