Procter & Gamble shared its first quarter results of fiscal year 2026 on Friday, reporting a 3% growth in net sales to $22.4 billion. Beauty was a strong player in the quarter, with the category, which includes brands like Olay and SK-II, reporting a 6% net sales growth. The grooming sector, which includes brands such as Gillette and Venus, posted 5% growth in net sales.
Much of the Cincinnati-based company’s growth came from Japanese skin-care brand SK-II, which saw a 12% sales growth. The conglomerate also reported success from Olay’s serum body wash, launched in July. Globally, P&G announced strong gains in China and Latin America, with a 7% increase in Latin America driven largely by Brazil and Mexico and a 6% increase in mainland China.
“If I look at our China Business, [I see] very strong progress,” said P&G CFO Andre Schulten on Friday’s earnings call. “We probably started the right interventions in China because of a difficult market environment earlier, about two years ago, and with the interventions in innovation, the interventions in go-to-market capability, we now see solid progress in a difficult market environment.”
Despite those gains, P&G announced it will take measures to streamline its operations in fiscal year 2026, including reducing its workforce.
“We are making additional organization, process and technology changes to enable an even more agile, empowered and accountable organization, making roles broader, teams smaller and faster, and work more fulfilling and more efficient,” said Schulten. “We expect to reduce up to 7,000 non-manufacturing roles, or up to 15% of our current non-manufacturing workforce over this fiscal year and fiscal 27.”
Despite uncertainty around tariffs in the U.S. market, P&G maintained that a 1-2% price increase across its portfolio in the region, which was announced in July and effective in September, was largely driven by innovation. Organic sales rose 1% in North America during the first quarter.
“I would say value is clearly in the center of the equation,” said Schulten. “We continue to see consumers trade up. Price mix is positive in the U.S., where the value equation is attractive for consumers. In some channels, we see the majority of growth in our categories in the premium end, not in the value end of the lineup.”
Looking ahead, P&G maintains its outlook for full-year 2026 to increase of 1-5%, compared to 2025.
