# COLGATE PALMOLIVE CO (CL)

Informational only - not investment advice.

CIK: 0000021665
SIC: 2844 Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations
SIC breadcrumb: [Manufacturing](/division/D/) > [Chemicals And Allied Products](/major-group/28/) > [SIC 2844 Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations](/industry/2844/)
Latest 10-K filed: 2026-02-23
SEC page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=21665
Filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166526000006/cl-20251231.htm

## At a glance

FY2025 · period end 2025-12-31 · filed 2026-02-23 · accession 0000021665-26-000006 · source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000021665.json

| Metric | Value | FY | Provenance |
| --- | ---: | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 20,382,000,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Net income | 2,132,000,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Assets | 16,330,000,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Free cash flow | 3,634,000,000 USD | 2025 | computed |
| Net margin | 10.46% | 2025 | computed |
| Operating margin | 16.22% | 2025 | computed |
| Revenue YoY | +1.40% | 2025 | computed |

Computed values are grepcent-computed from the verified facts above and may differ from ratios the company itself reports. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capital expenditures. Net margin = net income ÷ revenue. Operating margin = operating income ÷ revenue. Revenue YoY = FY2025 revenue ÷ FY2024 revenue − 1 (consecutive fiscal years only).

No market price, no rating, no forecast on this site. Not investment advice.

### Peer percentile fingerprint

| Ratio | CL | Peer median | Percentile | N |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 10.5% | 1.6% | 88 | 9 |
| Operating margin | 16.2% | 4.3% | 88 | 9 |
| Revenue growth | 1.4% | 0.1% | 62 | 9 |
| FCF margin | 17.8% | 11.4% | 100 | 9 |
| ROA | 13.1% | 1.1% | 100 | 9 |
| Liabilities / equity | 73.12 | 1.52 | 100 | 9 |
| Current ratio | 0.83 | 1.76 | 12 | 9 |

Percentile = share of the N covered peers reporting that ratio whose value is lower (ties counted half); computed among grepcent-covered companies in SIC industry 2844 Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations, not the whole market. A higher percentile means a higher value of the ratio, not a better company. Ratios with fewer than 8 reporting peers are omitted. Latest reported values per company; fiscal periods may differ. Descriptive arithmetic - not a score, rating, or ranking.

## Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
| --- | ---: | --- | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 20382000000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |
| Net income | 2132000000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |
| Assets | 16330000000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |

## Financials

Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-23. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000021665.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Revenue | 15,195,000,000 | 15,454,000,000 | 15,544,000,000 | 15,693,000,000 | 16,471,000,000 | 17,421,000,000 | 17,967,000,000 | 19,457,000,000 | 20,101,000,000 | 20,382,000,000 |
| Net income | 2,441,000,000 | 2,024,000,000 | 2,400,000,000 | 2,367,000,000 | 2,695,000,000 | 2,166,000,000 | 1,785,000,000 | 2,300,000,000 | 2,889,000,000 | 2,132,000,000 |
| Operating income | 3,955,000,000 | 3,707,000,000 | 3,694,000,000 | 3,554,000,000 | 3,885,000,000 | 3,332,000,000 | 2,893,000,000 | 3,984,000,000 | 4,268,000,000 | 3,306,000,000 |
| Gross profit | 9,123,000,000 | 9,280,000,000 | 9,231,000,000 | 9,325,000,000 | 10,017,000,000 | 10,375,000,000 | 10,248,000,000 | 11,326,000,000 | 12,161,000,000 | 12,251,000,000 |
| Diluted EPS | 2.72 | 2.28 | 2.75 | 2.75 | 3.14 | 2.55 | 2.13 | 2.77 | 3.51 | 2.63 |
| Operating cash flow | 3,141,000,000 | 3,054,000,000 | 3,056,000,000 | 3,133,000,000 | 3,719,000,000 | 3,325,000,000 | 2,556,000,000 | 3,745,000,000 | 4,107,000,000 | 4,198,000,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 593,000,000 | 553,000,000 | 436,000,000 | 335,000,000 | 410,000,000 | 567,000,000 | 696,000,000 | 705,000,000 | 561,000,000 | 564,000,000 |
| Share buybacks | 1,335,000,000 | 1,399,000,000 | 1,238,000,000 | 1,202,000,000 | 1,476,000,000 | 1,320,000,000 | 1,308,000,000 | 1,128,000,000 | 1,739,000,000 | 1,210,000,000 |
| Assets | 12,123,000,000 | 12,676,000,000 | 12,161,000,000 | 15,034,000,000 | 15,920,000,000 | 15,040,000,000 | 15,731,000,000 | 16,393,000,000 | 16,046,000,000 | 16,330,000,000 |
| Liabilities | 12,106,000,000 | 12,433,000,000 | 11,964,000,000 | 14,476,000,000 | 14,819,000,000 | 14,069,000,000 | 14,925,000,000 | 15,436,000,000 | 15,502,000,000 | 15,965,000,000 |
| Stockholders' equity | -243,000,000 | -60,000,000 | -102,000,000 | 117,000,000 | 743,000,000 | 609,000,000 | 401,000,000 | 609,000,000 | 212,000,000 | 54,000,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 1,315,000,000 | 1,535,000,000 | 726,000,000 | 883,000,000 | 888,000,000 | 832,000,000 | 775,000,000 | 966,000,000 | 1,096,000,000 | 1,288,000,000 |
| Free cash flow | 2,548,000,000 | 2,501,000,000 | 2,620,000,000 | 2,798,000,000 | 3,309,000,000 | 2,758,000,000 | 1,860,000,000 | 3,040,000,000 | 3,546,000,000 | 3,634,000,000 |

