P&G: 'Movember' Hurt Razor Sales, But It's Okay Because Male 'Body Shaving' Is On The Rise

REUTERS/Max Rossi

The 'Movember' movement, which sees men across the world grow out their facial hair in November to raise awareness about prostate cancer, has officially nicked the bottom line of at least one razor company.

The FT's Barney Jopson reports Procter & Gamble CFO Jon Moeller said there has been a secular decline in facial shaving that had been "exacerbated in the quarter we were just in because of the prostate cancer-related movement in North America to not shave facial hair in the month of November."

A search of earnings transcripts on Seeking Alpha shows this appears to be the first time Movember had been cited in a shaving company's earnings report. The number of men who participate only topped 2 million in 2012.

P&G reported flat headline sales this morning, while second-quarter earnings fell 16%.

But core earnings beat Wall Street expectations. And Moeller added that "body shaving" was on the rise.

"While the incidence of facial shaving is somewhat down, the incidence of [male] body shaving is up, and we can take advantage of that and plan to do that as well," he said.

"Movember" began in 2003 in Australia. In 2012 the U.S. faction of Movember-ers raised $21 million.

P&G shares were up 2.75% this morning.