On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from COLGATE PALMOLIVE CO — ticker symbol CL. Reading current and past CL letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.
2025 Annual Report
2025 Highlights Colgate 1 1 1 Market Share in Toothpaste Worldwide Hill s Brand Recommended by Veterinarians in the U.S. Most Penetrated Brand Worldwide* 20.4B 4.2B 63 Record Worldwide Net Sales Record Operating Cash Flow Net Sales By Geographic Region Consecutive Years of Dividend Increases Net Sales By Market Maturity 56% Developed 56% Developed Markets 44% Markets Emerging 44% Emerging Markets Markets 20% North America 20% America 23% North Latin America 23% America 14% Latin Europe 14% Europe Asia Paci c 14% Paci c 6% Asia Africa/Eurasia 6% Africa/Eurasia 23% Hill s Pet Nutrition 23% Hill s Pet Nutrition 20% North America 20% North America 23% Latin America 23% Latin America 14% Europe 14% Europe 14% Asia Paci c 14% Asia Paci c 6% Africa/Eurasia 6% Africa/Eurasia 23% Hill s Pet Nutrition 23% Hill s Pet Nutrition *per Worldpanel by Numerator Brand Footprint 2025 report 56% Developed 56% Developed Markets Markets 44% Emerging 44% Emerging Markets Markets
Dear Colgate-Palmolive Shareholders resilient supply chain; harnessing the power Our 2025 performance highlights the of best-in-class omni-channel demand resilience of our business model and the generation; leading in capabilities like data, strength of our brands. In an operating analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and environment characterized by consumer evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture. uncertainty and a global slowdown in category growth, Colgate-Palmolive people operated with determination and Accelerating Sciencefocus. We delivered net sales growth, Led Innovation organic sales growth and, on a Base Innovation remains a key priority for our Business basis, increases in gross profit company. Over the last five years, we and earnings per share, while generating increased our percentage of sales from record operating cash flow to invest in innovation by nearly 600 basis points, the business and drive total shareholder but we believe we need to step that up Noel Wallace return. Net sales grew 1.4%; organic sales* further. To accelerate our innovation, we are also grew 1.4%, on top of strong 7.4% focusing on people-centric insights, utilizing organic sales growth in 2024, led by strength in oral care new innovation models to accelerate discovery and and pet nutrition, excluding private label as we have exited incubation and scaling our innovation efficiently across that non-strategic business. We strengthened our balance markets. We are deploying proprietary AI tools to analyze sheet and our Board of Directors authorized an increase in deep consumer insights and generate new concepts, the quarterly cash dividend. This was our 63rd consecutive images and copy. We are even utilizing "digital consumer twin" panels to test and validate ideas rapidly, giving us a year of dividend increases and our 131st consecutive year probability of success score before a product ever hits paying a dividend. the shelf. This approach allows us to test, iterate and refine products faster than ever as we focus on delivering Despite the many challenges we faced, including sluggish perceivable superiority with innovations that solve real category growth, significant raw material inflation and problems and create value. the impact of incremental tariffs, our strategy is working and delivering strong performance. We have grown our We are seeing the success of this approach across our company significantly over the last five years, driving portfolio. In Europe, our elmex franchise is driving record consistent top and bottom-line growth as we look to toothpaste market shares with premium, science-driven deliver peer-leading total shareholder return. While we offerings in the therapeutic oral care segment. In Asia expect the difficult operating environment and slower Pacific, Colgate Optic White Purple toothpaste and serum category growth to continue in the short term, the is fueling growth in the whitening segment. In Pet Nutrition, fundamentals of our business healthy brands, strong Hill s continues to outperform the category by staying market shares and a diverse global footprint position us disciplined and true to its science-based positioning, well to deliver peer-leading performance in the long term. gaining share in key fast-growing segments like cat and wet pet food. Moving forward, we will continue to invest to Launching Our 2030 Strategy accelerate innovation, particularly in geographies like the 2025 marked a pivotal moment for our company as U.S. and key emerging markets. we completed our 2025 strategic plan and introduced our 2030 strategy to the entire organization. Our 2025 strategy drove significant progress, adding $5 billion in Driving Omni-Channel net sales. Our 2030 strategy does not call for wholesale Demand Generation changes; rather, we are building on the strong base we A central pillar of our 2030 strategy is a shift toward created in the 2025 plan to accelerate the rate of change what we call omni-channel demand generation, or as we adapt to a more complex and dynamic environment. ODG. The days of relying on television networks and 30 Our 2030 strategy focuses resources on the areas that second commercials are far in the past; today, we must will deliver the greatest value, including the following key understand the "moments that matter" in the path to pillars: leveraging the global reach and penetration of purchase journey where consumers are discovering and our brands; building the incremental benefit of superior, shopping for products both offline and online, often science-based innovation supported by an agile and simultaneously. *For a reconciliation of organic sales growth to net sales growth, see page 48 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. 1
