Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
The Procter & Gamble Company (the Company) is a world-leading multinational consumer goods company focused on providing trusted, branded products of superior quality, performance and value to improve the lives of consumers around the world - now and for generations to come. Our products are sold in about 180 countries and territories throughout the world. The Company was incorporated in Ohio in 1905, having first been established as a New Jersey corporation in 1890, and was built from a business founded in Cincinnati in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble.
Additional information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A); and Notes 1 and 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms "Company," "P&G," "we," "our" or "us" as used herein refer to The Procter & Gamble Company (the registrant) and its subsidiaries. Throughout this Form 10-K, we incorporate by reference information from other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments thereto, are filed electronically with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains these reports at: www.sec.gov. Reports can also be accessed and downloaded through links from our website at: www.pginvestor.com. P&G includes the website link solely as a textual reference and the information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this report. Copies of these reports are also available, without charge, by contacting EQ Shareowner Services, 1100 Centre Pointe Curve, Suite 101, Mendota, MN 55120-4100.
Financial Information about Segments
Information about our reportable segments can be found in the MD&A and Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.
Narrative Description of Business
Business Model . Our business model is focused on delivering sustainable value creation by driving balanced top- and bottom-line growth. We create, manufacture, market and distribute a diversified portfolio of daily-use products to delight consumers with irresistible superiority across five key vectors - product performance, packaging, brand communication, retail execution and value. We invest in research and development and consumer insights to invent new categories or products and innovate our existing products, ensuring they meet evolving consumer needs and preferences. We leverage marketing strategies including advertising, promotions and endorsements to drive brand awareness and loyalty among consumers. The Company utilizes various distribution channels, including retail stores, e-commerce platforms and direct-to-consumer platforms to deliver our products. Our business model relies on continued productivity improvements to fuel investments in R&D and marketing and deliver value creation. Our objective is to deliver sustainable and balanced top- and bottom-line growth while serving the needs of all stakeholders — consumers, customers, employees, society and shareowners.
Key Product Categories . Information on key product categories can be found in the MD&A and Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.
Key Customers . Our customers include mass merchandisers, e-commerce (including social commerce) channels, grocery stores, membership club stores, drug stores, department stores, distributors, wholesalers, specialty beauty stores (including airport duty-free stores), high-frequency stores, pharmacies, electronics stores and professional channels. We also sell direct to consumers. Sales to Walmart Inc. and its affiliates represent approximately 16% of our total sales in 2024 and 15% in 2023 and 2022. No other customer represents more than 10% of our total sales. Our top ten customers accounted for 42% of our total net sales in 2024, 40% in 2023 and 39% in 2022.
Sources and Availability of Materials . Almost all of the raw and packaging materials used by the Company are purchased from third parties, some of whom are single-source suppliers. We produce certain raw materials, primarily chemicals, for further use in the manufacturing process. In addition, fuel, natural gas and derivative products are important commodities consumed in our manufacturing processes and in the transportation of input materials and finished products. The prices we pay for materials and other commodities are subject to fluctuation. When prices for these items change, we may or may not pass the change to our customers. The Company purchases a substantial variety of other raw and packaging materials, none of which are material to our business taken as a whole.
Trademarks and Patents . We own or have rights to patents and trademarks, which are used in connection with our activity in all businesses. Our patents cover a range of product features, including significant product formulation and processes used to manufacture our products. The trademarks are important to the overall marketing and branding of our products. In part, our success can be attributed to the existence and continued protection of these trademarks and patents.
Competitive Condition . The markets in which our products are sold are highly competitive. Our products compete against similar products from a broad range of companies, both large and small, both established and new, including well-known global competitors. In many of the markets and industry segments, we compete against other branded products as well as retailers' private-label brands. In this highly competitive setting, we are well positioned in the industry segments and markets in which we operate, often holding a leadership or significant market share position. Our integrated strategy and our focus on driving superiority across product, packaging, brand communication, retail execution and value are key differentiators in the marketplace.
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Government Regulation . Our Company is subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations across the countries in which we do business. In the United States, many of our products and manufacturing operations are subject to one or more federal or state regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). We are also subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and antitrust and competition laws and regulations that govern our dealings with suppliers, customers, competitors and government officials.
In addition, many foreign jurisdictions in which we do business have regulations and regulatory bodies that govern similar aspects of our operations and products, in some cases to an even more significant degree. We are also subject to expanding laws and regulations related to environmental protection and other sustainability-related matters, non-financial reporting and diligence, labor and employment, trade, taxation and privacy and data protection, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and similar regulations in states within the United States and in countries around the world.
