Colgate-Palmolive Posts In-Line Q3 Profit, But Revenue Misses Views

reported in-line earnings for the third quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates. The New York-based company posted quarterly net income of $726 million, or $0.80 per share, compared to $542 million, or $0.59 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $0.72 per share. Its sales slipped 8.5 percent to $3.999 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $4.07 billion. The average estimate among 31 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.72 per share and revenue of $4.09 billion. The company's sales dropped 11 percent in Latin America, while North America net sales rose 0.5 percent in the quarter. Europe/South Pacific net sales declined 18.0 percent, while Asia net sales slipped 1.5 percent during third quarter. Africa/Eurasia sales dropped 20.5 percent, while Hill's net sales shrank 3.5 percent. Global unit volume increased 1.0 percent, while pricing rose 3.5 percent. Gross profit margin expanded to 58.7 percent in the third quarter, from 58.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. Operating profit surged 20 percent to $1,136 million from $948 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses narrowed to 33.7 percent of net sales, from 34.2 percent of net sales. Ian Cook, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "In the face of challenging macroeconomic conditions worldwide, we are pleased to have achieved another quarter of strong organic sales growth, driven by positive unit volume growth and higher pricing." Mr. Cook added, "As we look ahead, macroeconomic conditions and foreign exchange volatility remain challenging. Despite that, we anticipate another year of solid organic sales growth in 2015 driven by a full new product pipeline across all categories and geographies. Based on current spot rates, we now plan for full year gross profit margin to be even with the year ago level, and expect a low to mid-single-digit earnings per share decline on a dollar basis, excluding charges related to the 2012 Restructuring Program. This earnings per share decline continues to reflect a double-digit increase on a currency-neutral basis." Colgate-Palmolive shares rose 0.60 percent to close at $69.24 yesterday.