### Ratios

ROE and ROA use period-end equity/assets. Liabilities / equity uses total liabilities divided by stockholders' equity. Current ratio uses current assets divided by current liabilities when both are reported.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 16.06% | 13.10% | 15.44% | 15.08% | 16.36% | 12.43% | 9.93% | 11.82% | 14.37% | 10.46% |
| Operating margin | 26.03% | 23.99% | 23.76% | 22.65% | 23.59% | 19.13% | 16.10% | 20.48% | 21.23% | 16.22% |
| Return on assets | 20.14% | 15.97% | 19.74% | 15.74% | 16.93% | 14.40% | 11.35% | 14.03% | 18.00% | 13.06% |
| Liabilities / equity |  |  |  |  | 19.94 | 23.10 | 37.22 | 25.35 | 73.12 |  |
| Current ratio | 1.31 | 1.36 | 1.14 | 1.03 | 0.99 | 1.09 | 1.28 | 1.11 | 0.92 | 0.83 |

## As-reported value updates

2 tracked differences above grepcent's stated thresholds were found between the earliest XBRL-filed value and the value currently on file for the same fiscal period.

Ledger: /company/CL/revisions/


## Quarterly

Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-07-31. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000021665.json.

Flow metrics use discrete quarter-length periods from 10-Q/10-Q/A filings. Q4 revenue and net income are derived only when annual FY and nine-month YTD facts exist for the same fiscal year; derived Q4 values are labeled. EPS Q4 is not derived.

| Quarter | End date | Revenue | Net income | Diluted EPS | Method |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 |  |  | 0.74 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 |  |  | 0.45 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 |  |  | 0.60 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 4,915,000,000 | 708,000,000 | 0.86 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 4,950,000,000 | 718,000,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 5,065,000,000 | 683,000,000 | 0.83 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 5,058,000,000 | 731,000,000 | 0.89 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 5,033,000,000 | 737,000,000 | 0.90 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 4,945,000,000 | 739,000,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 4,911,000,000 | 690,000,000 | 0.85 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 5,110,000,000 | 743,000,000 | 0.91 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 5,131,000,000 | 735,000,000 | 0.91 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 5,230,000,000 | -37,000,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 5,324,000,000 | 646,000,000 | 0.80 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-06-30 | 5,361,000,000 | 693,000,000 | 0.86 | reported discrete quarter |

## Filed narrative (10-K & 10-Q)

## Business

Verbatim Item 1 Business section from CL's latest 10-K: [/company/CL/business/](/company/CL/business/).

## Risk Factors

Verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from CL's latest 10-K: [/company/CL/risk-factors/](/company/CL/risk-factors/).

## Latest quarter (10-Q)

Latest 10-Q source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166526000042/cl-20260630.htm

Extracted from a later financial-section MD&A body after Item 2 boundaries were low-confidence.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-07-31
Report date: 2026-06-30

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial

Condition and Results of Operations

(Dollars in Millions Except Per Share Amounts)

Executive Overview

Business Organization

Colgate-Palmolive Company (together with its subsidiaries, “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” or “Colgate-Palmolive”) is a caring, innovative growth company united behind our purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet. To achieve our business and financial objectives and deliver peer-leading performance and total shareholder return, we are focused on driving organic sales growth; delivering consistent, compounded earnings per share growth; achieving operational efficiencies; and driving growth in free cash flow along with the efficient use of our balance sheet.

