Tag Archives: CL

Colgate 2Q17 Earnings Call Notes

Posted on by

Ian Cook – Chairman, President & CEO

Another challenging quarter

“Suffice it to say as we said in the press release, this indeed was another challenging quarter and as I think we all know, the industry continues to face global market volatility and we have seen a further slowdown in consumer demand in several key markets, most especially the U.S. Southeast Asia and South Pacific.”

Foreign exchange headwind has lessened

“We’re also encouraged that our foreign exchange headwind have lessened over the past several quarters and raw material costs are increasing at a more modest rate. We believe consumer usage of our products have remained broadly stable in the vast majority of market, which would be the basic category takeaway should normalize going forward.”

Natural segment is growing faster than average

“t’s suffice to say that the Natural segment is growing faster than the average growth of the category, which is what makes it attractive. We of course have participated in this segment for quite a while, particularly in markets where it’s important Asia or even go back to now more than decade ago acquisition of Tom’s of Maine here in the United States, which continues to grow very, very nicely.”

Consumers tend to buy more premium online

“What we observe on eCommerce thus far is that the consumer is actually — tends to buy more premium and even if they’re not buying the premium brands, they tend to buy in multiples. So, in fact the eCommerce behavior is favorable to us from a consumption point of view and if you look at the Hill’s business, 15% of the Hill’s business in the U.S. on eCommerce is subscription. So that means once they buy it one time, they’re signing up to regular delivery of that diet over time, which is we believe a good business model for our brand.”

Colgate Palmolive 4Q16 Earnings Call Notes

Posted on by

Colgate-Palmolive’s (CL) CEO Ian Cook on Q4 2016 Results

We remain committed to emerging markets

” we remain I must say overall very committed to the emerging markets. We see a strong consumer base there. We have strong brand loyalty there and we continue to see good opportunity for growth there.”

Slowdown in France

“Well clearly, France category is turning negative was not a pleasant or expected event. I think there is public information out there that says that some retailers in France have suffered from the same problem which is to say consumer purchasing weakness in France. So, you’re certainly seeing deflation in France and indeed in some categories, volume reduction. So, the focus has to be to right that with your customer partners on two things…So, the sharpness of the slowdown was a surprise.”

Upping advertising spend meaningfully

“I think for 2017 we have stepped up our advertising quite meaningfully from 2016 and we believe in uncertain time with clearly slowing category growth with the innovation pipeline we have it is to our advantage in 2017 to invest that advertising deliver that growth and keep consumers with our brands. So we think it’s a good level Olivia I mean we have planned due diligently and we are very satisfied with the advertising level we have as I said it includes a sharp uptake in sampling as well. And these are all into the programs that we have on the ground behind brands and the new products that we have. So we think the plan holistically is an appropriate plan for 2017.”

John Faucher

Premiumization paying dividends in the US

“In the U.S., we finished the year with market share is either upper flat majority of our categories, our innovation continues to perform well. We have a strong pipeline plan as we head into 2017. Our premiumization strategy continues to pay dividend. The Colgate Optic White franchise finished 2016 with 6.4% market share year-to-date up 80 basis points year-over-year. We expect further momentum in 2017 behind this month launch Colgate Optic White variant. We are also seeing year-over-year improvement in market share as for our sense for sensitivity business helped by our latest launch of Colgate Sensitive Smart White toothpaste.”

Miscellaneous Earnings Call Notes 5.5.16

Posted on by

Colgate-Palmolive (CL) Ian M. Cook on Q1 2016 Results

Sentiment not all doom and gloom in China

“I have to say, having just returned from Latin America and India and China, the consumer that you see on the ground, the behavior that you see on the ground, is really quite vibrant in India; and in China, is not doom and gloom, some concerns, but not the headlines that we read every day. Conversely, in Russia and Brazil, the consumer sentiment, as we have said before, is more negative.”

Flextronics’s (FLEX) CEO Mike McNamara on Q4 2016 Results

The environment is very slow, very weak but somewhat stable

” As far as the macro, we’ve been mentioning that the macro’s been soft, particularly that we see it in the industrials, for quite some period of time. We’ve probably been talking about it for at least three quarters. We continue to see the same kind of softness. We consider it to be a reasonably weak market and we don’t see the market getting stronger, but we see it somewhat stable. We don’t see a significant downside. We just see it very slow and very weak. ”

Cummins (CMI) N. Thomas Linebarger on Q1 2016

We do not see obvious signs of a turnaround in the high power segment

“The truth is we don’t know if there’s more downside to come. We do not see obvious signs of turnaround today.”

