The Colgate-Palmolive Company has reported worldwide net sales of $3,884 million in the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of 3% compared to the first quarter of 2018.
The group’s global unit volume rose by 1%, and prices rose by 2% in the period, however, foreign exchange had a negative 6% impact on profits.
Colgate also revealed that organic net sales, excluding the impact of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestments) increased by 3%.
Operating profit fell to $879 million for the period, compared to $983 million in the first quarter of last year, stalling somewhat as the group implements its Global Growth and Efficiency Program.
Broad-Based Growth
“We are pleased with the improvement in organic sales growth this quarter and that the growth was broad-based, with emerging markets and developed markets each growing 3%,” Noel Wallace, president and CEO, said.
“We believe our plans to accelerate growth are beginning to pay off, as the stronger organic sales growth we delivered in the quarter had a better balance between pricing and volume growth than we saw in the fourth quarter of 2018. This growth was led by our toothpaste and Hill's businesses,” Wallace continued.
The group’s global market share of the toothpaste market is 41.7%, while its leadership in manual toothbrushes increased as its market share now stands at 31.6%.
“As we look ahead, based on current spot rates, we continue to expect 2019 net sales to be flat to up low-single-digits, with organic sales growth of 2% to 4% as we continue to plan for increased investment behind our brands, higher pricing and strong innovation, led by the relaunches of Colgate Total and Hill’s Science Diet and our continued focus on naturals,” Wallace continued.
“Excluding charges resulting from the Global Growth and Efficiency Program in both 2018 and 2019 … based on current spot rates, we continue to plan for a year of gross margin expansion, increased advertising investment and a mid-single-digit decline in earnings per share,” he concluded.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
