Toothpaste maker Colgate-Palmolive raised forecast for annual organic sales growth, banking on resilient demand for its highly priced self-care and pet nutrition products.
Demand for Colgate-Palmolive's products, including personal care and pet food, held strong as consumers stretched their budgets to spend on daily essentials.
Earlier this month, larger peers Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark also saw sales rise thanks to strong consumer demand.
Colgate-Palmolive now expects full-year organic sales growth in the range of 5% to 7%, compared with its prior forecast of 3% to 5% growth.
Price Hikes
Benefits from price hikes and easing costs of raw and packaging materials helped the company expand its margins by 310 basis points to 60%.
The Palmolive shower gel maker's prices rose by 8.5% in the first quarter, while organic sales volumes were up 1.3%, improving from a 2% dip last year.
The company posted net sales of $5.07 billion for the quarter ended 31 March, compared with analysts' average estimate of $4.96 billion, according to LSEG data.
On an adjusted basis, it earned 86 cents per share, topping analysts' estimate of 81 cents per share.
Noel Wallace, chair, president and chief executive officer of Colgate-Palmolive, commented, “We are very pleased to have started 2024 with another quarter of strong top and bottom line performance as we continued to execute our strategy successfully. [...] We are particularly pleased to have delivered double-digit growth in operating profit, net income and earnings per share for the third consecutive quarter while still investing for the long-term health of our business.
“Our strong growth momentum and great start to the year add to our confidence that we are executing the right strategies to deliver on our updated 2024 financial targets and generate consistent, compounded earnings per share growth.”
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM.
