Church & Dwight Reports 5.7% Growth in Net Sales in Q3 Results

Organic sales for Church and Dwight grew 3.7% in the third quarter, exceeding the Company’s projected 1.5% growth. 

 

“Our brands once again experienced strong consumption in Q3,” said Matthew Farrell, chief executive officer. Organic sales growth of 3.7% is on top of 9.9% organic growth in Q3 2020. In the U.S., we grew consumption in 12 of the 16 categories, with five categories exceeding double digit growth. Consumption continues to outpace shipments as supply chain disruptions continue. Global online sales grew 2.2% (on top of 102% growth in Q3 2020) and as a percentage of total sales has expanded to 14.3% in Q3.”

 

Farrell applauded company employees, particularly its supply chain and research and development teams in the face of complexities of raw material and labor shortages at its plants, suppliers, and third-party manufacturers which were compounded by Hurricane Ida. Their dedication, he added, resulted in tracking down alternative suppliers while maintaining the quality of its products. 

 

“Although consumption is higher, case fill rates have recovered slower than expected and are well below normal levels,” he said. “Hurricane Ida’s impact was substantial, resulting in limited availability of raw materials, which caused our fill levels to continue to be below normal. Consequently, we pulled back on Q3 marketing for products most affected by the shortages, especially household products. We expect supply availability issues to begin to abate in the first half of 2022 for most of our brands. With continued strength from consumer demand for our products, we are making significant capital investments in 2022 and 2023 to expand capacity in our factories as well as our supplier network.”

 

Consumer Net Sales

 

Consumer domestic net sales were $998.1 million, a 4.6% increase driven by household and personal care sales growth and acquisitions. Organic sales increased 2.8% due to higher price and product mix. 

 

Arm and Hammer liquid laundry detergent, Vitafusion gummy vitamins, Batiste dry shampoo and Oxiclean powder were leading growth drivers. 

 

Consumer International net sales were $227 million, a $13.4 million or 6.3% increase. The main drivers for this result are Europe organic sales performance (at over 8.8%), the Global Markets Group organic growth (over 6.9%), and currency. Despite continued lockdowns, organic sales increased 2.3%, primarily due to higher volume. 

 

Waterpik and Sterimar in Europe were the leaders in organic sales growth, while Sterimar, Femfresh, Vitafusion and Lil Critters gummy vitamins led organic sales in the global markets group.