The Procter & Gamble Co. recorded a 5 percent increase in first-quarter organic beauty sales to $4.4 billion, with the consumer goods giant emphasizing that it sees significant opportunities to accelerate growth across its portfolio.

Hair care, personal care and skin care each delivered mid-single-digit growth in organic sales. However, earnings before interest and taxes for the beauty division rose by a more modest 1 percent to $1.1 billion.

P&G’s grooming business, which includes brands such as Braun, Gillette and Venus, also posted gains. Organic sales increased 5 percent to $1.9 billion, while earnings before interest and taxes climbed 6 percent to $619 million.

P&G Overhauls Its Approach to Brand Growth

During a conference call with analysts to discuss the quarterly results, chief financial officer Andre Schulten outlined the company’s efforts to improve execution across its businesses and respond more quickly to changing consumer needs.

“What we are changing is nearly every part of our execution framework to identify superiority gaps even faster and respond quickly to changes needed to product, package, communication, retail execution or value to ignite user growth of our brands,” Schulten said.

He noted that the changes are beginning to deliver results, highlighting Pantene’s Abundant & Strong hair care range as an example.

According to Schulten, more than 50 percent of women will experience noticeable hair loss during their lifetime. In the United States alone, approximately 30 million people are affected by female pattern hair loss.

Research linking oxidative stress on the scalp to poor scalp conditions and hair quality informed the development of Pantene Abundant & Strong. The range features a proprietary provitamin-complex formulation intended to improve hair strength and reduce shedding.

Schulten said consumers have responded positively to improvements in hair strength and reduced shedding, as well as the products’ distinctive tingling sensation during use. The line is generating mid-single-digit sales growth in the United States and gaining market share.

Pantene is among P&G’s many beauty and hair care brands. Gabriel Inghilterra for WWD

Market Share Remains a Key Priority

Despite the beauty division’s positive performance, P&G is continuing to address areas of weakness across its international and product-category portfolio.

Schulten said the company is approximately 60 percent of the way through its efforts to improve underperforming category-and-country combinations. Of its 50 largest combinations, 29 are either growing or maintaining market share.

“We’re running at 29 out of 50 top category-country combinations growing or holding share,” he said. “We need to conquer the rest, and that’s the task ahead.”

He stressed that the beauty team is not satisfied with its current 5 percent growth rate, arguing that the business has considerably more potential to capture.

China Business Faces a Challenging Market

Schulten also addressed P&G’s performance in China, describing the business as being “in the middle of reinvention.”

The market is not currently growing, he acknowledged, adding that the company needs to restore growth there, similar to its performance in North America.

“We’re not firing on all cylinders yet,” Schulten said. However, he expressed confidence in the structural improvements already made in China and the company’s ability to address the remaining weaknesses in its portfolio.

P&G expects to pursue more sustained growth despite difficult market conditions. Schulten noted that market growth remains weak across the channels and categories in which the company operates, while consumer sentiment has yet to improve.

He nevertheless praised the local team for making progress in a challenging environment.

“Quite frankly, consumer sentiment is not improving. So a big congratulations to the China team for winning in a tough environment,” he said.