Colgate-Palmolive Company
Colgate-Palmolive Company is a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet. Focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition, we sell our products in more than 200 countries and territories under brands such as Colgate, Palmolive, elmex, hello, meridol, Sorriso, Tom’s of Maine, EltaMD, Filorga, Irish Spring, Lady Speed Stick, PCA SKIN, Protex, Sanex, Softsoap, Speed Stick, Ajax, Axion, Fabuloso, Murphy, Soupline and Suavitel, as well as Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet. The Company is recognized for its leadership and innovation in promoting sustainability and community wellbeing, including its achievements in decreasing plastic waste and promoting recyclability, saving water, conserving natural resources and improving children’s oral health through the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program, which has reached approximately 1.8 billion children and their families since 1991.
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31.7% overvaluedColgate-Palmolive Company (CL) — Q1 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
AI Call Summary AI-generated
The 30-second take
Colgate's sales grew organically this quarter, with both higher prices and more units sold for the first time in over two years. The company is excited because its big investments in upgrading major toothpaste and pet food brands are starting to work. However, profits were squeezed by higher material costs, and the company is still losing some market share to competitors in key countries.
Key numbers mentioned
- Net sales declined 3% in Q1.
- Organic sales growth was 3%.
- Free cash flow was $534 million, up 7% versus Q1 2018.
- E-commerce growth was up 28% versus the year-ago period.
- Gross profit margin was down 130 basis points year-over-year on a GAAP basis.
- Diluted earnings per share were $0.65, down 10% year-over-year.
What management is worried about
- Raw materials costs, including foreign exchange transaction costs, were a 320-basis-point drag on gross margin year-over-year.
- The company saw a competitive response and aggressive promotion from the competitive environment in markets like the U.S. and Brazil.
- In China, the company is still working through inventory de-stocking and rebalancing its go-to-market structures.
- E-commerce shares in Asia are flat, and the company didn't see the growth it was expecting there.
What management is excited about
- The company delivered both volume and pricing growth for the first time in over two years.
- The re-launch of Colgate Total is showing strong consumption, with the last four weeks up 40% and share up 1 point in the U.S.
- The Hill's Pet Nutrition business had a very strong first quarter, with great market share gains particularly in pet specialty.
- The company is revamping its innovation process to dramatically reduce the time to market.
- Investments in adjacent categories like naturals and therapeutics (Elmex and Meridol) are doing very well.
Analyst questions that hit hardest
- Ali Dibadj (Bernstein) - Contextualizing results and spending sufficiency: Management gave a long, strategic defense, arguing they are spending thoughtfully for long-term brand building and pointed to recent consumption gains for Colgate Total as a sign the plan is working.
- Lauren Lieberman (Barclays) - Market share declines in key markets: The response was detailed and somewhat defensive, focusing on growth in untracked channels, characterizing the launch as a "marathon," and downplaying the magnitude of share losses.
- Jason English (Goldman Sachs) - China's performance and gross margin trajectory: Management's answer was brief and reiterative, offering no new specifics on China beyond the expected second-half turnaround and stating cost inflation should abate.
The quote that matters
We are pleased with the further improvement in organic sales growth in the quarter, as we believe our strategies to reaccelerate growth are beginning to bear fruit.
John Faucher — Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Sentiment vs. last quarter
The tone was more confident, with specific emphasis on the positive early consumption data for the Colgate Total re-launch and stronger organic sales growth, shifting away from last quarter's focus on simply entering the year with momentum.