China is a market where some things are improving

“it’s partially because we have just seen China promise better and beat the market, not be that strong the rest of the year, a couple of years in a row, so we want to be prudent and watch and see a couple of quarters before we really call an upside and also just fundamentals don’t look that much different. So, I think that’s the place where maybe if things are improving, as some people suggest, we could have some upside in JV income there. ”

Etsy’s (ETSY) CEO Chad Dickerson on Q1 2016 Results

GMS vs Revenue

“Let’s start with GMS. During the first quarter of 2016, the Etsy marketplace generated $629.9 million in GMS, up more than 18%. Growth in GMS is driven by growth in active sellers and active buyers…Turning to revenue, during the first quarter, total revenue was $81.8 million, up 40%, driven by growth in seller services revenue and, to a lesser extent, growth in marketplace revenue.”

Match Group’s (MTCH) CEO Greg Blatt on Q1 2016 Results

Tinder MAU continues to grow, but slower in North America

“In terms of Tinder MAU, it continues to grow well. Again, as I’ve said, it’s slower growth in North America than in the rest of the world, which is natural just given the rollout. Volume of new signups continues to be very strong, and we’re showing improvement in reactivations and retention, and those things collectively drive the MAU growth, but it continues to be solid”

Ares Capital’s (ARCC) CEO Kipp deVeer on Q1 2016 Results

We believe this recovery is largely technical

“We are happy to see the fear in the market that was so prevalent in the fourth quarter and the early first quarter subsiding a bit, which eases concerns that we are headed for more significant market correction in the near term. With that being said we believe this recovery is largely technical and without a meaningful change in fundamentals, our attitude and our approach is generally unchanged. We remain cautious but confident that we can find select transactions with strong relative value attributes, amidst the broad opportunities set that our team is able to access.”

Seeing dramatic declines in banks involvement in leverage finance

“the fourth quarter and in even the first quarter you seeing a really dramatic declines in the bank’s involvement in the leverage finance markets in particular, in mid-market. So there is just less and less activity there. I’d say there has also been lack of any apatite on the behalf of investors for dividend or recapitalization deals so it’s really been a focus for 6 months on new money deals and the issue around new money deals is, I think an equity issue on the LBO [ph] side, multiples have gotten very high for private equity firms and as they look around it, the B quality and below companies, you really want to pay less and/or see more growth, and they haven’t had the ability to pay less and/or see more growth.”

Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) Daniel Yong Zhang on Q4 2016 Results

Chung Tsai – Executive Vice Chairman

Chinese consumers will propel China’s shift to a consumption driven economy

“Chinese consumers have a healthy balance sheet and ability to spend. This will propel China’s shift from an export and investment-led economy to a consumption-driven economy. Alibaba rides the secular tide as we enable more products and services, whether they are domestic or import, to reach the consumer.”

Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC) Steven J. Demetriou

Mining companies are facing most challenging commodity recession of our generation

“Our mining clients are facing one of the most challenging commodity recessions of our generation. And similar to the oil and gas situation, it’s all about preserving capital, reducing spending, and deferring projects for as long as possible. We believe we’ve hit a bottom in mining and that stabilized the business, especially in Asia and the Americas, with a successful focus on sustaining capital programs.”

Miscellaneous Earnings Call Notes 2.6.16

Posted on by

Amazon.com (AMZN) Management on Q4 2015 Results

Brian Olsavsky

Distribution partners have not been able to handle all the capacity that we need at peak

“what we’ve found is in order to serve – properly serve our customers at peak. We’ve needed to add more of our own logistics to supplement our existing partners. That’s not meant to replace them. And those carriers are just not – no longer able to handle all of our capacity that we need at peak. They have been and continue to be great partners. And we look forward to working with them in the future. It’s just we’ve had to add some resources on our own. You mentioned trucks. The Amazon trucks, we did invest in those – this past year. We use those primarily for movement between our warehouses and our source centers.”

Microsoft (MSFT) Satya Nadella on Q2 2016 Results

Security is now a major driver of cloud adoption

“Security is now a major driver of the cloud adoption. As threats become more frequent and sophisticated, Azure’s unique technology like machine learning empower customers to adapt to these new realities.”

