Procter & Gamble Sales Fall for Fifth-Straight Quarter

Procter & Gamble Co <PG.N> sales fell for the fifth straight quarter as a stronger dollar took its toll, with currency fluctuations likely to hurt 2015 sales by 6-7 percent.

The world's largest household products maker, which gets roughly two-thirds of sales from outside the United States, reported a steeper-than-expected 8.3 percent fall in quarterly sales on Thursday.

For U.S. companies, a stronger dollar reduces the value of sales in overseas markets. The dollar <.DXY> has surged about 8.5 percent against a basket of major currencies since the beginning of the year.

In the past the company has recovered between half and two-thirds of significant devaluation in developing currencies through pricing but the recovery will be less this year due to competitive pressures, Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said.

"This time it will be less than that because many of our internationally domiciled competitors..aren't seeing the full extent of the pressure that we are seeing," he said.

In the third quarter, sales volumes declined two percent, and pricing changes increased sales by two percent with higher pricing in four of five business segments.

Sales for the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers fell to $18.14 billion in the third quarter ended March 31, hit 8 percentage points by a strong dollar and 1 percentage point by the planned divestitures of some brands.

Sales in the company's beauty, hair and personal care products business fell for the ninth quarter in a row, dragging down P&G's total sales and volumes.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $18.49 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's shares were down 0.7 percent at $82.47 in premarket trading.

Net income attributable to P&G fell to $2.15 billion, or 75 cents per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from $2.61 billion, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier.

P&G said it took a non-cash charge of $300 million, or 10 cents per share, related to the sale of its Duracell battery business to Berkshire Hathaway Inc <BRKa.N> last November.

On an adjusted basis, the company's earnings of 92 cents per share were in line with analysts' average estimate.

Up to Wednesday's close, P&G stock had fallen nearly 9 percent this year.

(This story corrects misspelled word in first paragraph)

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru and; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Chizu Nomiyama)