Gillette Co on Thursday said fourth-quarter profit climbed 13 percent as consumers traded up to high-end products such as its M3Power razor and Oral-B Sonic Complete toothbrush. Profit at the world's largest razor and battery company, which last week agreed to be bought by Procter & Gamble Co, rose to $415 million, or 41 cents per share, from $368 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected Boston-based Gillette to earn 41 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales jumped 19 percent to $3.11 billion, helped in part by two extra selling days in the quarter compared with a year earlier. Favourable foreign exchange contributed 4 percentage points of the sales growth, the company said.

Analysts, on average, had forecast revenue of $2.86 billion.

Copyright Reuters, 2005