Colgate Palmolive Q3 net income was $653 million, excluding charges, while earnings per share increased 1 percent year on year at $0.73 – matching industry expectations.

Net sales reached $3.87 billion, falling 3.5 percent year on year, while organic sales rose 4.5 percent.

Ian Cook, Colgate Palmolive CEO, said, “As expected, foreign currency headwinds continued during the third quarter, which together with the impact of the deconsolidation of the company’s Venezuelan operations resulted in the 3.5% net sales decline. In the face of continued challenging macroeconomic conditions worldwide, we are pleased to have achieved another quarter of strong organic sales growth, with every operating division contributing.
“The 4.5% worldwide organic sales growth was led by emerging markets where organic sales grew a strong 8.0%, despite economic challenges in several countries.”   

Q3 gross profit margin was 60.1 percent as opposed to 58.7 percent the previous year.

The company is continuing to forecast low to mid-single digit drop for net sales for the remainder of the year. This is due to currency factors and the consolidation of its Venezuelan operations.