Colgate Palmolive Company (CL) swung to a net profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has made a net profit of $606 million, or $ 0.68 a share in the quarter, against a net loss of $458 million, or $0.51 a share in the last year period. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $667 million, or $0.75 a share compared with $655 million or $0.73 a share, a year ago.
Revenue during the quarter dropped 4.57 percent to $3,721 million from $3,899 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 158 basis points over the previous year period to 60.39 percent. Operating margin for the quarter period stood at positive 25.67 percent as compared to a negative 3.57 percent for the previous year period.
Operating income for the quarter was $955 million, compared with an operating loss of $139 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $1,038 million compared to $1,015 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin improved 186 basis points in the quarter to 27.90 percent from 26.03 percent in the last year period.
Ian Cook, chairman, president and chief executive officer, commented on the fourth quarter results, “In the face of continued challenging macroeconomic conditions worldwide, foreign currency headwinds accelerating versus expectations, slowing category growth in several key markets and India’s demonetization, we achieved another quarter of organic sales growth. While net sales declined 4.5%, worldwide organic sales grew 1.5% led by emerging markets where organic sales grew 4.5%.
Operating cash flow improvesColgate Palmolive Company has generated cash of $3,141 million from operating activities during the year, up 6.51 percent or $192 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $499 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $685 million in the last year.
The company has spent $2,233 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $2,276 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $1,315 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 35.57 percent or $345 million from $970 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt remains almost stableTotal debt of Colgate Palmolive Company remained almost stable for the quarter at $6,533 million, when compared with the last year period. Total debt was 53.89 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 54.76 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: editor@irisindia.net