Original transcript
Thanks, Vickie. Good morning. And welcome to our first quarter earnings release conference call. This is John Faucher, Senior Vice President for Investor Relations. Today’s conference call will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these statements. Please refer to the earnings press release and our most recent filings with the SEC, including our 2018 annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings, all available on Colgate’s website for a discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. This conference call will also include a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, including those identified in Table 6 of the earnings press release. A full reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP financial measures is included in the earnings press release and is available on Colgate’s website. Joining me this morning are Noel Wallace, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Henning Jakobsen, Chief Financial Officer. I will start off with a review of the quarter and our full-year 2019 outlook. Noel will then provide a few quick thoughts before we open it up to Q&A. Our net sales declined 3% in Q1. We delivered 3% organic sales growth with 1% unit volume growth and 2% favorable pricing. This was offset by a negative foreign exchange impact of 6%. We know that there is still work to do, but we are pleased with the further improvement in organic sales growth in the quarter, as we believe our strategies to reaccelerate growth are beginning to bear fruit. Importantly, the composition of the growth gives us comfort that we are returning to a more sustainable trajectory. On an organic basis, we delivered both volume and pricing growth for the first time in over two years, with volume and pricing growth in all four of our categories: Oral Care, Pet Nutrition, Personal Care, and Home Care. We delivered geographically balanced organic sales growth with emerging markets and developed markets both up 3%, and we delivered breadth in our organic sales growth with more than 75% of our hubs delivering organic sales growth in the quarter. Our focus on driving the core through innovation, attacking adjacent segments, and expanding the availability of our brands in newer and higher growth channels and markets is beginning to pay off. Coupled with our increased brand support, we are optimistic that we can continue to deliver against the expectations for 2019 that we laid out on the fourth quarter earnings call. On a GAAP basis, our gross profit margin was down 130 basis points year-over-year. Excluding the impact of our Global Growth and Efficiency Program, it was down 110 basis points year-over-year. For the quarter, our 200 basis points of pricing provided a 70-basis-point benefit to gross margin. Raw materials costs, including foreign exchange transaction costs, were a 320-basis-point drag on gross margin year-over-year. Our productivity programs led by our Funding the Growth initiatives provided a 150-basis-point benefit to gross margin. Other was a 10-basis-point drag. On an absolute basis, advertising investment was up 3% year-over-year. On a percent to sales basis, advertising was up 60 basis points year-over-year, with increases on a percent to sale basis in every division. Excluding charges resulting from our Global Growth and Efficiency Program and advertising spending, our SG&A expenses were down year-over-year in the first quarter on an absolute basis and as a percent to sales, benefiting from our productivity programs. On a GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share of $0.65 were down 10% year-over-year in Q1. Excluding charges resulting from our Global Growth and Efficiency Program, diluted earnings per share were down 10% to $0.67. Our free cash flow in the quarter was $534 million, which was up 7% versus Q1 2018.
Thanks, John, and good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. I thought it appropriate to begin by framing three strategic areas of focus for our company that I believe will be critical to our ongoing success, and we certainly started to see transpire in the first quarter. The first area of focus is how we are thinking about organic sales growth. No question that to deliver long-term revenue growth that's sustainable, we need to be more aggressive about going after growth, and we are going after growth differently. As you recall in the fourth quarter call and at CAGNY, I spoke about some of our growth mindset; specifically, we are driving the Colgate brands like Total and Science Diet, remember these are big brands, big brands with global penetration in many countries around the world, and we are bringing that to market through significant new innovation and superior product and formulations. We would also be bringing that alongside significant brand building along those businesses with real brand purpose that resonates with consumers in a different way. Second, we are going after adjacent categories and product segments like naturals, which is doing very well for us, therapeutics by expanding Elmex and Meridol to select markets, and importantly, expanding skincare and continuing to focus our investment on opening new doors and channels with that category. Third, we are expanding the availability of our products through distribution and new markets, being very thoughtful in that regard, but we see opportunities in new channels, particularly in channels like