We are tightly focused on two product segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. Within these segments, we follow a closely defined business strategy to grow our key product categories and increase our overall market share. Within the categories in which we compete, we prioritize our efforts based on their capacity to maximize the use of the organization’s core competencies and strong global equities and to deliver sustainable, profitable long-term growth.

Operationally, we are organized along geographic lines with management teams having responsibility for the business and financial results in each region. We compete in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide with established businesses in all regions contributing to our sales and profitability. Approximately two-thirds of our Net sales are generated from markets outside the United States, with approximately 45% of our Net sales coming from emerging markets (which consist of Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan), Africa, the Middle East and Eastern and Central Europe). This geographic diversity and balance help to reduce our exposure to business and other risks in any one country or part of the world.

The Oral, Personal and Home Care product segment is managed geographically in four reportable operating segments: North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa (“EMEA”) and Asia Pacific, all of which sell primarily to a variety of retailers, wholesalers, distributors, dentists and, in some geographies, skin health professionals. Through Hill’s Pet Nutrition, we also compete on a worldwide basis in the pet nutrition market, selling products principally through authorized pet supply retailers, veterinarians and eCommerce retailers. We also sell certain of our products direct-to-consumer. We are engaged in manufacturing and sourcing of products and materials on a global scale and have major manufacturing facilities, warehousing facilities and distribution centers in every region around the world.

As part of the Strategic Growth and Productivity Program, to further optimize and leverage the operating scale and drive growth within the Europe and Africa/Eurasia regions, we realigned our reportable operating segments effective for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. As a result, we combined the results of our Europe and Africa/Eurasia (excluding Russia and Belarus) reportable operating segments and our skin health business (previously within the North America reportable operating segment) into a new EMEA reportable operating segment. In conjunction with this realignment, Russia and Belarus, which were previously reported within the Africa/Eurasia reportable operating segment, are reported within the Asia Pacific reportable operating segment. This reportable operating segment realignment did not impact our historical consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows. We have recast our historical geographic segment information to conform to the new reporting structure.

On an ongoing basis, management focuses on a variety of key indicators to monitor business health and performance. These indicators include net sales (including volume, pricing and foreign exchange components), organic sales growth (net sales growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestments), a non-GAAP financial measure, and gross profit margin, selling, general and administrative expenses, operating profit, net income and earnings per share, in each case, on a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, as well as measures used to optimize the management of working capital, capital expenditures, cash flow and return on capital. In addition, we review market share, household penetration and other data to assess how our brands are performing within their categories on a global and regional basis. The monitoring of these indicators and our Code of Conduct and corporate governance practices help to maintain business health and strong internal controls. For additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures and the Company’s use of market share data and the limitations of such data, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Market Share Information” below.

25

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial

Condition and Results of Operations

(Dollars in Millions Except Per Share Amounts)

Global Trade Relations

Major developments in trade relations, including the imposition of new or increased tariffs by the United States and/or other countries, have contributed to and are expected to continue to contribute to inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic and market volatility. These developments have also impacted and may continue to impact consumer sentiment, consumption, discretionary spending and/or purchasing patterns. In addition, they have impacted and may continue to impact the cost and/or availability of raw and packaging materials and the price of our products. While we have made and will continue to make efforts to mitigate the impact of these and any additional tariffs imposed by the United States and/or other countries or shifts in trade agreements, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, they or our mitigating actions could have a material effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. For additional information, see “Outlook” below.

The War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine, and the related geopolitical tensions, have had and continue to have a significant impact on our operations in Ukraine and Russia, though it has not been material to our Consolidated Financial Statements. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, risks related to the impact of the war in Ukraine, including increases in the costs and, in certain cases, limitations on the availability of certain raw and packaging materials and commodities (including oil and natural gas), supply chain and logistics challenges, import restrictions, foreign currency volatility and reputational concerns. We also have faced and continue to face challenges to our ability to repatriate cash from Russia and identify banking partners to support our Russian operations and we may face challenges to our ability to protect our assets in Russia. We also continue to monitor the impact of sanctions, export controls and import restrictions.