ODG requires us to behave and process inputs differently to execute more effectively on the ground. We need to seamlessly integrate our commercial spend across the organization to ensure our communication and creative content truly address consumer needs to drive awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty. As part of this effort, we are leveraging AI and working with our agency partners to create a global content supply chain that allows us to iterate creative assets efficiently, satisfying the high-speed, multi-format requirements of today's digital landscape. Leading in Data, Analytics and AI A critical enabler of our 2030 strategy is further enhancing our use of data and technology. Over the course of our 2025 strategy, we have built and scaled foundational capabilities in digital, data and analytics. A great example of this is how we are advancing our revenue growth management capabilities. We have moved from descriptive analytics to predictive models. This advanced technology allows us to ingest billions of data points, from volume and sales to margin inputs, and receive recommendations in minutes on how to optimize pricing and promotion. This shift allows us to make smarter, faster decisions that drive value for both Colgate-Palmolive and our retail partners. Now, under our 2030 strategy, we are integrating AI across our enterprise as a transformative driver of growth and productivity. AI will enable our teams to accelerate our innovation discovery and testing and provide the ability to generate on-brand content at scale to fuel our ODG initiatives. On the efficiency side, we have deployed advanced AI tools to the entire organization to upskill the team and allow them to create new use cases to drive better outcomes in every function. We will also seek to disrupt our own legacy processes and reconstruct them using the power of AI tools, with humans in the loop, to drive enterprise value. Strategic Growth and Productivity Program To deliver the productivity and efficiencies necessary to drive future growth, support our 2030 strategy and drive margin expansion, we announced a new productivity program, the Strategic Growth and Productivity Program (SGPP), in 2025. This program is in addition to our ongoing funding-the-growth productivity initiatives. The SGPP is a catalyst that will help us optimize our global supply chain and simplify and streamline our organizational structure to drive effectiveness in areas like innovation, ODG, AI, data and analytics. To succeed in today s omni-channel 2 environment, we are organizing ourselves differently for truly integrated collaboration as we work to deliver the right messages to the right people at the right time. Importantly, the SGPP also provides the funding to invest back into the business, to support our brands and further advance the capabilities I have outlined. By optimizing our organization today, we are securing the resources necessary to drive sustainable, profitable growth longer term. Reimagining a Healthier Future for All As we advance our financial and strategic goals, we remain united by our purpose: Colgate-Palmolive is a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet. Our commitment to sustainability and social impact is integrated into our business strategy with a focus on value creation and resilience for the long term. We have evolved and streamlined our Sustainability & Social Impact Strategy with fewer, more measurable key targets designed to drive value, while remaining focused on three areas where we lead: oral health with our Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program; eliminating plastic waste as we continue our journey to make all toothpaste tubes recyclable; and our impact on climate change through our net zero commitments. We are excited about the journey ahead. We have a clear strategy, a clear purpose and a high-impact inclusive culture aligned behind our 2030 priorities. I would like to thank all Colgate-Palmolive people around the world for their energy, resilience and unwavering commitment to achieving our goals, and express appreciation for our consumers, customers, suppliers, shareholders and Board of Directors. We are operating from a position of strength, and we are confident that the changes we are making should enable us to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share growth and drive value for all our stakeholders in 2026 and beyond. Sincerely, Noel Wallace Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
 • shareholder letter icon 3/25/2026 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 • stockholder letter icon 3/29/2023 CL Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 3/27/2024 CL Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 3/26/2025 CL Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon More "Consumer Goods" Category Stockholder Letters
 • Benford's Law Stocks icon CL Benford's Law Stock Score = 94


