Colgate-Palmolive Sees Rise in First Half

Colgate-Palmolive reported first half sales rose four percent to nearly $7.9 billion, while net income jumped 16% to more than $1.2 billion. For the second quarter, sales rose 1.5% to $3.88 billion. Global unit volume increased 1.5%, and pricing and foreign exchange were even versus a year ago. Organic sales increased 0.5%. Net income rose 21% to $637 million.


“The second quarter was another challenging one with category growth rates remaining soft in many markets around the world and recent unfavorable movements in foreign exchange,” said Ian Cook, chairman and chief executive officer. “Net sales grew 1.5% and organic sales grew 0.5%, below our expectations, due to unit volume declines in emerging markets and flat pricing worldwide.”


Colgate’s leadership within the global toothpaste market continued during the quarter with global market share at 42.1% on June 30. The company’s global leadership in manual toothbrushes also continued with Colgate’s global market share in that category at 32.3%.


“As we look ahead, while uncertainty in global markets and category growth worldwide remain challenging, we are maintaining our heightened focus on brand building and increased productivity while accelerating our change efforts,” concluded Cook. “Based on current spot rates, we expect a low-single-digit net sales increase and low-single-digit organic sales growth in 2018, with sequential improvement in organic sales growth in the balance of the year.”