AI will be at the heart of every business in the future helping to understand the past and predict the future

“At the heart of every business in the future will be systems of intelligence, powerful AI that helps people understand the past and predict the future. Cortana Analytics is the building block for these systems of intelligence. ”

Flextronics International (FLEX) Michael M. McNamara on Q3 2016 Results

See weaker industrial demand pull through

“As far as the macro, what we see is kind of broadly across the industrial set of businesses particularly – probably more so in the United States, but also in Europe. We see it’s just been a challenge. We’ve started seeing the macro push probably in the September quarter. We talked a little bit about it – maybe even at the end of the June quarter. We continue to see it going into the December quarter. And our forecast for March reflects kind of a weaker industrial demand pull-through.”

United Rentals’ (URI) CEO Michael Kneeland on Q4 2015 Results

Market activity is solid and in many cases trending upward

“Beyond the current market uncertainty, we agree with the industry forecasters that there are multiple years of growth ahead for rental in North America. The latest projection from Global Insight is about 6% annual growth in construction and industrial rentals through at least 2017. And we’re seeing levels of customer activity to support this view. That point can’t be lost when revenue flattens out for reasons I mentioned earlier. So it’s important to note that our actual — market activity is solid and in many cases trending upward. And our customers are on a whole optimistic.”

Honeywell International (HON) David M. Cote on Q4 2015 Results

Not seeing negative surprises in January

“Right now, I’d have to say it feels just fine. I know last year we got surprised the other way. This year we’re not getting surprised. But it’s three weeks, so who can tell how the whole thing’s going to go? But it’s – I would say we’re not having to deal with the same kind of negative surprise we had last year.”

Big thing in aerospace for us is that flight hours continue to increase

“if you take a look at what’s happening in the aerospace industry, the biggest thing for us is that flight hours increase. And flight hours last year were up 4% or 5%. They’re likely to be up 4% to 6% again this year. And the big thing is that planes fly, and as long as they fly, and as long as there’s a need for the kind of upgrades that we keep talking about, and as long as the technology keeps progressing towards this kind of connectivity and the need for airlines and passengers to just be connected better than they have in the past, those are all good phenomena for us.”

No doubt it’s a slow growth environment

“there’s no doubt, it’s a slow growth environment. That being said, whether it’s slow growth or high growth, we believe your best bet is Honeywell ”

Colgate-Palmolive’s (CL) CEO Ian Cook on Q4 2015 Results

It’s difficult to find anybody with anything optimistic to say

“it is difficult to find anybody with anything optimistic to say about much of anything these days. Without being overly general, I would say that the underlying consumer sentiment and behavior in China and India is okay. I would say that the underlying consumer sentiment in Mexico is okay. I would say that the underlying consumer sentiment in Russia is not great. And that would be English understatement. And I would say in Brazil, the underlying sentiment in Brazil is not great.”

Mattel (MAT) Christopher A. Sinclair on Q4 2015 Results

Richard Dickson – President and Chief Operating Officer, Mattel, Inc.

Barbie still relevant

“never has Barbie been more diverse on so many dimensions and more celebrated. TIME Magazine’s cover story and associated buzz last week are great examples that underscore not only how powerfully relevant the Barbie brand is, but reinforce that we’re on the right track.”

Ralph Lauren (RL) Stefan Larsson on Q3 2016 Results

Our performance over the last couple of years has been very disappointing

“And when I looked at our performance over the last couple of years, including the recent quarters, it’s very disappointing. So I see significant untapped value in both the idea behind the brand and as well as how we drive the business. And therefore, in the way I outlined the way we approach, building the growth plan for the future, there will be a customer facing component which is about evolving the brand, evolving our product, marketing, shopping experience, and then radically improve some of our business engines. ”

The consumer is now in charge in retail

“When it comes to the disruption, I’m a firm believer that we’re just seeing the beginning. So I believe that the biggest disruption is that the customer is now in charge. So the customer has better visibility and better choices than ever before. So any company that’s in the business of providing generic products or don’t have any real value add beyond the lower and lower price or who, more importantly, is not close enough to the customer will be in trouble. So that’s why we are building on the strength that’s made us great, and we are adding an even closer focus to what’s going on in the market and what’s going on with the customer.”

Miscellaneous Earnings Call Notes 11.5.15

Posted on by

Colgate-Palmolive’s (CL) CEO Ian Cook on Q3 2015 Results

Have seen a decline in private label

“At the same time, we’ve seen a decline in private label shares in many of our categories indicating the consumers preference for branded products and respect of our equities.”