CL Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

2025 Annual Report

2025 Highlights
Colgate
1
1

1

Market Share
in Toothpaste
Worldwide

Hill   s

Brand Recommended
by Veterinarians
in the U.S.
Most
Penetrated Brand
Worldwide*
20.4B
4.2B
63

Record
Worldwide
Net Sales
Record
Operating
Cash Flow
Net Sales By Geographic Region
Consecutive
Years of Dividend
Increases
Net Sales By Market Maturity
56% Developed
56% Developed
Markets
44% Markets
Emerging
44% Emerging
Markets
Markets
20% North America
20%
America
23% North
Latin America
23%
America
14% Latin
Europe
14% Europe
Asia Paci   c
14%
Paci   c
6% Asia
Africa/Eurasia
6% Africa/Eurasia
23%
Hill   s Pet Nutrition
23% Hill   s Pet Nutrition
20% North America
20% North America
23% Latin America
23% Latin America
14% Europe
14% Europe
14% Asia Paci   c 14% Asia Paci   c
6% Africa/Eurasia
6% Africa/Eurasia
23% Hill   s Pet Nutrition
23% Hill   s Pet Nutrition
*per Worldpanel by Numerator Brand Footprint 2025 report
56% Developed 56% Developed
Markets
Markets
44% Emerging 44% Emerging
Markets
Markets

Dear Colgate-Palmolive Shareholders
resilient supply chain; harnessing the power
Our 2025 performance highlights the
of best-in-class omni-channel demand
resilience of our business model and the
generation; leading in capabilities like data,
strength of our brands. In an operating
analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and
environment characterized by consumer
evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture.
uncertainty and a global slowdown in
category growth, Colgate-Palmolive
people operated with determination and
Accelerating Sciencefocus. We delivered net sales growth,
Led Innovation
organic sales growth and, on a Base
Innovation remains a key priority for our
Business basis, increases in gross profit
company. Over the last five years, we
and earnings per share, while generating
increased our percentage of sales from
record operating cash flow to invest in
innovation by nearly 600 basis points,
the business and drive total shareholder
but we believe we need to step that up
Noel Wallace
return. Net sales grew 1.4%; organic sales*
further. To accelerate our innovation, we are
also grew 1.4%, on top of strong 7.4%
focusing on people-centric insights, utilizing
organic sales growth in 2024, led by strength in oral care
new innovation models to accelerate discovery and
and pet nutrition, excluding private label as we have exited
incubation and scaling our innovation efficiently across
that non-strategic business. We strengthened our balance markets. We are deploying proprietary AI tools to analyze
sheet and our Board of Directors authorized an increase in
deep consumer insights and generate new concepts,
the quarterly cash dividend. This was our 63rd consecutive
images and copy. We are even utilizing "digital consumer
twin" panels to test and validate ideas rapidly, giving us a
year of dividend increases and our 131st consecutive year
probability of success score before a product ever hits
paying a dividend.
the shelf. This approach allows us to test, iterate and
refine products faster than ever as we focus on delivering
Despite the many challenges we faced, including sluggish
perceivable superiority with innovations that solve real
category growth, significant raw material inflation and
problems and create value.
the impact of incremental tariffs, our strategy is working
and delivering strong performance. We have grown our
We are seeing the success of this approach across our
company significantly over the last five years, driving
portfolio. In Europe, our elmex franchise is driving record
consistent top and bottom-line growth as we look to
toothpaste market shares with premium, science-driven
deliver peer-leading total shareholder return. While we
offerings in the therapeutic oral care segment. In Asia
expect the difficult operating environment and slower
Pacific, Colgate Optic White Purple toothpaste and serum
category growth to continue in the short term, the
is fueling growth in the whitening segment. In Pet Nutrition,
fundamentals of our business   healthy brands, strong
Hill   s continues to outperform the category by staying
market shares and a diverse global footprint   position us
disciplined and true to its science-based positioning,
well to deliver peer-leading performance in the long term.
gaining share in key fast-growing segments like cat and
wet pet food. Moving forward, we will continue to invest to
Launching Our 2030 Strategy
accelerate innovation, particularly in geographies like the
2025 marked a pivotal moment for our company as
U.S. and key emerging markets.
we completed our 2025 strategic plan and introduced
our 2030 strategy to the entire organization. Our 2025
strategy drove significant progress, adding $5 billion in
Driving Omni-Channel
net sales. Our 2030 strategy does not call for wholesale
Demand Generation
changes; rather, we are building on the strong base we
A central pillar of our 2030 strategy is a shift toward
created in the 2025 plan to accelerate the rate of change
what we call omni-channel demand generation, or
as we adapt to a more complex and dynamic environment.
ODG. The days of relying on television networks and 30
Our 2030 strategy focuses resources on the areas that
second commercials are far in the past; today, we must
will deliver the greatest value, including the following key
understand the "moments that matter" in the path to
pillars: leveraging the global reach and penetration of
purchase journey where consumers are discovering and
our brands; building the incremental benefit of superior,
shopping for products both offline and online, often
science-based innovation supported by an agile and
simultaneously.
*For a reconciliation of organic sales growth to net sales growth, see page 48 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.
1