The Company has in place compliance programs and internal and external experts to help guide our business in complying with these and other existing laws and regulations that apply to us around the globe; and we have made, and plan to continue making, necessary expenditures for compliance with these laws and regulations. We also expect that our many suppliers, consultants and other third parties working on our behalf share our commitment to compliance, and we have policies and procedures in place to manage these relationships, though they inherently involve a lesser degree of control over operations and governance. We do not expect that the Company’s expenditures for compliance with current government regulations, including current environmental regulations, will have a material effect on our total capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position in fiscal year 2025 as compared to prior periods.
Human Capital . Our employees are a key source of competitive advantage. Their actions, guided by our Purpose, Values and Principles (PVPs), are critical to the long-term success of our business. We aim to retain our talented employees by offering competitive compensation and benefits, strong career development and a respectful and inclusive culture that provides equal opportunity for all.
Our Board of Directors, through the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee (C&LD Committee), provides oversight of the Company’s policies and strategy relating to talent, including equality and inclusion, as well as the Company’s compensation principles and practices. The C&LD Committee also evaluates and approves the Company’s compensation plans, policies and programs applicable to our senior executives.
Employees
As of June 30, 2024, the Company had approximately 108,000 employees, unchanged versus the prior year. The total number of employees is an estimate of total Company employees excluding interns, co-ops, contractors and employees of joint ventures. 48% of our employees are in manufacturing roles and 28% of our employees are located in the United States. 42% of our global employees are women and 32% of our U.S. employees identify as multicultural.
Training and Development
We focus on attracting, developing and retaining the widest pool of talent available, both from universities and the broader market. We recruit from universities across markets in which we compete and are generally able to select from the top talent. We focus on developing our employees by providing a variety of job experiences, training programs and skill development opportunities. Given our develop-from-within model for staffing most of our senior leadership positions, it is particularly important for us to ensure holistic growth and full engagement of our employees.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
As a consumer products company, we believe that it is important for our workforce to reflect the diversity of our consumers worldwide. We also seek to foster an inclusive work environment where each individual can bring their authentic self, which helps drive innovation and enables us to better serve our consumers. We aspire to achieve equal gender representation globally and at key management and leadership levels. Within the U.S. workforce, our aspiration is to achieve 40% multicultural representation overall as well as at management and leadership levels.
Compensation and Benefits
Market-competitive compensation and reward programs are critical elements of our employee value equation to attract and retain the best talent. Our total rewards programs are based on the principles of paying for performance, paying competitively versus peer companies that we compete with for talent in the marketplace and focusing on long-term success through a combination of short-term and long-term incentive programs. We also offer competitive benefit programs, including retirement plans and health insurance, in line with local country practices, with flexibility to accommodate the needs of a diverse workforce.
Sustainability . Environmental sustainability is integrated into our business strategy. We are focused on designing and manufacturing irresistibly superior products that are more sustainable. We aim to reduce our own environmental footprint and enable our consumers to reduce their footprint without compromising on the performance of the products they use. We develop and license technologies that can be used across industries to improve environmental sustainability at a broader scale.
The Procter & Gamble Company 3
Combined, this approach intends to positively impact the total environmental impact of the Company while driving market growth and value creation.
In 2021, the Company announced a 2040 net zero ambition. Our Climate Transition Action Plan outlines the Company’s ongoing efforts toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions across scopes 1 and 2 and elements of scope 3. The Company has also declared objectives towards purchasing renewable electricity for our operations, reducing use of virgin petroleum-based plastic in packaging, increasing the recyclability or reusability of packaging, responsible sourcing of key forest-based commodities, improving efficiency of water usage in our operations and driving a global portfolio of water restoration projects that help address water scarcity in key water basins. Our progress towards these objectives may be influenced and impacted by various stakeholders and developments beyond our control.
Sustainability related disclosures included in this Annual Report, our Proxy Statement and our sustainability reports are informed by standards and guidelines such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The “materiality” thresholds in those standards and guidelines may differ from the concept of “materiality” for purposes of the federal securities laws and disclosures required by the Commission’s rules in this Annual Report. References to our sustainability reports and website are for informational purposes only and neither the sustainability reports nor the other information on our website is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additional detailed information on our sustainability efforts can be found on our website at https://pginvestor.com/esg.