NEW YORK — Despite bouncing back from a rough third quarter, Hill’s Pet Nutrition continues to battle a “quite sluggish” pet category, Colgate-Palmolive shared during in its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 financial performance for the period ended Dec. 31, 2025.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Though Hill’s had a terrific quarter, the pet category overall remains soft and “quite sluggish,” shared Noel Wallace, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Colgate-Palmolive, during the company’s earnings call on Jan. 30.
Fourth quarter net sales for the pet food business were reported at $1.20 billion, a 4.9% increase from $1.14 billion in the prior period. The pet food company’s net sales represented 23% of Colgate-Palmolive’s total net sales. Sales rose nearly 5%, organic sales rose 1.5%, and organic volume dropped 1.5% over the quarter.
Fourth quarter operating profit was reported at $286 million, a 4% increase from $275 million in the prior year period.
“Hill’s delivered strong results in the fourth quarter as performance improved sequentially from a difficult third quarter,” the company shared. “… Hill’s US delivered mid-single-digit organic growth in the quarter with balanced volume and pricing growth.”
Hill’s continues to gain market share in retail channels for its Science Diet and Prescription Diet lines, which the company attributed to premium innovations and increased advertising support. The company is planning to relaunch its Sensitive Stomach & Skin Science Diet formulas, which will feature enhanced packaging, claims and communication, as well as a new salmon flavor. It is also introducing new varieties of its Prescription Diet formulas for more complex pet health needs, like pets who have chronic kidney conditions and food sensitivities.
“We’ve gained share and shelf space as we exited 2025, which we think will help us as we move into 2026 and the more challenged environment,” Wallace explained. “We’ve got a real benefit in the supply chain as we ramped up a lot more innovation going into 2026. Our Tonganoxie, Kan., plant has greater flexibility now to deliver more wet product around the world, and we continue to see, across all of the key retail environments, growth of the Hill’s brand.”
For the fiscal year, Hill’s Pet Nutrition net sales were reported at $4.61 billion, a 2.9% increase from $4.48 billion in the prior year. Sales rose 2.9%, organic sales rose 1.2%, and organic volume dropped 1.7% over the full year.
Fiscal year operating profit was reported at $1.06 billion, a 9.8% increase from $965 million in the prior year.
Colgate-Palmolive
For the Colgate-Palmolive business overall, fourth quarter net sales were reported at $5.23 billion, a 5.8% increase from $4.94 billion in the prior year period. Gross profit was $3.15 billion, a 5.7% increase from $2.98 billion. Gross profit margin remained steady at 60%. Organic sales rose 2.2%
Operating profit was reported at $92 million, a significant drop from $1.06 billion in the prior year period. Operating profit margin was 1.8%, a decrease from 21.5%.
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were reported at $2.07 billion, an 8.9% increase from $1.90 billion in the prior year period.
“We are pleased to have exited 2025 with accelerated growth momentum on both the top and bottom lines, even in the face of sluggish category growth in many markets,” Wallace said. “Net sales and organic sales grew in every category during the quarter, led by strength in oral care and pet nutrition, excluding private label.”
For the 2025 fiscal year, net sales were reported at $20.38 billion, a 1.4% increase from $20.10 billion in the prior year. Gross profit was $12.25 billion, a 0.7% increase from $12.16 billion. Gross profit margin remained steady at 60%. Organic sales rose 1.4%.
Operating profit was reported at $3.31 billion, a 22.5% decrease from $4.27 billion in the prior year. Operating profit margin was 16.2%, a decrease from 21.2%.
SG&A expenses were reported at $7.90 billion, a 2.2% increase from $7.73 billion in the prior year.
“Our 2025 performance highlights the resilience of our business model and the strength of our brands,” Wallace said. “Through the successful execution of our 2025 strategy, we have grown our company significantly over the last five years despite many challenges. Our new 2030 strategy builds on that success. We have laid out a clear path to accelerate our growth going forward with a focus on leveraging the global reach and penetration of our brands, building the incremental benefit of superior, science-based innovation, harnessing the power of best-in-class omni-channel demand generation, leading in capabilities like data, analytics and AI and evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture.”
The company also shared its full-year 2026 guidance, which includes the estimated impact of tariffs finalized as of Jan. 28. Net sales are expected to increase 2% to 6%. Organic sales growth is expected to be between 1% and 4%, which includes a 20-basis-point impact from its private label pet food exit. Additionally, the company expects “moderate” raw and packaging material cost inflation, with these costs to further rise as additional tariffs are implemented.
“As we begin 2026, while we expect the difficult operating environment and slower category growth to continue in the short term, we are operating from a position of strength and are confident that the changes we are making will enable us to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share growth and drive shareholder value in the long term,” Wallace said.
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