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Acquisitions Play a Key Role in The Top 50
Procter & Gamble has been ranked as the No. 1 company in The Top 50 since Happi began publishing the list back in 1978, and this version of our most popular issue is no exception. Despite its recent spate of troubles, including lower sales and earnings and staff cutbacks, P&G is once again ahead by a large margin in our Top 50 rankings with household and personal product sales that topped $23 billion in fiscal 2000. Coming in at No. 2 is Colgate-Palmolive, which reported sales of $8.23 billion for household and personal care products. Rounding out the top 10 are S.C. Johnson, Estée Lauder, Avon, Clorox, Intimate Brands, Ecolab, Alberto-Culver and Sara Lee. All in all, there wasn't much of a change from a year ago. In fact, just two companies dropped out of the top 10. Bristol-Myers Squibb slid from No. 6 to No. 11, and Alticor (which changed its corporate name from Amway) fell to No. 12. The company was ranked No. 8 in last year's Top 50.
But even the most seasoned household and personal products veteran might need a scorecard to keep up with all of the changes that have been taking place in the past few months among the companies that make up The Top 50. P&G made the biggest move when it purchased the Clairol division from Bristol-Myers Squibb in May. Several companies that have been long-time members of The Top 50 have been acquired in the past few months as well. Block Drug (No. 22) was purchased by GlaxoSmithKline. USA Detergents (No. 35) and portions of Carter-Wallace (No. 38) were bought by Church & Dwight (No. 23). WD-40 (No. 44) acquired HDP Holdings, better known as Global Household Brands, which makes such products as X-14, 2000 Flushes and Carpet Fresh.
Even when they're not making acquisitions, Top 50 companies are still making news. Dial, ranked No. 16 on our list, killed its underperforming Nature's Accents personal care line and eliminated 24% of its underperforming SKUs. Now the company is in the process of reviewing all its businesses. Meanwhile, Gillette (No. 21) is hard at work looking for ways to turn its business around after several underperforming quarters, and you can bet that in this difficult economic climate, there are plenty of brand managers at other Top 50 companies scratching their heads and trying to come up with ways to boost sagging sales.
This year's Top 50 no longer contains two well-known companies; Warner-Lambert and Carson Products were acquired by Pfizer and L'Oréal, respectively.
We hope you enjoy this edition of The Top 50. As always, we welcome your comments on our ranking, as well as anything else that appears in Happi. Be sure to read the August issue of Happi, which will include The International Top 30, our annual look at the largest manufacturers of household and personal products with headquarters outside the U.S.
To read the whole article on The Top 50, be sure to pick up the print version of Happi. If you don't subscribe, contact our circulation department at (201) 825-2552
The Top 50
| 1. Procter & Gamble | Cincinnati, OH | $23.5 billion |
| 2. Colgate-Palmolive | New York, NY | $8.23 billion |
| 3. S.C. Johnson | Racine, WI | $4.5 billion |
| 4. Estée Lauder | New York, NY | $4.36 billion |
| 5. Avon Products | New York, NY | $3.53 billion |
| 6. Clorox | Oakland, CA | $2.65 billion |
| 7. Intimate Brands | Columbus, OH | $2.36 billion |
| 8. Ecolab | St. Paul, MN | $2.26 billion |
| 9. Alberto-Culver | Melrose Park, IL | $2.2 billion |
| 10. Sara Lee | Chicago, IL | $2.15 billion |
| 11. Bristol-Myers Squibb | New York, NY | $2.1 billion |
| 12. Alticor | Ada, MI | $2.04 billion |
| 13. Coty | New York, NY | $1.8 billion |
| 14. Johnson & Johnson | New Brunswick, NJ | $1.5 billion |
| 15. Revlon | New York, NY | $1.49 billion |
| 16. Dial | Scottsdale, AZ | $1.4 billion |
| 17. (tie) Blyth Industries | Greenwich, CT | $1.2 billion |
| 17. Mary Kay | Addison, TX | $1.2 billion |
| 19. Johnson Wax Professional | Sturtevant, WI | $1.1 billion |
| 20. Pfizer | New York, NY | $1 billion |
| 21. Gillette | Boston, MA | $978 million |
| 22. Block Drug | Jersey City, NJ | $690 million |
| 23. Church & Dwight | Princeton, NJ | $634 million |
| 24. Schering-Plough | Madison, NJ | $547 million |
| 25. National Service Industries | Atlanta, GA | $511 million |
| 26. Nu Skin | Provo, UT | $449 million |
| 27. Elizabeth Arden | Miami Lakes, FL | $382 million |
| 28. NCH | Irving, TX | $381 million |
| 29. Gap | San Francisco, CA | $350 million |
| 30. Yankee Candle | Whately, MA | $339 million |
| 31. Jafra Cosmetics | Westlake Village, CA | $324 million |
| 32. Playtex Products | Westport, CT | $320 million |
| 33. John Paul Mitchell Systems | Beverly Hills, CA | $300 million |
| 34. Chattem | Chattanooga, TN | $253 million |
| 35. USA Detergents | North Brunswick, NJ | $249 million |
| 36. Del Laboratories | Uniondale, NY | $229 million |
| 37. Herbalife International | Los Angeles, CA | $201 million |
| 38. Carter-Wallace | New York, NY | $192 million |
| 39. Nexxus Products | Goleta, CA | $180 million |
| 40. Liz Claiborne | New York, NY | $175 million |
| 41. AM Cosmetics | North Arlington, NJ | $165 million |
| 42. Turtle Wax | Chicago, IL | $160 million |
| 43. Conair | Stamford, CT | $157 million |
| 44. WD-40 | San Diego, CA | $153 million |
| 45. New Dana Perfumes | Boca Raton, FL | $150 million |
| 46. Bonne Bell | Cleveland, OH | $105 million |
| 47. Inter Parfums | New York, NY | $101 million |
| 48. State Industrial | Cleveland, OH | $100 million |
| 49. Belae Brands | Phoenix, AZ | $75 million |
| 50. J.B. Williams | Glen Rock, NJ | $71 million |
