日化消费公司二季度业绩显示高端新品仍有需求但分化明显

Earnings posted by Church & Dwight Co.and Colgate-Palmolive Co. suggest US consumers are still willing to shell out more for new products they perceive as high-quality, even for everyday products like cat litter and mouthwash.

Church & Dwight boosted its outlook for the remainder of the year, projecting organic sales growth of between 4% and 5%, bolstered by new product launches, growing online sales and recent acquisitions of trendy brands like Touchland hand sanitizers. It previously forecast growth of 3% to 4%.

Colgate-Palmolive, which has seen North American shoppers pull back and fiercer competition for shelf space at key retailers, stuck to its sales growth outlook. It’s betting on “premium innovation” like new whitening toothpastes to turn sales in that segment around, it said in a statement Friday.

Companies that make consumer staples like personal care and cleaning products have faced a challenging consumer outlook, combined with rising costs for raw materials and shipping amid the Middle East conflict. Earlier this week, Procter & Gamble Co. reported organic sales growth that trailed expectations and gave a more conservative outlookas higher fuel costs and other supply-chain expenses would hurt earnings in the coming months.

New Products

Church & Dwight’s second-quarter net sales grew 1.6% to $1.53 billion, just ahead of analyst expectations. Approximately half of Church & Dwight’s growth this year will come from new product launches like Arm & Hammer cat litter and Hero acne cleansers, Chief Executive Officer Rick Dierker said in a statement.

The Ewing, New Jersey-based company has also been leaning into online sales, with e-commerce now responsible for over a quarter of its total sales. Church & Dwight said in late May that it would pay around $325 million to acquire Miss Mouth’s Messy Eater stain remover, a top-selling brand on Amazon.com.

Colgate reported organic sales growth of 2.4% for the second quarter, in line with estimates. Diluted earnings per share fell 5.5% to 86 cents, trailing the 93 cent average estimate.

Still, Colgate’s North American sales continued to slump, falling 3% in the quarter. The consumer product giant’s growth has primarily been powered by emerging markets like Latin America, where sales rose 13.7%.

Church & Dwight’s shares rose as much as 2% in premarket trading in New York, while Colgate-Palmolive shares fell as much as 2.8%.

The companies are also ramping up marketing spending as they try to woo more budget-conscious shoppers, a delicate dance as their costs rise and firms try to avoid increasing the prices shoppers pay. Both Church & Dwight and Colgate said Friday they planned to spend more on marketing this year to win market share.