e-commerce, which is key to our continued growth moving forward. We were very pleased with the growth in e-commerce in the first quarter, which was up 28% versus the year-ago period. So, more to do and more to come, and we are certainly focused on those areas. Our second key area of focus is to simplify our processes and our structures around the world. We recognize that we need to change in order to respond to a rapidly changing marketplace in terms of our ease and how consumers are shopping. For example, we are revamping our innovation process to dramatically reduce the time to market. You heard my dear fellows speak about that at CAGNY, and those changes are underway beginning in Latin America, and we will begin to roll those out around the world as we move into the balance of the year. Our third area of focus for us is using data and looking to digitize the organization very differently. We know that data can enable faster growth and faster decision-making. We know that data drives further ROI in media, and we know that data-driven marketing is far better return-on-investment than the way we are spending today. We also know that we can use data to improve our assortment in e-commerce. In the area of digitization, some exciting things are coming down the pipeline for us to drive productivity across the organization. We are going to change from our SAP system that we started in 1994 to the upgraded SAP S/4HANA, which we think is going to simplify our processes significantly around the world, drive more standardization and better reporting and decision-making from all of that. So you begin to see a lot of this unfold as we move into the balance of the year. We are pleased to see some of that taking hold in the first quarter of this year. So, before I jump into Q&A, I wanted to take a moment to thank the 35,000 Colgate people for supporting me during this important transition over the last year. I am extremely proud to lead, to listen, and to learn from that extraordinary team, and I know with their drive and continued commitment, and our focus on growth, we will build a future to smile about. It's those people that I want to extend a special thanks to Ian Cook for the past 12 years of his extraordinary leadership as CEO of this company. He has transformed this organization in many ways, and we will be forever grateful for his leadership. I especially want to thank him for his wise counsel and mentorship over the last six months as he has prepared me for this new role. So with that, let me turn it over to the questions.
Operator
And we will take our first question today from Lauren Lieberman with Barclays. Please go ahead.
Noel, I was curious if we could talk a little bit about market shares. Just - you know, market shares in oral care have been an important metric for the business, like health of the business and so on, and like a badge of honor, frankly. And this quarter, the topline certainly improved sequentially but shares are down versus I think where we talked about them at the end of January, both globally and in some key markets like Brazil, Mexico, and India. So can you just talk a little bit about that, how you are thinking about market share in particular? When would you expect that to turn as you think about the path forward and some of the greater growth mindset you are putting in play?
Overall, we have seen significant growth first of all on untracked channels, particularly in the U.S. where we saw double-digit growth in a lot of those untracked channels, which we are very encouraged about. If I stay within North America, the toothpaste shares are flat. We obviously introduced Colgate Total in the middle of February; we saw a significant competitive response, and we have responded accordingly, but we weren't going to deal overly aggressively in order to drive share. Bear in mind that we are in this for the long-term; this is a marathon, not a sprint with the launch of Colgate Total. It's not like introducing a new product; we have existing shelf space and existing penetration; it's a big brand, and we are looking to continue to drive trial and repeat throughout the year. So the way we have structured and strategized our media spending over the year is to continue with high investments quarter-on-quarter through the balance of the year, and we think in the end that would generate sustained growth for the business. Moving on to some of the other markets, our value shares and volume shares in Mexico are actually flat; we are slightly down in Brazil, and that was due to some aggressive promotion from the competitive environment. Recognize that the Colgate Total launch, which will have a significant premium in both those markets, where it has a sizeable share, will launch in the second quarter. Our volume shares on balance are only down 30 basis points, so we feel quite comfortable with where we are, particularly, given the activity in most of the total spending coming in the year to go.
Operator
We will take the next question from Bonnie Herzog with Wells Fargo.
So, I had a question on your pricing in the quarter. I guess I am wondering why it slowed sequentially. And then I am also curious about this - for your emerging markets where I assume you would have been taking more pricing for FX. And then could you update us on your plan to any future pricing? Or essentially do you expect pricing to accelerate in the future or remain constant at current levels? Thanks.
