P&G raises full-year profit, sales forecast due to sales surge amid Covid

(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co raised its full-year sales forecast on Tuesday as the consumer products giant benefited from a surge in demand for Bounty paper towels, Tide detergent and other cleaning supplies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

P&G said it expects full-year sales to rise 3% to 4%, compared with a prior forecast of a 1% to 3% increase.

The company also raised and narrowed its fiscal 2021 core earnings per share forecast and expects it to be up 5% to 8%, compared with a prior forecast of a 3% to 7% increase. Organic sales growth outlook was also increased to 4% to 5% from an earlier range of 2% to 4%.

The maker of Gillette products said net sales rose to $19.32 billion from $17.80 billion in the three months to Sept. 30, beating analysts' average estimate of $18.38 billion, according to IBES data from Refintiv.

The company's shares rose almost 2% in early deals.

 

(Reporting by Uday Sampath and Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)