Aug 2 (Reuters) - Church & Dwight ( CHD ) said on Friday

it expects full-year sales and profit at the lower end of its

previous forecast due to consumer hesitancy on spending for its

higher-priced household and personal care products.

Shares of the Trojan condom maker fell 4.3% in premarket

trade.

In a bid to defend their profit margins against higher

costs, consumer goods companies including Church & Dwight ( CHD ) have

been hiking their prices over the past two years, despite some

input expenses now declining.

While consumers have absorbed these hikes to buy the

company's products including Therabreath mouthwash and Xtra

liquid detergent, a sticky inflation has turned them more

cautious.

"Category consumption growth in both dollars and units has

moderated as the consumer remains under pressure," said CEO

Matthew Farrell in a statement.

The company saw consumption dollar growth slowing down to 2%

in eight main categories from 4.5% in the first 5 months of the

year, Farrell added.

The New Jersey-based company now expects full-year adjusted

profit growth to be at the lower end of the 8% to 9% range

projected earlier.

Annual organic sales are expected to grow by 4%, compared

with the previous forecast range of 4% to 5% increase.

However, the household products maker's second-quarter

revenue rose about 4% to $1.51 billion, in line with analysts'

estimates.

Excluding items, it earned 93 cents per share, beating the

LSEG expectations of 84 cents.

Volumes rose 3.5% in the quarter ended June 30, while

average selling prices climbed by only 1.2%. This helped the

adjusted gross margin climb 150 basis points to 45.4%.