The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Andre Schulten: Yep. Good morning, Mark. Look, I really don’t have any more insights on the China recovery timing. You see the volatility in the market that will directly correlate with consumer confidence, income levels and therefore, recovery timing. I think we’re hoping for faster, but we’re prepared for longer would be my answer here. On the gross margin versus marketing spending side, we’re — when I say we’re ROI driven, I really mean we are ROI driven. So there’s no direct correlation between availability of funds and investment levels. If we continue to see strong response to the marketing spend, increases that we deliver in quarter one, I think there’s a strong incentive for us to continue that level of investment. I also expect that our gross margin expansion and our overall growth contribution availability will continue to enable us to drive strong innovation and drive strong support of those innovations.

That’s part of the business model. That’s why, again, it has to be a combination of driving very strong productivity to reinvest in superiority, to grow markets, and we have to keep that cycle spinning.

Operator: The next question comes from Edward Lewis of Redburn Atlantic. Please go ahead.

Edward Lewis: Yes, thanks very much. Another strong quarter in the US, seeing both volume and value growth. Just looking back at 2020 where you were dealing with obviously a lot of COVID headwinds, you were talking about growing about 4% to 6% as a sustainable rate of growth in the US. In light of all that’s gone on in the past few years and seeing where we are in the US at the moment with the consumer, are you still comfortable with that range over the longer term?

Andre Schulten: Look, I won’t give you guidance on a market-by-market basis. I think the — what is proving out is that the business model we’re driving in the US is very successful. If we are successful in continuing to drive market growth, that will continue to drive sales ahead of that market growth for us while being sustainable because we create business instead of taking business from somebody else. If that model is successful, which I believe it will, I feel very strongly about the growth prospects of the US. And again, we’re doubling down in every dimension of superiority. We’re doubling down in every dimension of market execution. So my overall confidence in the US market capability and growth trajectory is very high. Operator, are there any more questions?

Operator: There are no further questions at this time.

Andre Schulten: Okay. Thank you very much for joining us today. Again, very strong first quarter in the year and we look forward to speaking with you. If you have any questions, John and I will be available all day. So please feel free to call or e-mail. Thank you very much.

Operator: That concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect. Have a great day.