Procter & Gamble second-quarter profit falls

Procter & Gamble, the world's largest household products maker, reported lower quarterly profit on Friday, hurt by unfavorable currency movements and lower gross profit margin.

The maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent left its 2014 sales growth forecast unchanged. It still expects organic sales, which strip out the impact of currency changes as well as acquisitions and divestitures, to rise 3 percent to 4 percent, and core earnings to rise 5 percent to 7 percent.

The company earned $3.43 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended December 31, down from $4.06 billion, or $1.39 per share, a year earlier. Core earnings per share, excluding restructuring charges, fell 1 percent to $1.21. Analysts expected $1.20 a share.

Sales rose 0.5 percent to $22.28 billion, in line with the average Wall Street estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Organic sales rose 3 percent.

The company's beauty division continued to struggle, with organic sales unchanged as skin care results slipped. P&G's health care segment reported the fastest growth, rising 5 percent.

P&G's gross profit margin slipped 0.9 percentage points, despite lower manufacturing costs.

Rival consumer goods company Kimberley Clark Corp reported that organic sales rose 5 percent, and forecast they would rise 3 percent to 5 percent in 2014.