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (BUD) CEO Carlos Brito on Q3 2015 Results

Big change in the Chinese economy towards consumption

“I think what’s happening in China at this point is that there is a big change from an economy that was all lead by exports and heavy investments in fixed assets, okay that generates a lot of blue-collar work or jobs to now an economy that’s much more service and domestic oriented economy. So more consumption, more consumer spending. So that of course, in the midst of this change, we see that in the Southeast, where some years ago there was lack of blue-collar workers and now there is too many of them. So there is a shift in there and I think that’s what the segments are showing us. But the segments that are more high priced are growing ahead of the ones that are lower price. And that’s exactly where we have most of our business and most of our brands position. So I think this change, while it may be bad for the industry, is not bad for us.”

PriceSmart’s (PSMT) CEO Jose Luis Laparte on Q4 2015 Results

We do have a soft economy in Columbia right now

“We do have a little bit of a soft economy right now, driven by the devaluation and other factors in the country. But we still are pretty optimistic about Columbia, and we haven’t reduced our efforts.”

Phillips 66’s (PSX) CEO Greg Garland on Q3 2015 Results

We see that the consumer side of China is doing very well

“we’re continuing to see good demand in Asia and across the system globally. So I think our view is demand is good. China is particular interest I think largely because of the reported numbers that what we see on both fuels and chemicals tells us that the consumer side of China is doing very well.””

By 2017/18 we’d expect not to be in a $50 crude environment any longer

“I mean our view consistently remains by 2017 and 2018 that really sort itself out and we are probably not $50 crude environment but we are probably not $100 but somewhere $60, $70, $80 in that range.”

Greenlight Capital Re’ (GLRE) CEO Bart Hedges on Q3 2015 Results

-16.9% through October

“The Greenlight Re investment portfolio lost 14.2% in the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date return to minus 16.9%.”

Brought next exposure up slightly during market sell off in August

“We reduced our gross exposure by 30 points in the quarter. Our net exposure increased slightly from 21% to 26% as we covered several shorts during the market sell-off in August. We continue to hold macro positions including gold, short Asian currencies and short French sovereign bonds. Overall, it’s been a challenging environment. We’re optimistic that we should get some recovery from our beaten down long portfolio.”

The Sherwin-Williams Company’s (SHW) CEO Chris Connor on Q3 2015 Results

Volume demand lagged initial expectations in virtually ever market we serve

“Volume demand lagged our initial expectations for the quarter in virtually every market we serve, but we remain focused on delivering positive results regardless of the demand environment.”

Continue to see deteriorating demand outside of NA

“We continue to see deteriorating demand for our product outside of North America.”

Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC) Q3 2015 Results

Economy has done better than most regional peers

“Segment [ph] in the corporate sectors continue to contract, but given the diversity of Chile’s economy and the fact that the average GDP growth of Chile’s main trading partners is relatively high, the economy has done better than other regional peers.”

No deterioration in asset quality

“In terms of evolution of asset quality, we think that the aligned trends are generally positive, especially in the consumer side, in the mortgage side and in the mid-size market. We haven’t seen any deterioration. ”

CBS (CBS) Leslie Moonves on Q3 2015 Results

Advertising is coming back in a big way

“advertising is coming back in a big way at CBS. Underlying network advertising was up 8% in the third quarter with strong growth in primetime, double-digit growth in sports and daytime and huge growth in late night, which was up 42%.’

The dire predictions of cord-cutting are overblown

“I think we’re all seeing that the dire predictions of cord-cutting are overblown, but the good news for CBS is, no matter where distribution goes, no matter how or where you want your content, we are in a perfect position. ”

There can never be too much content

“we are a content company, we believe the world can have more content, we don’t believe the guy who says oh, there’s too much content. There never can be too much content and we want more of it.”

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) Robert A. Kotick on Q3 2015 Results

Comparing King to Blizzard

“When we merged with Blizzard Entertainment, we found the right partner with extraordinary leadership. And when others dismissed the sustainability of Blizzard’s incredible capacity for innovation, we were certain patience would be rewarded. And it has. We see a lot of the same characteristics today in King. We think now is the right time to enter mobile gaming in a meaningful way. ”

Third Point Reinsurance’s (TPRE) CEO John Berger on Q3 2015 Results

Third Point owns Argentine debt

“Sovereign credit was up 3.1% on average exposure during the quarter, due to strength in Argentinean government debt the largest position in our credit portfolio. We’re looking forward to the run off Argentinean presidential election next month and we’ll be pleased with the victory from either candidate.’