The Conflict in the Middle East

The conflict in the Middle East, including between the United States and Iran, has had and may continue to have macroeconomic impacts, such as heightened inflationary pressures and increased capital markets and foreign exchange volatility. It did not have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The conflict has negatively impacted and may in the future negatively impact, among other things, supply chain and logistics, the availability and price of raw and packaging materials and commodities (particularly oil, resin and agricultural products), consumer sentiment and consumption and category growth rates. The full impact of the conflict on our business may not be fully realized for some time due to, among other things, our mitigation efforts, contingency plans and procurement processes.

For more information about factors that could impact our business, including with respect to global trade relations, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, refer to Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Business Strategy

Our 2030 strategy, which builds on the success of our 2025 strategy that concluded last year, is intended to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share growth over the long term and to accelerate Net sales and organic sales growth through several key initiatives. These initiatives include leveraging the global reach and penetration of our brands; building the incremental benefit of superior, science-based innovation supported by an agile and resilient supply chain; harnessing the power of best-in-class omni-channel demand generation; leading in capabilities such as data, analytics and artificial intelligence (“AI”); and evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture.

Additionally, on July 31, 2025, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) approved a three-year productivity program to drive future growth and support our 2030 strategy (the “Strategic Growth and Productivity Program”). The program includes initiatives to better align our organizational structure to support our strategic initiatives, optimize our global supply chain to drive agility and efficiencies and simplify and streamline our organizational structure to reduce overhead costs. On April 30, 2026, our Board approved an expansion of the program to continue to align our operations to drive future growth and support our 2030 strategy. The Strategic Growth and Productivity Program is estimated to result in cumulative pre-tax charges, once all initiatives are approved and implemented, totaling between $350 and $550. It is estimated that substantially all charges will be incurred by December 31, 2028. Annualized pre-tax savings are projected to be in the range of $200 to $300, once all projects are approved and implemented. For more information regarding the Strategic Growth and Productivity Program, see “Restructuring and Related Implementation Charges” below.

26

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial

Condition and Results of Operations

(Dollars in Millions Except Per Share Amounts)

The investments needed to drive growth are also supported through continuous, company-wide initiatives to lower costs and increase effective asset utilization. Through these initiatives, which are referred to as our funding-the-growth initiatives, we seek to become even more effective and efficient throughout our businesses. These initiatives are designed to reduce costs associated with direct materials, indirect expenses, distribution and logistics and advertising and promotional materials, among other things, and encompass a wide range of projects, examples of which include raw material substitution, reduction of packaging materials, consolidating suppliers to leverage volumes and increasing manufacturing efficiency through SKU reductions and formulation simplification.

We believe strong free cash flow performance is key to enabling us to invest for future growth and superior total shareholder return. We achieve this through increasing net income, optimizing working capital and through high return capital expenditures focused on growth and profitability.

The efficient use of our balance sheet, including prudent management of our capital structure, is also critical. We continue to prioritize our investments in high growth and high margin segments within our Oral Care, Personal Care and Pet Nutrition businesses and to make careful decisions about our brand portfolio. Finally, we drive additional value to shareholders by returning cash through dividends and ongoing share repurchases.

Significant Items Impacting Comparability

The Strategic Growth and Productivity Progr

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

## Latest 10-K MD&A (excerpt)

Latest 10-K Item 7 source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166526000006/cl-20251231.htm
Complete FY 2025 MD&A: /company/CL/mda/fy2025/

Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary. Published MD&A gate trimmed front/tail over-capture.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-02-23
Report date: 2025-12-31

ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Executive Overview

Business Organization

Colgate-Palmolive Company (together with its subsidiaries, “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” or “Colgate-Palmolive”) is a caring, innovative growth company united behind our purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet. To achieve our business and financial objectives and deliver peer-leading performance and total shareholder return, we are focused on driving organic sales growth; delivering consistent, compounded earnings per share growth; achieving operational efficiencies; and driving growth in free cash flow along with the efficient use of our balance sheet.

We are tightly focused on two product segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. Within these segments, we follow a closely defined business strategy to grow our key product categories and increase our overall market share. Within the categories in which we compete, we prioritize our efforts based on their capacity to maximize the use of the organization’s core competencies and strong global equities and to deliver sustainable, profitable long-term growth.

Operationally, we are organized along geographic lines with management teams having responsibility for the business and financial results in each region. We compete in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide with established businesses in all regions contributing to our sales and profitability. Approximately two-thirds of our Net sales are generated from markets outside the United States, with approximately 45% of our Net sales coming from emerging markets (which consist of Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan), Africa/Eurasia and Central Europe). This geographic diversity and balance help to reduce our exposure to business and other risks in any one country or part of the world.