We were actually very pleased with the balance of organic growth in the first quarter. Obviously, both volume and pricing were up; we had good pricing in the fourth quarter, as you have pointed out, and likewise, good pricing in the first quarter, so coming off of that, we are quite pleased. Some of the pricing is still yet to come. We talked about in the fourth quarter that two-thirds would roll through from 2018 to 2019; we have a third to go, and we are quite confident that we will generate the pricing that we set out for ourselves for the year. Certainly, at the current spot rates, if spot rates change, we certainly have to look to take more pricing, but we are quite comfortable with where we are and how that's flowed through. Specifically on Total, we are very pleased from the fact that we have seen pricing stick everywhere we have launched Colgate Total. Coming back to the U.S., our equivalized shares - as John mentioned, we downsized, and the price per ounce is up about 16% in the Total toothpaste franchise, and the U.S. is up 8%, so price is holding and more to come as we move through the balance of the year.
Operator
And the next question will come from Wendy Nicholson with Citi.
Just following up on China specifically, could you tell us exactly how much volumes were down in China? And I know you are going through a big repositioning of the brand and product assortment in that market, but can you sort of give us some timing on that, when should we expect to see stronger numbers? Are there specific new products coming out or new advertising or anything like that? So, when do you think we turn positive in China? Thanks.
Sure. So China came in as we expected in the quarter. I think we communicated in the fourth quarter call that we expected China to turn in the back half, and that's exactly the timing that we are still looking for. Some significant changes in investment are going into China as we speak; we are looking to get the portfolio structured appropriately. We are getting the structure in the organization and putting resources where we think the growth will come in that business moving forward. So we are making some investments in the business in the short-term that we believe will drive sustainable growth in the long-term for our business, and we will start to see that turn in the back half of the year.
Operator
And we will go to Andrea Teixeira with JPMorgan.
So my question is on North America organic volumes, and a follow-up on the Colgate Total re-launch. So on North America, you called out on the prepared remarks that the benefit from EltaMD and PCA Skin now included in organic growth. Can you give us a sort of magnitude of that launch? Not launch and the inclusion on the organic growth? And also on the Colgate Total re-launch, thinking about specifically Latin America with Brazil in terms of the timing of the launch; will all the volume of the re-launch be shipped during the second quarter? You had some of that done in the first quarter, so I am trying to see if there is any lumpiness on the volume as we progress through the quarters. Thank you.
Thanks, Andrea. Again, good growth in the first quarter out of North America. We are not going to break it out, but suffice to say, all of the key elements of the North America business grew in the first quarter. We were particularly pleased with Tom's of Maine, which had another significant growth following a sequential growth over the last three quarters, so that's doing well. The sell-in on Total performed well. Obviously, as you have pointed out, PCA and Elta were added into the organic growth, not a significant portion, but we are very pleased with the progress on that business that we have seen thus far. Overall, a good performance in North America across a well-balanced organic growth in all of their categories and their core businesses. In terms of the re-launch of our Colgate Total in Latin America, we just started shipping at the end of the first quarter, with most of the activity and all of the investment to come in the second quarter. So I would say a portion in the first, most to come in the second as we move forward.
Operator
We will go to Ali Dibadj with Bernstein.
I am just trying to contextualize some of the discussions so far in the quarterly results in a little bit more broad, and you have done that a couple of times but I want to continue on that theme. The big debate I think is, are you spending enough? That's the one I hear the most. And so, if you look at the quarter's results, you could argue that they are consistent with that concerning narrative, right? We are not spending enough to turn the ship. The sequential pricing, i.e., probably more create spend, more promo this quarter to get more shelf space, there was clearly a lot of the inventory load, right, so that pricing that you guys talked about on Colgate Total, for example, in North America, a lot of inventory loaded in Elmex and others. AMP was up, maybe not quite as much as I thought it might be but it's up which I guess is good. But all this activity so far, and we still see those market share issues in the U.S., and in Mexico, Brazil, Russia, India, China. I mean U.K. looks a little bit better but still some pressure - and by the way, do you wonder in the U.S. what the sell-out was versus the sell-in? So it doesn't look great on the tracked channels. So, I guess I am just trying to get underneath this idea of - should we just be more patient to see those terms? I think that's your messaging, but should we just be more patient to see this upturn? And so you are 100% confident that you are actually spending enough? And so this concern about another rebase to happen around the corner or not spending enough; that view is just so far what you are seeing going to be wrong.
