Procter & Gamble profit falls, sales rise

Procter & Gamble Co posted a lower quarterly profit on Friday as the world’s largest household products maker took charges for its new restructuring plan and absorbed higher commodity costs.

The maker of Pampers diapers and Gillette razors earned $2.41 billion, or 82 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended in March, compared with a profit of $2.87 billion, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier. Core earnings per share, which exclude some items, were flat at 94 cents per share.

Sales rose 2% to $20.19 billion.

In February, P&G said it would cut a total of 5,700 nonmanufacturing jobs as part of a new plan to slash $10 billion in costs by the end of fiscal 2016.