P&G Chief Executive McDonald on Lookout for `Global Brands'
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald
Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald said, "We can never plan our acquisitions.”
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald said, "We can never plan our acquisitions.” Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bob McDonald, chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble Co., talks with Bloomberg's Carol Massar about the state of the U.S. and world economies and the company's global growth outlook. (Source: Bloomberg)
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald says his company is on the lookout for brands with international appeal.
“I’d love to buy more global brands,” McDonald said in a Sept. 2 interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York.
While McDonald, 57, declined to specify any brands, he said the world’s largest consumer-products company has the ability to pounce if anything comes along. P&G generated $16.1 billion in cash from operations last year.
P&G isn’t looking for specific acquisitions on the scale of its $57 billion Gillette purchase five years ago, McDonald said. If the right opportunity comes along, however, “we’ll look at anything.”
“We can never plan our acquisitions,” he said. “We don’t do hostile takeovers.”
Since becoming CEO in July, 2009, McDonald has focused on boosting P&G’s operations in emerging markets such as Brazil and China. About 60 percent of the Cincinnati-based company’s revenue last year came from outside the U.S.
In its home market, the maker of Olay skin products, Pampers diapers and Tide detergent has parried private-label brands as recession-hit consumers sought cheaper products. Net income fell 12 percent last quarter as marketing costs increased, squeezing profit margins.
Last month P&G forecast profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30 would be as much as $1.01, excluding some items, trailing the $1.05 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
P&G fell 15 cents to $60.14 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares are little changed this year, down 0.8 percent compared with a 2.1 percent decline for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Smaller Acquisitions
P&G will also look for smaller acquisitions that extend current businesses, such as its purchase this year of the Ambi Pur air freshener brand from Sara Lee Corp., which helped it expand its Febreze products from 15 to 85 countries, McDonald said.
“The climate for acquisitions is good, the climate for mergers is good,” he said. “Companies are starved for growth, they’re looking for opportunities to grow.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Lauren Coleman-Lochner in New York at llochner@bloomberg.net
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