Thanks, Ali. A lot in that question. So let me try to step back for a moment and talk a little bit about our strategy. We realized to drive long-term sustainable growth that we do things very thoughtfully and in a measured way. We have taken the advertising up, as you well pointed out, quite significantly in our view, up in the first quarter; we will hold those levels through the balance of the year, and everything that we know about building brands, particularly brands as big and as scalable as Colgate Total, it’s that continuity that really pays off in the long run. We don't look to a percent to sales; we look for what do we need to do to create the right impressions and the right engagement behind a significant innovation like Colgate Total, and that's exactly what we are doing. We are going to continue to plot away with the plan that we have. We were very strategic in not making and not necessarily spending all of our money in the first quarter; we want to balance out over the year. We are not buying shelf space, I heard you mention that. And a brand like Colgate Total, which is an existing brand in the U.S. at a 10-share, that's a successful brand already. So what we are doing is basically trying to drive more velocity off-the-shelf; we are not necessarily increasing shelf, and we didn't necessarily see any of that in terms of shelf increases in the first quarter. So we have got strong shares, strong shelf space, and we are going to continue to build on that. I will give you a little bit about consumption on Colgate Total. Obviously, as we move through some of the high competitive reactions in February and March, the last four weeks on Colgate Total, the consumption is up 40% and our share is up 1 point. So we are in a good position relative to what we are seeing there, and obviously a lot of the work to come as we move through the balance of the year. And in terms of advertising, we will likewise see those increases come to bear as we roll it out, particularly, in big markets like Latin America.
Operator
And the next question is from Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank.
So as you talked about in the open, you are arguably managing a larger number of growth priorities today versus history. And I guess what - I am wondering is can you talk more about how you are prioritizing them relative to one other? I am sure the first order of business is ensuring the Colgate - the core Colgate Oral Care franchise returns to market-leading growth, but around that, as you talked about, you got the expansion into naturals, you are broadening the reach of brands like Elmex, investing in e-commerce, stepping up support for professional skincare, and obviously driving Hill's as well. And - obviously, not all of those initiatives are mutually exclusive, but again, how are you thinking about allocating relative investment dollars to each of them? If you had an extra dollar, which bucket are you most likely to add to? And any thoughts if you can do it all organically or are you increasingly open to M&A in support of those initiatives? Thanks.
Thanks, Steve. So let me go back to a little bit about my upfront comments around how we are framing growth. As I talked about at CAGNY, we are really looking at three specific priorities and in many respects that would kind of prioritize how we are spending, that will unfold through the balance of the year. Historically, we were very focused on line extensions, and to a certain extent growing in the adjacencies, and we quickly recognized that we have to have a real balance. Colgate has big core businesses that are in many countries around the world that had significant leakage relative to share and were not driving the growth that we needed, hence our need to put real superior bundles behind the core in order to shore up the core. So when we balance that with increased innovation behind adjacencies like naturals, like therapeutics, that we get the incremental growth moving forward, and that's exactly how we are going to prioritize it. Relative to M&A, certainly, there is a lot of activity out there; we are still going to be extremely thoughtful on how we approach M&A. We have obviously done some great M&A over the last couple of years, specifically PCA and Elta, which we are very excited about; as those assets become available, we will think through them very carefully relative to their strategic fit in the business and what they bring, and if we find the right value, we will certainly go after them.
Operator
And we will go to Olivia Tong with Bank of America.