The Oral, Personal and Home Care product segment is managed geographically in five reportable operating segments: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa/Eurasia, all of which sell primarily to a variety of retailers, wholesalers, distributors, dentists and, in some geographies, skin health professionals. Through Hill’s Pet Nutrition, we also compete on a worldwide basis in the pet nutrition market, selling products principally through authorized pet supply retailers, veterinarians and eCommerce retailers. We also sell certain of our products direct-to-consumer. We are engaged in manufacturing and sourcing of products and materials on a global scale and have major manufacturing facilities, warehousing facilities and distribution centers in every region around the world.

On an ongoing basis, management focuses on a variety of key indicators to monitor business health and performance. These indicators include net sales (including volume, pricing and foreign exchange components), organic sales growth (net sales growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestments), a non-GAAP financial measure, and gross profit margin, selling, general and administrative expenses, operating profit, net income and earnings per share, in each case, on a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, as well as measures used to optimize the management of working capital, capital expenditures, cash flow and return on capital. In addition, we review market share, household penetration and other data to assess how our brands are performing within their categories on a global and regional basis. The monitoring of these indicators and our Code of Conduct and corporate governance practices help to maintain business health and strong internal controls. For additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures and the Company’s use of market share data and the limitations of such data, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Market Share Information” below.

Global Trade Relations

Major developments in trade relations, including the imposition of new or increased tariffs by the United States and/or other countries, such as China, including those threatened or imposed following the United States’ 2025 executive orders, retaliatory tariffs imposed by the United States’ trading partners or through the renegotiation of trade agreements, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, have contributed to and are expected to continue to contribute to inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic and market volatility. These developments have also impacted and may continue to impact consumer sentiment, consumption, discretionary spending and/or purchasing patterns. In addition, they have impacted and may continue to impact the cost and/or availability of raw and packaging materials and the price of our products. While we have made and will continue to make efforts to mitigate the impact of these and any additional tariffs imposed by the United States and/or other countries or shifts in trade agreements, they or our mitigating actions could have a material effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. For additional information, see “Outlook” below.

25

(Dollars in Millions Except Per Share Amounts)

The War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine, and the related geopolitical tensions have had and continue to have a significant impact on our operations in Ukraine and Russia, though it has not been material to our Consolidated Financial Statements. We have no manufacturing facilities in Russia. For the year ended December 31, 2025, our business in the Eurasia region constituted approximately 1% of our consolidated net sales and approximately 2% of our consolidated operating profit. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, risks related to the impact of the war in Ukraine, including increases in the costs and, in certain cases, limitations on the availability of certain raw and packaging materials and commodities (including oil and natural gas), supply chain and logistics challenges, import restrictions, foreign currency volatility and reputational concerns. We also have faced and continue to face challenges to our ability to repatriate cash from Russia and identify financial institutions and services to support our Russian operations and we may face challenges to our ability to protect our assets in Russia. We also continue to monitor the impact of sanctions, export controls and import restrictions.

For more information about factors that could impact our business, including as a result of developments in global trade relations and geopolitical events and tensions, wars and military conflicts, refer to Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Business Strategy

We have concluded our 2025 strategic plan, delivering improved organic sales growth, consistent dollar-based earnings per share growth and increased capabilities in areas such as science-led core and premium innovation, digital, data, analytics and artificial intelligence (“AI”), despite macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges. Our 2030 strategy is intended to accelerate growth going forward through several key initiatives. These initiatives include leveraging the global reach and penetration of our brands; building the incremental benefit of superior, science-based innovation supported by an agile and resilient supply chain; harnessing the power of best-in-class omni-channel demand generation; leading in capabilities such as data, analytics and AI; and evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture.

Additionally, on July 31, 2025, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) approved a new three-year productivity program to drive future growth and support our 2030 strategy (the “Strategic Growth and Productivity Program”). The program includes initiatives to better align our organizational structure to support our strategic initiatives, optimize our global supply chain to drive agility and efficiencies and simplify and streamline our organizational structure to reduce overhead costs. The Strategic Growth and Productivity Program is estimated to result in cumulative pre-tax charges, once all initiatives are approved and implemented, of between $200 and $300. It is estimated that substantially all charges will be incurred by December 31, 2028. For more information regarding the Strategic Growth and Productivity Program, see “Restructuring and Related Implementation Charges” below.

