Colgate-Palmolive reported net income of $ 564 million ($ 0.60 per share) in the fourth quarter of last year, a fall of 5.7% compared to $ 598 million ($ 0.63 per share) for the same period in 2012. Excluding extraordinary items, profit was $ 0.75 per share. Revenue increased 1.7 percent to $ 4.36 billion.
Analysts queried by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit per share of $ 0.74 and revenue of $ 4.38 billion.
According to the company, the result of the fourth quarter was driven by higher costs of products, although there is an increase in the volume of sales.
The highlight was for emerging markets, where organic sales increased 6.5%, despite the recent wave of pessimism about these countries. The competitors of Colgate-P&G, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever-also highlighted in their balance sheets the strength of those markets.
Gross margin rose to 58.9 percent, to 58.4%, and General and administrative expenses rose by 8.4%.
At 1:20 pm (Eastern), Colgate's shares rose 0.33 percent in New York, for $ 61,79. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.
O Estado de São Paulo - 30/01/2014
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