Thanks, good morning. I wanted to talk a little bit about the balance. You talked a lot about the balance between developed markets versus emerging market performance, volume versus price. So as you progress through the year, how do you think about that? Because I would assume that there, you talked about some of the pricing that you are planning to do in some of the markets. You know, a third of it still hasn't rolled through, so I would assume that price becomes a bigger component of that. Do you think that volume then sort of turns a little bit, and just your overview on the balance between all those different factors?
Sure. I think at the heart of a lot of that good balance this year, particularly between emerging and the developed world, was the fact that we are starting to see some of the categories turn in the emerging markets, which is particularly encouraging for us given our footprint. So moving forward, we would continue to see that balance of pricing and volume moving through the balance of the year. The innovation will support the volume that the innovation will support the premiumization that we are going after, particularly as we see Total and the Science Diet business, which is just now going into the U.S. and the roll-out through the balance of the year, starting to take hold. So we will continue to see the right balance as we move forward; keeping the investment there will help drive that.
Operator
Next is Kevin Grundy with Jefferies.
Thanks. Good morning.
Hi, Kevin.
So, Noel, my question is on industry growth rates relative to your organic sales growth guidance at 2% to 4%. So at this point, where would you peg industry growth in Total as you roll up your business and your geographies relative to the 3% organic growth in the quarter? How has that changed, if at all, since 4Q? You sound more upbeat on emerging markets, which is obviously a good thing. And then, for us, is it fair that we should expect an acceleration in your organic sales growth over the next couple of quarters as year-over-year comps season and more spending goes into the marketplace, and it seems like the emerging markets are in a better place? So thank you for that.
Sure. The categories, as you mentioned, we have seen a tick-up, particularly in emerging. We are modeling organic, excuse me, we are modeling category growth rates in that 3% to 5.5% depending on the market around the world. In the developed world, somewhere between flat to around 2.5%, we have seen a little bit of tick-up in the U.S.; Europe continues to move sideways, but the U.S. we are seeing a little bit of acceleration there. So we think we are relative to our guidance on the 2% to 4%. We are well-positioned where the categories are, and if Latin America and particularly Africa continued to accelerate or hold at the current levels, that would bode well for us. But we said that before; let’s get a couple more quarters underneath us relative to those categories and we will go from there.
Operator
We will now go to Bill Chappell with SunTrust.
Thanks. Good morning.
Hey, Bill.
Noel, first a clarification; you had said to Bonnie’s question you came into the year two-thirds of pricing and still a third to go. Are we still a third to go or did you do a fair amount during the first quarter? And then, the second just on Hill’s, can you give us a little more color on the strength and maybe from a market share perspective? We don’t get to see so much of the channels that are untracked it’s kind of hard to understand exactly where you are getting it. Is it from emphasis from the specialty channel coming back or is it just the vet channel is doing well? Or just help us give more color why it’s doing better?
Sure. Well, let me take the pricing question first. Yeah, we are about right. We are right where we thought we would be; about two-thirds of the business. We are seeing a roll-through and a third to go, and we have got some pricing that’s going into place starting the second quarter. So we are quite comfortable with that in terms of how that’s going to roll through the balance of the quarters in ‘19. Hill’s is a great story. I come back to a lot of the fundamentals of our strategy, which is driving the core, working on adjacencies, and particularly expanding into new segments and new retail environments, and Hill’s ticks those boxes extraordinarily well. We obviously had great growth in the fourth quarter, a really strong start to the year relative to what we are seeing on the Science Diet re-launch, and it's just now going into the market as I mentioned in terms of the full impact of the new packaging and the new formulations, which as I mentioned at CAGNY will be coupled with increased pricing and the media investment behind that business, particularly in North America, will now start to go into the market in the second quarter. The U.S. had a very strong first quarter, and again, I think it’s driven by great market share gains particularly in pet specialty. We obviously continue to have a very strong e-commerce business and holding shares there, and in terms of expanding into new channels, we have gone aggressively into the farm and feed channel, which was growing and we were under-indexed, and we have seen incremental distribution and sales growth come from that. So, all-in-all, really pleased with where Hill’s is right now and particularly pleased given a lot of the Science Diet stuff is still to come in the U.S. and we will start to roll that out in the balance of the world as we move into the second half.
