Aug 1 (Reuters) - Bleach maker Clorox forecast

annual profit above estimates after beating fourth-quarter

profit on Thursday, banking on consecutive price hikes of its

home care products and easing input costs that improved margins.

The demand for company's cleaning products such as floor

cleaners and disinfectant sprays improved, as consumers

prioritized shopping for daily essentials.

The volumes in company's heath and wellness segment, a major

revenue contributor, rose 2 percentage points compared to 2

percentage points drop, a year ago.

A higher trade-promotion spending and advertising, as well

as merchandising, helped Clorox get an edge over lower-priced

private labels that the company had lost in the last quarters

due to supply chain disruptions caused by the August

cyberattack.

For fiscal 2025, the company expects earnings per share

between $6.55 and $6.80, above analysts' estimate of $6.45 per

share, according to LSEG data.

It earned adjusted profit of $1.82 per share in the fourth

quarter, topping estimates of $1.56 per share.

Clorox's results come at a time when peers Colgate-Palmolive ( CL )

and Kimberly-Clark ( KMB ) saw volumes improve on steady

demand.

Benefits from price hikes taken over the past quarters

coupled with lower costs of manufacturing and logistics, as well

as cost-saving initiatives and lower commodity costs, helped

Clorox expand its quarterly gross margins by 380 basis points to

46.5%.

The company's sales, however, decreased due to impacts of

the divestiture of Argentina business, distribution recovery and

lower consumption in household business.

The company's sales in grilling business of its household

segment decreased owing to the impact from poor weather - rainy

around Memorial Day holiday and too hot in June, finance chief

Kevin Jacobsen told Reuters.

"We lost over 5 share points during the cyber attack and

when I look at the month of June, we're down about 3/10 of a

percent, which means we have recovered," Jacobsen added.

The Pine-Sol maker also expects its annual net sales to be

flat to down 2%, below analysts' estimates of a 2.55% rise.

The company posted bigger-than-expected sales drop of 6% to

$1.90 billion in quarter ended June 30, compared with estimates

of 3.37% decline to $1.95 billion.

Shares of the company were up about 3%, after the bell.