The investments needed to drive growth are also supported through continuous, company-wide initiatives to lower costs and increase effective asset utilization. Through these initiatives, which are referred to as our funding-the-growth initiatives, we seek to become even more effective and efficient throughout our businesses. These initiatives are designed to reduce costs associated with direct materials, indirect expenses, distribution and logistics and advertising and promotional materials, among other things, and encompass a wide range of projects, examples of which include raw material substitution, reduction of packaging materials, consolidating suppliers to leverage volumes and increasing manufacturing efficiency through SKU reductions and formulation simplification.

We believe strong free cash flow performance is a key priority to drive future growth and superior total shareholder return. We achieve this through increasing net income, optimizing working capital and through high return capital expenditures focused on growth and profitability.

The efficient use of our balance sheet, including prudent management of our capital structure, is also critical. We continue to prioritize our investments in high growth and high margin segments within our Oral Care, Personal Care and Pet Nutrition businesses and to make careful decisions about our brand portfolio. Finally, we drive additional value to shareholders by returning cash through dividends and ongoing share repurchases.

26

(Dollars in Millions Except Per Share Amounts)

Significant Items Impacting Comparability

In the fourth quarter of 2025, we recorded a non-cash charge of $794 aftertax ($919 pretax) to adjust the carrying values of goodwill and intangible assets related to the skin health business. Given lower than expected category growth rates and weaker than expected performance, particularly in China, we have lowered our outlook for the skin health business, primarily Filorga. See Note 5, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

On April 30, 2025, we acquired Care TopCo Pty Ltd, the owner of the Prime100 pet food business, for cash consideration of AU $471 (approximately $301). This acquisition provides our Hill’s Pet Nutrition segment with an entry into the fast-growing fresh pet food category in Australia. Refer to Note 3, Acquisitions to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2025, we recorded a charge of $65 following a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirming the ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”) on certain calculation issues related to the District Court’s earlier grant of summary judgment to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, seeking the recalculation of benefits and other relief associated with a 2005 residual annuity amendment to the Colgate-Palmolive Company Employees’ Retirement Income Plan (the “Retirement Plan”). The decision resulted in an increase in the obligations of the Retirement Plan. During the quarter ended December 31, 2025, we reclassified the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs that will be paid by us from Non-service related postretirement costs to Selling, general and administrative expenses. See Note 13, Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]

Read the full FY 2025 MD&A: /company/CL/mda/fy2025/
All MD&A years: /company/CL/mda/


## MD&A history

Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. Each year's full verbatim text is on its own sub-page.

- [FY 2024 MD&A](/company/CL/mda/fy2024/): filed 2025-02-13; accession 0000021665-25-000008 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166525000008/cl-20241231.htm)
- [FY 2023 MD&A](/company/CL/mda/fy2023/): filed 2024-02-15; accession 0000021665-24-000003 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166524000003/cl-20231231.htm)
- [FY 2022 MD&A](/company/CL/mda/fy2022/): filed 2023-02-16; accession 0000021665-23-000007 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166523000007/cl-20221231.htm)
- [FY 2021 MD&A](/company/CL/mda/fy2021/): filed 2022-02-17; accession 0000021665-22-000003 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/21665/000002166522000003/cl-20211231.htm)




## Macro cross-references

Indicators mapped to this company's SIC classification (industry 2844 Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations) by grepcent's deterministic macro-sector crosswalk. A navigational mapping, not a statistical or causal claim.

- [INDPRO](/indicator/INDPRO/): Industrial Production: Total Index
- [TCU](/indicator/TCU/): Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- [PPIACO](/indicator/PPIACO/): Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- [GDPC1](/indicator/GDPC1/): Real Gross Domestic Product
- [DGS10](/indicator/DGS10/): Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- [FEDFUNDS](/indicator/FEDFUNDS/): Federal Funds Effective Rate
- [CES0500000003](/indicator/CES0500000003/): Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- [PAYEMS](/indicator/PAYEMS/): All Employees, Total Nonfarm

Macro-to-micro threads including this sector: [Inflation (CPI / PCE / PPI)](/thread/inflation-cpi-pce-ppi/), [US labor market](/thread/us-labor-market/), [Growth & output](/thread/growth-output/), [Money & trade](/thread/money-trade/), [Government finances](/thread/government-finances/), [Sector employment](/thread/sector-employment/), [Industrial orders & inventories](/thread/industrial-orders/), [Trade & external](/thread/trade-external/).

All macro indicators: /indicators/


## For LLMs & downloads

Markdown twin: /company/CL.md · JSON record: /company/CL.json · verified financials: /company/CL/financials.json / /company/CL/financials.csv · machine TOC for the whole site: /llms.txt