Operator
We will go to Robert Ottenstein with Evercore ISI.
Great. Thank you very much and nice start to the year.
Thanks, Robert.
Wondering if we could drill down a little bit more into what’s going on in Brazil. And so a couple of sub points, perhaps, if you can talk a little bit more about the competitive situation. You mentioned still a very tough promo environment. Is there any visibility on that changing? And how do you expect to deal with that? Second, the rollout of the therapeutics, Elmex, Meridol in Brazil. How that’s going? Do you need more investment there? Is it going to be kind of self-funding at this point, and I guess tied to that, how you are doing in the pharmacy channel? Thank you.
Great. Thanks, Robert. So again, good results coming out of Brazil. We were pleased particularly given that we generated both volume and pricing in Brazil in the quarter, which was terrific to see. Relative to the promotion environment, yeah we saw some of our competitors go quite aggressive in the first quarter. We decided not to chase that with our business. It was interesting; the share loss that we saw in the first quarter, which is roughly about 1 point on the business. We are still at a 72 share; came out against our Sorriso brand, which is our secondary brand, because of the deep discount, and we saw some from our competitors. That being said our instinct is that that was particularly driven by high promotional activity that we always see in the first quarter; we often do not chase that given some of the foreign exchange headwinds that we have seen in that market, and we think that will balance itself out through the remainder of the year. Early days on Elmex. We have rolled it into the pharmacy channel. The pharmacy channel is roughly 15% to 20% of the ACV in Brazil. Early news is really good on Elmex in terms of driving incremental share in the pharmacy channel; we are up about a point so far in the channel but lots more to go. The investments there we ring-fenced; it’s an important strategic initiative for us, and we are optimistic that we will continue to see particularly that channel grow as you move through the balance of the year.
Operator
Next is Jason English with Goldman Sachs.
Hey. Good morning, folks. Thank you for taking my question.
Hey, Jason.
Sticking on the topic of going a little bit deeper into the markets. Can you take us a little bit deeper into China, give us a beat on where you think the consumption is tracking and whether or not your net sales are still lagging on inventory reduction, or whether or not that’s been flushed out? And then a second and sorry for following on, thinking about your gross margin trajectory for the year, cost inflation headwinds stepped down fairly sizable from 4Q to 1Q. How should we expect that to trend through the remainder of the year?
Thanks, Jason. So quickly coming back to China. Not a lot more to add there. We are obviously in line with our expectations. The inventory de-stocking continues. We made good progress in the fourth quarter, continued progress in the first. We are rebalancing, as I mentioned, some of our go-to-market structures and how we take the product to market, particularly as it relates around the portfolio specifically, and that will unfold as we move through the balance of the year. So, as I said, we expect to see sequential improvement moving through the back half of the year, and that is on schedule as we speak. Relative to gross margin, so your question around costs, yeah, we saw significant elevation of cost in the fourth quarter, a little bit better in the first quarter in the range of 4% to 6% commodity in terms of increases moving through the gross profit line, and we expect that to abate as we move through and lapse some of the foreign exchange transaction impact that we had last year that occurred in the first half, and will get better as we move through the balance of the year. So the answer to your question is, yes, we expect that to abate, which has given us confidence that we can continue to hold and increase gross margins moving forward.
Operator
We will go to Kaumil Gajrawala with Credit Suisse.
Hey. Good morning, guys. Noel, you mentioned e-commerce in various parts of your prepared remarks. Can you perhaps provide us a little more context on what your share looks like online versus elsewhere, maybe what your margins look like online versus elsewhere? And then, I think you said e-commerce was up 28%; are you able to give some context on how much that contributed to organic growth?
