Colgate Posts Strong 4Q and 2009

Colgate-Palmolive Company today reported “record net income” in the fourth quarter 2009 with a 20%increase to $631 million.

Ian Cook, chairman, president and chief executive officer, commented on the results excluding restructuring charges, “We are delighted to have finished the year so strongly with fourth quarter operating profit, net income and earnings per share all increasing double-digit and organic sales growing a healthy 6.5%, driven by positive volume and higher pricing.

“We are particularly pleased that our renewed focus on unit volume growth is indeed working with global unit volume increasing sequentially in each of the last two quarters.

“We are delighted that Colgate’s global market shares in toothpaste and manual toothbrushes both finished the year at record highs. Colgate’s share of the global toothpaste market strengthened to 45.1% for the year, led by share gains in Mexico, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Russia and Venezuela. Colgate also strengthened its global leadership in manual toothbrushes, with its global market share in that category reaching 31.0% year to date, up 0.6 share points versus year ago.”

Mr. Cook continued, “We are excited to be entering 2010 with a full pipeline of new products across categories. We expect the excellent gross profit margin to continue which should allow for higher advertising spending behind new and existing Colgate products.

“Overall, despite difficult economic conditions around the world and the currency devaluation in Venezuela, our strong top and bottom line momentum should continue which bodes well for another year of double-digit earnings per share growth in 2010.”

For the full year 2009, worldwide sales as reported were $15.3 billion, even with the year ago period, reflecting 0.5% unit volume growth, 6.0% higher pricing and 6.5% negative foreign exchange. Organic sales grew 6.5%.

Net income for the full year 2009 rose 11% to $2.3 billion.