UPDATE: Procter & Gamble Posts Upbeat FQ4 Profit

Procter & Gamble Co

reported a 48% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. P&G's quarterly profit fell to $1.88 billion, or $0.64 per share, from $3.63 billion, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its core earnings declined to $0.79 from $0.82 per share. Its sales rose 2.2% to $20.66 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.77 per share on revenue of $20.54 billion. P&G's gross margin narrowed to 47.5% from 48.1%. P&G shares gained 1.43% to $81.45 in pre-market trading.