Sure. So, listen, first of all, we are very pleased. Again, coming back to those growth strategies that I outlined earlier, expanding in new retail environments and getting our fair share so to speak is a real strategic focus for us. And e-commerce is an important area of that. As I mentioned, we were up just shy of 29% in the first quarter, and importantly, that was driven with a strong North America performance. Their shares were up 1.7 points on the Colgate franchise alone, which was terrific and likewise driven by continued strong growth on the Hill’s business. The softness we have is to a certain extent in Asia, while the e-commerce shares are flat; we didn’t see the growth that we were expecting there, and that’s part of the turnaround strategy that we are looking to execute as we move through the back half of this year.
Operator
Next is Steven Strycula with UBS.
Hi. Good morning, and congratulations on the new seat.
Thanks, Steve.
So, Noel, my question is as you look across the portfolio after the work you guys have done over the last few years, which three countries and category combinations do you think are the biggest revenue and profit dollar opportunities for an incrementality standpoint as we look forward the next few years? And the quick second part of that would be, is there any reason you guys haven’t given more defined parameters around your gross margin outlook for the year relative to what you did last quarter? Thanks.
So regarding our categories, we value all of them equally. However, Oral Care is a significant focus for us. The organic growth we achieved in the first quarter was mainly driven by toothpaste and Hill’s, which we find very encouraging. As John pointed out in his opening remarks, we experienced positive organic growth across all categories, reflecting the quality and composition we aim for. In terms of prioritization, Oral Care, Personal Care, and Pet Food remain our top three focuses, and we will continue to pursue growth in these areas. Regarding your second question about gross margins, we anticipate an increase for the year. We expect the cost environment we experienced in the fourth quarter and first quarter to improve as the year progresses. We have additional pricing initiatives coming, and we are rolling out the Total re-launch and Science Diet re-launch globally. We are confident with our current position and will monitor how it develops, but we are optimistic about our outlook.
Operator
And we will go to Mark Astrachan with Stifel.
Thanks, and good morning, everybody. Wanted to ask about specific learning from PCA and Elta. And I am curious if you think you can take those brands into other channels. How do you think about differences of selling into specific specialty type channels, doctors’ offices and the like versus mass or other channels? And perhaps indulge me kind of to take it a step further, what gives confidence that you can have success in skincare more broadly just given competitive dynamics in the market, and I am kind of alluding to your comment about expanding on skincare going forward?
Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Let me step back for a minute and give you a little bit of insight in terms of how we look at M&A. Not just simply from the economics and the growth aspects of those categories or businesses that we acquire. But more importantly, what are the core competencies and learning that they can bring into the larger enterprise across the company, and Elta and PCA fit those parameters just perfectly. Obviously, we love business with strong endorsement levels: Elta at the dermatology level, and PCA at the aesthetician level, and we have learned from what we have done obviously at Oral Care and our Vet business on how to successfully monetize that going forward. Both those businesses have unique aspects to them. Elta has an incredible e-commerce business and an influencer model, particularly as they have digital very effectively. Likewise, PCA has a wonderful in-office strategy in terms of how they go to market there, particularly around their data-driven marketing that they use. So some great insights that we will bring into the business and certainly leverage across other categories, and we continue to dial up the investment in those businesses given the great growth that we are seeing coming out of them, at least initially, in the first quarter. Moving forward, Skincare is interesting to us. We have got two businesses that we are focused on right now. We will continue to drive those moving forward. If we see other things come available that we think we are interested in and will bring real value to the Colgate Company, we will certainly go after those. But we are very focused on what we have right now, and that’s how we are going to lay it out for the balance of the year. So, again, let me extend my thanks to the entire Colgate team. Obviously, it was a good quarter that we should be proud of. We all know there’s a lot of work to do. We are very focused on growth, and let’s get after it. We are in the second quarter, as they say, and we will be in touch with everyone on the call as we move through the balance of the quarter and into the third quarter. Thanks so much.
Operator
And thank you very much. That does conclude our call for today. I’d like to thank everyone for your participation, and you may now disconnect.