Companies Nationwide Are Suffering. Not This One

While many businesses are suffering during the coronavirus pandemic, one firm is seeing a surge—mainly because a good number of its products are household necessities in demand during lockdowns. The Wall Street Journal reports that Procter & Gamble saw its biggest quarterly increase in decades, with sales rising 10% in the US during the first quarter. The largest spikes were seen in the health care and home care units, which include such items as Vicks cold medicine, Charmin toilet paper, Bounty paper towels, and Tide laundry detergent, per Business Insider.

Not all of P&G's brands are seeing big boosts, notes the Financial Times: CFO Jon Moeller points out that because people aren't going out, the grooming unit, which includes the Gillette razor brand, fell 1% from last year during this period; the beauty segment, which includes cosmetics, also didn't see substantial growth like the other units. But although panic-buying drove much of consumers' purchases in recent weeks, P&G higher-ups don't think there will be a steep drop-off after the pandemic dies down. "Consumption of our products is not likely to dissipate," Moeller tells the Journal. 'We will serve what will likely become a forever altered health, hygiene, and cleaning focus for consumers." (More Procter & Gamble stories.)