Procter & Gamble has appointed Jon Moeller, its current chief operating officer and long-time executive, as its new chief executive.
Moeller is set to succeed CEO David Taylor, who will take on the role of P&G's executive chairman at the start of November. In his 33 years at the company, Moeller has served as chief financial officer and vice chairman, among a variety of roles.
“My confidence in the future is rooted in my confidence in P&G people," Moeller commented on his appointment. "They are committed to lead, motivated to win, and have a strong focus on sustained excellence in everything we do—serving consumers and delivering for shareholders through an integrated strategy that is delivering balanced growth and value creation.”
P&G was a big winner of the COVID-19 pandemic as people working from home snapped up national brands, while it has also earned plaudits for its sustainability efforts. However, the business has been hit by increasing costs in recent months.
Shares of the company were about flat for the year to date compared with gains in major indices.
Managing The Cost Base
The Cincinnati-based company said in April it would raise prices of some products in the United States to offset the rising costs.
P&G warned in June that higher freight and commodity costs, amounting to around $600 million after tax, would affect its earnings this year. The company is set to post fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on Friday.
Analysts at brokerage Bernstein warned that the cost picture for P&G has continued to deteriorate over the past few months, and the outlook for fiscal year 2022 is "seriously bleak".
Guidance For Full-Year 2022
"The big questions for P&G, in our view, lie less around Q4 performance, and more around the guide they give for FY22, which will be the first steer that we get for the cost outlook heading into calendar 2022, and how prolonged this inflationary pain may be. The signs on this front are not great," Bernstein wrote in a note.
The company, behind brands such as Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Oral-B and Pampers, is expected to post quarterly revenue of $18.40 billion (€15.48 billion), marginally higher than a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES.
However, analysts' estimates for earnings per share of $1.08 were down 6.6% from a year earlier.
Elsewhere, Shailesh Jejurikar, CEO of P&G's largest business unit named Fabric & Home Care sector, will take over as chief operating officer from October 1, the company said. It also recently appointed Andre Schulten as its new chief financial officer.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more A-Brands stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