ODG requires us to behave and process inputs differently
to execute more effectively on the ground. We need to
seamlessly integrate our commercial spend across the
organization to ensure our communication and creative
content truly address consumer needs to drive awareness,
consideration, purchase and loyalty. As part of this effort,
we are leveraging AI and working with our agency partners
to create a global content supply chain that allows us to
iterate creative assets efficiently, satisfying the high-speed,
multi-format requirements of today's digital landscape.
Leading in Data, Analytics and AI
A critical enabler of our 2030 strategy is further enhancing
our use of data and technology. Over the course of our
2025 strategy, we have built and scaled foundational
capabilities in digital, data and analytics. A great example
of this is how we are advancing our revenue growth
management capabilities. We have moved from descriptive
analytics to predictive models. This advanced technology
allows us to ingest billions of data points, from volume and
sales to margin inputs, and receive recommendations in
minutes on how to optimize pricing and promotion. This
shift allows us to make smarter, faster decisions that drive
value for both Colgate-Palmolive and our retail partners.
Now, under our 2030 strategy, we are integrating AI across
our enterprise as a transformative driver of growth and
productivity. AI will enable our teams to accelerate our
innovation discovery and testing and provide the ability
to generate on-brand content at scale to fuel our ODG
initiatives. On the efficiency side, we have deployed
advanced AI tools to the entire organization to upskill the
team and allow them to create new use cases to drive
better outcomes in every function. We will also seek to
disrupt our own legacy processes and reconstruct them
using the power of AI tools, with humans in the loop, to
drive enterprise value.
Strategic Growth and
Productivity Program
To deliver the productivity and efficiencies necessary to
drive future growth, support our 2030 strategy and drive
margin expansion, we announced a new productivity
program, the Strategic Growth and Productivity Program
(SGPP), in 2025. This program is in addition to our ongoing
funding-the-growth productivity initiatives. The SGPP is a
catalyst that will help us optimize our global supply chain
and simplify and streamline our organizational structure
to drive effectiveness in areas like innovation, ODG, AI,
data and analytics. To succeed in today   s omni-channel
2
environment, we are organizing ourselves differently for
truly integrated collaboration as we work to deliver the right
messages to the right people at the right time. Importantly,
the SGPP also provides the funding to invest back into the
business, to support our brands and further advance the
capabilities I have outlined. By optimizing our organization
today, we are securing the resources necessary to drive
sustainable, profitable growth longer term.
Reimagining a Healthier Future for All
As we advance our financial and strategic goals, we
remain united by our purpose: Colgate-Palmolive is a
caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a
healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet.
Our commitment to sustainability and social impact is
integrated into our business strategy with a focus on
value creation and resilience for the long term. We have
evolved and streamlined our Sustainability & Social
Impact Strategy with fewer, more measurable key targets
designed to drive value, while remaining focused on three
areas where we lead: oral health with our Colgate Bright
Smiles, Bright Futures program; eliminating plastic waste
as we continue our journey to make all toothpaste tubes
recyclable; and our impact on climate change through our
net zero commitments.
We are excited about the journey ahead. We have a clear
strategy, a clear purpose and a high-impact inclusive
culture aligned behind our 2030 priorities. I would like
to thank all Colgate-Palmolive people around the world
for their energy, resilience and unwavering commitment
to achieving our goals, and express appreciation for our
consumers, customers, suppliers, shareholders and Board
of Directors.
We are operating from a position of strength, and we are
confident that the changes we are making should enable
us to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share
growth and drive value for all our stakeholders in 2026 and
beyond.
Sincerely,
Noel Wallace
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer


shareholder letter icon 3/25/2026 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 

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