Michael Kors Holdings (KORS) John D. Idol on Q2 2016 Results

Warm weather bad for seasonal items. Watch business still under pressure

“We saw accelerated growth in footwear, although the warm weather tempered boot sales in the quarter. The watch business continues to remain under pressure in retail and wholesale. ‘

Trend has been towards smaller handbags

” the idea that people are not buying handbags, I do not believe is a correct concept. They happen to be the fashion trend of smaller bags, so if we were selling x percent of $350, $400 and $500 handbags at this time last year we were selling less of those because we were selling a lot more in particular across bodies and large wallets. And that is what the consumer in particular the millennial is viewing as a fashion trend.’

All of us are now being impacted in parts of Texas because of oil prices

“all of us are now being impacted in parts of Texas because of oil prices there, that’s a little bit less tourist, but some of it’s related to the Mexicans shopping cross-border with the peso to the dollar.”

Time Warner (TWX) Jeff L. Bewkes on Q3 2015 Results

Programming is the most significant area of investment for the company

“Programming remains by far the most significant area of investment for the company. As you all know, we have plans to invest aggressively in content in 2016 and beyond.’

Stratasys (SSYS) David Reis on Q3 2015 Results

Excess capacity created by extraordinary expansion in 2014

“We also believe the situation has been worsened by the negative impact of excess capacity that followed the two-year period of extraordinary industry expansion that ended in 2014. Reflecting the low visibility of the current market environment, expected orders did not materialize as expected at the end of the quarter.’

Focused on adjusting the cost structure of the company to fit customer demand

“what I can tell is that we are taking very seriously the change in the business volume that we see in front of us and we are dealing with adjusting the cost structure of the company, the entire cost structure of the company not only MakerBot, to fit through what we see today in the market in terms of customer demand.”

Douglas Emmett’s (DEI) CEO Jordan Kaplan on Q3 2015 Results

Seems like occupancy is being driven by much stronger tenants

“I would say that, what’s driving — what’s going on here right now is a much stronger and wider base than what was driving the run up in ’04, ’05, ’06 and ’07. It’s way more comfortable, a way better percentage of kind of expenses for the tenants. The tenants are very — we’re seeing strong balance sheet and good credit. We’re seeing a good diversity of industries. You’re not seeing like a heavy lean on, I remember before, it was the mortgage — these mortgage guys were taking huge chunks of space”

“the strength in this market, all seems really healthy going to just literally more functional space for our tenants, as opposed to some of the tenants before that were literally just space grabbing and whether it be a big dotcom guy that didn’t exist a year ago and all of a sudden now needs 50,000 feet, 100,000 feet. What’s going on now seems a lot more comfortable and it’s backed by much stronger, more established tenants.”

Annaly Capital Management’s (NLY) CEO Kevin Keyes on Q3 2015 Results

Continued improvement in CRE fundamentals in the US

“The third quarter saw continued improved in U.S. commercial real estate fundamentals with healthy demand across all property types. Vacancy rates across all asset types declined compared to last quarter, with office and industrial continuing a trend of 22 consecutive quarters of positive demand.”

While the pace of CRE asset sales has slowed, we don’t see this as a weakening trend

“While the pace of sales has more recently begun to slow down 10% in September, we don’t see this as a weakening trend, as large take-private transactions continue to be announced with private equity taking advantage of the discount between listed markets and asset values.”

CMBS spreads have moved wider, but cap rates have not yet moved higher

“Spreads, however, have a continued widening that started this summer, with AAAs now at about 120 basis points, 32 basis points wider than at the beginning of the year and 34 basis points wider than this time last year. In addition, BBBs are almost 200 basis points wider than this time last year. While, this type of rate expansion is significant, we have not yet seen cap rates move higher. ”

Colgate Palmolive 3Q14 Earnings Call Notes

Posted on by

This post is part of a series of posts called “Company Notes.” These posts contain quotes and exhibits from earnings calls, conference presentations, analyst days and SEC filings. Full transcripts can be found at Seeking Alpha

China inventory destocking has corrected itself

“Now very specific to China, on the last call, we described and explained how the combination of the deceleration in consumer consumption led to a destocking of the extended distribution system in China through distributors and wholesalers and that we thought that would correct itself in response to a question, if I recall, within 60 to 90 days. And somebody said, well, does that mean the China business will come back from a Colgate volume point of view towards the end of the third quarter? Now many of us have just come back from an extended trip to Asia and I’m pleased to say that is precisely what has happened. In other words, while China for the quarter remains modestly negative, what we saw in terms of independent offtake data is consumption at about mid-single digits and the destocking working itself through the system. So as we finished the quarter, our volume was now servicing again that mid-single-digit rate of consumption. ”

