Colgate-Palmolive has backloaded 2009 with product launches, which the firm is confident will help counter soft second-quarter revenues.

Colgate reported July 30 that its worldwide oral, personal- and home-care sales dropped 5.9 percent to $3.22 billion in the April-June period.

Sales in those categories grew 2.7 percent in North America to $734 million, representing 20 percent of the firm's business; but Latin American sales accounting for 28 percent of Colgate's business slipped 1.4 percent to $1.05 billion.

Launches to come in 2009 include the Colgate 360° ActiFlex manual toothbrush, Colgate Total Enamel Strength toothpaste and Softsoap Nutri Serums nutrient-enriched body wash.

Pricing increases and cost-cutting measures pushed gross profit margin up 58.8 percent for the quarter, and Colgate booked record net income of $561.6 million, a 13.7 percent improvement over the prior-year period.

President and CEO Ian Cook said the firm is comfortable with its current pricing levels for personal-care products and will derive revenue growth from other initiatives.

"With our innovation stream skewed to the second half, our focus now is on increasing advertising support behind that innovation stream," he noted during a same-day earnings call.

Colgate is exploring cutting-edge marketing technologies such as mobile response ads (¹ Also see "Colgate Innovating To Reach Consumer At Point Of Sale" - HBW Insight, 18 May, 2009.). However, Cook pointed out that the lower cost of traditional media currently offers opportunities to make "increased impressions for less money."

Cook called the performance of the recently introduced Wisp single-use mini-toothbrush "encouraging" as it gained a 7 percent share of the U.S. manual toothbrush market (² Also see "Sales & Earnings In Brief" - Pink Sheet, 4 May, 2009.).

Colgate says its share of the U.S. toothpaste market has bumped up 0.5 percentage points this year to 36.9 percent, and its share of the manual toothbrush space has climbed 4.8 points to 32.7 percent.

- Dan Schiff (d.schiff@elsevier.com)

Colgate Looks To Upcoming Launches To Pick Up Sales Slack

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