Procter & Gamble has said it will slash 7,000 jobs over the next two years as part of an effort to slim down its portfolio and cut costs, as weak consumer sentiment and tariff uncertainty weigh on growth.
The maker of household brands including Gillette and Tide revealed the cuts of 15 per cent of its non-manufacturing roles at a Paris-based conference on Thursday, as well as plans to divest a number of categories and brands and restructure the organisation.
The company did not specify where the job cuts would be made.
The US consumer goods group has been battling sluggish demand and heightened caution from shoppers in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs. In April the group lowered its sales and profit guidance for the year, as a result of a “more nervous consumer reducing consumption”.
P&G expects organic sales growth of 2 per cent in 2025, down from a forecast range of 3 to 5 per cent.
Chief financial officer Andre Schulten said on Thursday that the company would launch the restructuring programme in the second half of the year, which would include cutting down management teams and using more automation and “digitisation”.
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In a summary of its presentation posted online, P&G said the restructuring would boost its productivity over the long term and help right-size its supply chain to “drive efficiencies, faster innovation” and “cost reduction”.
The company said this was not a reactive cost-cutting measure in response to recent market volatility, but rather a means of improving its operations. P&G estimates that the plan will cost between $1bn and $1.6bn before tax.
However, Schulten acknowledged that “tensions” in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia, together with tariffs, were weighing on consumers, adding he expected a tariff hit of $0.03 to $0.04 per share in the next quarter.
The company said during its first-quarter earnings that it would consider raising prices to offset the impact of tariffs. Net sales in the first three months of the year fell 2 per cent to $19.8bn, a bigger than forecast drop.
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