Brazil is a little behind China but on the same path

“Brazil is China redux except a little bit later. I think, frankly, we were planning for a recovery following the World Cup and that didn’t occur. The category growth rates repeated what we saw in China. And the inventory destocking also compounded against that reduced consumer consumption level. And again, as Bina has said, we have begun to see that come back in Brazil, with the category growth rates now in the mid-single digits. ”

India and the rest of Asia did well and China is back to mid single digit growth

“when Bina said India was strong, India was strong. And the Southeast Asian countries generally performed very, very well during the quarter. So it really is China and the correction of that Chinese business back to, I stress, this underlying mid-single-digit consumption rate for consumers.”

Signs US may be accelerating, destocking is done

Yes, let’s not get too excited. I think, the U.S. is showing modest acceleration. But these things have tended to be lumpy. But I tried to imply that in my remark on category growth that we are indeed seeing the U.S. upshift towards the higher end of that 2% range. On the destocking, given the vastness of the 2 geographies and the indirect nature of the distribution, China, which we talked about in the second quarter, we believe on the data we see is done, was done by the end of the third quarter. Brazil is on the way to being done and that will be completed during the fourth quarter. There are no other spots of destocking.”

Colgate at Barclays Conference Notes

Posted on by

This post is part of a series of posts called “Company Notes.” These posts contain quotes and exhibits from earnings calls, conference presentations, analyst days and SEC filings. Full transcripts can be found at Seeking Alpha

Analytics drives innovation

“an area that I have talked about before which drives innovation is analytics, and we believe that analytics is a competence for the 21st century. We have the data. The question is, how do you aggregate it, cleanse it, interrogate it and use it quickly to drive action either in the development of innovation or the execution of programs behind innovation around the world. And we have a very simple approach to analysis. The first is building a foundation, which we call get ready, standardizing the fundamentals of analytics so that you can free up time for the more powerful what ifs, and then leveraging those analytics to fundamentally accelerate growth on the ground, all supported by a robust analytics capability driven by technology.”

Emerging markets still provide a lot of growth opportunity

“The developing world, an area where there is a lot of discussion. Overall, the markets are still vibrant. If you look at the macros, while slowing, they still outpace obviously the developed world. The underlying population dynamics are of course encouraging for our consumer products, the business in terms of how the world population is projected to grow and where the bulk of that growth, nearly 95% of it, is going to come from. And with that growth in population, you see rising per capita income, which brings people into our categories and brings people into the middle class where they enter our categories. And if you take the long view, our growth in the emerging markets has been good”

Colgate Palmolive 3Q13 Earnings Call Notes

Posted on by
Reply

This post is part of a series of posts called “Company Notes.” These posts contain quotes and exhibits from earnings calls, conference presentations, analyst days and SEC filings. The quotes are generally pieces of information that I find interesting or helpful to understanding the company, industry or economy and are not meant to provide summaries of the full content of the call. Other posts in this series can be found by clicking here. Full transcripts can be found at Seeking Alpha.

“Innovation is key to driving share and category growth, and we referenced a number of successful new product launches across the region in the press release.”

” in the current more benign commodity environment that we have certainly seen this year and so far moving into next year, we’re going to continue to expect and see progress on the gross margin line”

“The market share for global toothpaste was 45%. It was modestly down because of market share declines in a couple of key geographies. One was Mexico, although it’s still over 80%”

“when we think about brand engagement with our consumers, frankly, we think about it holistically. And as I’ve said before, even though it may not be popular because there’s still this feeling that if it goes to trade spending, it’s bad advertising. And if it comes below the line as we were all brought up, it is somehow good advertising. The fact of the matter is with the techniques available to you today, you can foster some incredible engagement that is brand building and trial generating with our consumers at the retail level. So first of all, we do think about it holistically. And yes, our advertising has increased, but so has our total commercial investment.”

“in terms of that commodity environment, we have literally just begun our planning process. As we have said many times, our belief is that you build categories by building brands, which is a combination of building your base business and adding relevant innovation. We do not believe that the short-term pricing activity accomplishes that nor do we believe it is rational or sustainable. ”