Lisa Bernard Kuhn & Alex Coolidge report:
Under pressure to cut costs, Procter & Gamble ended its 2012 fiscal year with 3,000 fewer employees compared to 2011, according to the company’s recently filed annual report.
The decrease includes up to 2,000 job cuts made as part of a $10 billion restructuring plan. It also includes jobs lost with the sale of P&G’s snacks unit, which includes Pringles.
The company said total job cuts for the year was 5,000 employees. But the overall reduction was offset by new hires in manufacturing and smaller acquisitions, including Vermont-based dietary supplement business New Chapter. That acquisition occurred in May.
Over the last year, the maker of Tide, Pampers, Crest and other well-known brands has been working to cut costs as it struggles to grow sales in developed markets including North America and Europe.
That includes cutting 5,700 jobs by the end of this year. The company has said it expects to find big savings by leveraging digital marketing and advertising strategies that employ social media tools including Twitter and Facebook.
In line with the company-wide belt-tightening, P&G’s advertising budget – consistently ranked as the largest on the globe – inched up just 1.5 percent over 2011 to $9.2 billion.
The slight increase in spending pales in comparison to past years’ increases.
In 2011, P&G’s ad spending climbed nearly 9 percent, with an additional $735 million in spending. In 2010, the company added more than $1 billion to its advertising budget, a 14 percent jump over the previous year.
Meanwhile on Thursday, P&G said it plans to issue two debt offerings: $1 billion in notes maturing in 18 months, and 1 billion euros worth of notes maturing in 10 years. The company said it plans to use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes.”
P&G’s Mason Business Center, which employs about 2,400, is home to its pet care, pharmaceuticals and personal- and oral-care businesses.
