P&G Raises Buyback as Much as 50% After Quarterly Results

Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), the world’s largest consumer-products maker, increased its share buyback plan for the year by as much as 50 percent after generating more cash than expected in the first quarter.

The repurchase range for the year will be $4 billion to $6 billion, up from a previous forecast of $4 billion, Cincinnati- based P&G said today in a statement.

Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald is working to reduce costs and introduce new products to regain market share. That helped first-quarter operating cash flow increase 28 percent to $2.77 billion. The company bought back $2.6 billion in shares in the quarter and had $5.3 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of the period.

P&G rose 0.7 percent to $66.97 at 9:32 a.m. in New York. The shares fell 0.3 percent this year through yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Chicago at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net