Procter & Gamble is celebrating a set of better-than-expected results today, after releasing figures for the fourth quarter and year-end for fiscal 2016 yesterday.

“The fourth quarter was another period of progress driving P&G’s results to a balance of strong top-line growth, bottom-line growth and cash generation,” said CEO David Taylor. “We grew organic volume and sales in all reporting segments. We increased investments in innovation and advertising, funded by strong productivity improvement. Looking forward, we’re committed to continued productivity improvement and cost savings that provide the fuel for innovation and investments needed to accelerate and sustain faster top-line growth. We expect fiscal 2017 to mark another significant step toward our goal of balanced growth and value creation and total shareholder return in the top third of our competitive peer group.”

Core earnings for the fourth quarter ended June 30 reached US$0.79 per share, a decrease of 15 percent on the same period last year but an improvement on the expected US$0.74. Net sales were down 3 percent to US$16.1 billion, but again, the figure topped analysts’ estimates of US$15.83 billion. Organic sales were up 2 percent on a 2 percent increase in organic volume.

The Olay brand continued to struggle, with its lower sales tempered by SK-II’s strong performance to push organic sales in the beauty segment up 1 percent overall. The health and grooming segments were the real stars, with organic sales up 8 percent and 7 percent respectively.

The US FMCG giant reported revenue of US$65.3 billion for fiscal 2016, down 8 percent versus the previous year, but organic sales were up 1 percent for the full year.