The US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) has been able to push through further price increases and thus increase sales and profits above market expectations.

The company intends to continue to grow in the future and has announced organic sales growth of between four and five percent for its new financial year, which has just begun - more than its much smaller competitor Henkel, for example, has forecast for 2023. The latter expects organic sales growth of between one and three percent.

P&G, known for brands such as Ariel, Gilette, Pampers and Head & Shoulders, increased its turnover by five percent to 20.55 billion dollars in the last quarter; analysts had expected 19.98 billion dollars. Earnings per share also increased. Business was particularly good in the US home market, said CFO Andre Schulten. In China, the Group's second-largest market after the USA, however, demand remained rather weak.

Experts warned that consumer goods companies could not continue to tighten the price screw. Sales are increasing due to higher prices, but this is happening at the expense of the units sold, warned Michael Ashley Schulman from Running Point Capital Advisors. This means that customers are being lost. In times of high inflation in Germany, supermarket chains are trying to score points with consumers by selling their own brands at low prices.

(Report by Ananya Mariam Rajesh and Kailyn Rhone, edited by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).