Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) dbAccess Global Consumer Conference Call June 4, 2025 8:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Noel R. Wallace – Chairman, CEO & President
Conference Call Participants
Stephen Robert R. Powers – Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division
Stephen Robert R. Powers
thrilled to have back Noel Wallace, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. And we’re going to use the entirety of our time for Q&A. So thank you, Noel, for joining us.
Noel R. Wallace
Pleasure.
Question-and-Answer Session
Stephen Robert R. Powers
We’ll just jump right in. So I’m going to start — the way I’ve started a lot of these conversations was just sort of the environment that we’re all finding ourselves in. Very eventful start to 2025, lots of different competing pressures essentially on both the consumer and really your retail partners, especially in the U.S.
Maybe we start there, just talk about your assessment of the consumer broadly and how recent dynamics have impacted your categories?
Noel R. Wallace
Yes. We came into ’25 expecting to see a slowdown. Obviously, a lot of inflationary pricing in ’24 — ’23 and ’24, strong volume growth in the back half of ’24.
Stephen Robert R. Powers
So sort of … we’ve had some environment that we’re all finding ourselves in ’25…
Noel R. Wallace
So the full expectation thing will slow down. I mean what’s changed that is, I think, a much more pensive consumer. And I think you’ve heard it consistently throughout the week that the consumer is a bit uncertain and as a result, being more cautionary in their purchase patterns. And as a result, we’re seeing slowdown in the categories. If I move around the world, I mean, obviously, the U.S., we talked about it on the call. We had — just in context for those of you who didn’t hear what I explained, 12 categories down in February. We
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