WSJ: P&G To Name David Taylor As CEO, Succeeding Lafley

(RTTNews) - Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) is expected to name company veteran David Taylor as chief executive officer on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

He will succeed A.G. Lafley, who is expected to continue as chairman to help with the leadership transition. Lafley, who has served two terms as P&G's CEO, may announce his retirement this week after a board meeting.

According to the WSJ report, the 56-year-old Taylor was long seen as the front-runner for the top job at P&G. He reportedly emerged as P&G's heir apparent in January after he was named the leader of the beauty, grooming and health-care businesses, which together accounted for almost half of P&G's annual sales.

Taylor, an electrical engineer by training, joined P&G in May 1980 and started his career as a production manager in a Greenville, North Carolina, factory. During his 35 years at the company, he rose through the ranks and has served in increasingly important positions in Asia as well as Europe.

In April, P&G reported a profit for the third quarter that declined 17 percent from last year, stung by a stronger U.S. dollar and disappointing revenues. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based maker of Tide detergents, Crest toothpaste and Gillette shaving razors will report its full-year results on Thursday.

During Lafley's second term as CEO, P&G announced plans in February to divest, discontinue or consolidate more than 100 non-core brands in a bid to become more nimble and improve its profitability as well as margins. At that time, the company said it was looking to have agreements in place for the divestitures by July 2015.

P&G agreed in early July to merge its beauty business with perfume maker Coty, Inc. (COTY) in a Reverse Morris Trust deal valued at about $12.5 billion. P&G's beauty business includes salon professional, retail hair color, cosmetics and fine fragrance as well as select hair styling brands businesses that encompasses 43 beauty brands.

PG closed Monday's trading at $79.97, down $0.32 or 0.40 percent on a volume of 8.61 million shares. In after-hours, the stock gained $0.04 or 0.05 percent to $80.01.