Procter & Gamble will drive its business by touching and improving more consumers' lives in more parts of the world more completely, president and CEO, Bob McDonald, told the company's shareholders at its annual meeting on Oct. 13, 2009.
Coming out of one of the toughest years P&G has faced in more than 50 years, McDonald said the company currently serves approximately four billion of the world's seven billion consumers but aimed to reach five billion throughout the next five years.
"Our choices are a natural evolution of the strategies that have been working for nearly a decade," said McDonald. "We will grow leading, global brands and core categories. We will build our business with under-served and un-served consumers and we will continue to develop faster growing, structurally attractive businesses with global leadership potential. More than at any time in our company's 170-plus year history, we have the brands, capabilities, strategies and financial flexibility necessary to expand our product portfolio into more parts of the world."
Geographic and portfolio expansion coupled with a focus on simplifying business structure and processes, leveraging scale and enhancing execution will all be elements of P&G's long term growth success, he added.
Earlier, McDonald paid tribute to former president/chief executive and current chairman of the board A.G. Lafley, calling out the transformation he led during the past nine years.
"As P&G shareholders, we've all benefited substantially from A.G.'s leadership. When he took over the helm, P&G's market capitalization was about $74 billion, 35th highest among the Fortune 500. P&G stock has appreciated approximately 100% since then, and today, the company's market capitalization is about $170 billion, making P&G one of the most valuable companies in the world."
P&G's net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, were $79 billion, with organic sales up 2%. Core earnings per share increased 8% to $3.67 while P&G continued to deliver strong free cash flow at more than 100% of earnings excluding the gain on the Folgers sale.
On average, P&G sales have nearly doubled for each of the past three decades—from $10 billion in 1980 to approximately $80 billion today with earnings increasing from $643 million to $12 billion during the same period. The company's dividends have also increased every year—more than 9% a year on average, throughout the past 53 years, and have been paid without interruption since the company was incorporated 119 years ago.
P&G will issue its results for the first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, on Oct. 29, 2009.