(Yicai Global) Oct. 23 -- American beauty care and consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble [NYSE:PG] has released financial results for the first quarter of its current fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, at an event in China. The firm's net sales reached USD16.7 billion, an annual increase of 1 percent, while net profit reached USD2.87 billion, up 4 percent, the company said.

Procter & Gamble specifically chose China for the release of financial report, possibly inferring that the company attaches great importance to the Chinese market, analysts said.

"The sales and earnings in the first quarter are in line with our expectations and enable us to achieve our goals for the fiscal year," said Procter & Gamble's chief executive, David Taylor.

P&G's beauty care sector outperformed all other business units, with organic sales growing 5 percent, driven by the Chinese market where growth reached double digits. The firm's SK-II brand made up a significant proportion of these sales.

The company's business performance has been sluggish in recent times, prompting the company to sell-off nearly 100 brands in non-core businesses over the past three years.

"Our 65 core brands account for over 90 percent of the company's overall sales," said a senior manager. P&G now needs to focus on providing resources to those profitable brands, he added.

Procter & Gamble has only introduced around 20 of its brands to China so far. These include Pampers, Head & Shoulders, Whisper, Gillette, Safeguard, Tide and Olay.