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Strengths Market leadership position Colgate-Palmolive commands market leading position in oral, personal and home care segment across several countries in the world. For instance, Colgate-Palmolive is a global leader in oral care with the leading toothpaste and manual toothbrush brands throughout many parts of the world according to value share data provided by ACNielsen. Colgate-Palmolive's Oral Care products include Colgate Total and Colgate Max Fresh toothpastes, Colgate 360 ° manual toothbrushes and Colgate and Colgate Plax mouth rinses. Additionally, Colgate-Palmolive is also a leader in many product categories of the personal care market with global leadership in liquid hand soap. Colgate-Palmolive is the market leader in liquid hand soap in the US with its line of Softsoap brand products. Further, Colgate-Palmolive is also market leader in fabric conditioners with leading brands including Suavitel in Latin America and Colgate-Palmolive Company Page 5 © Datamonitor Colgate-Palmolive Company SWOT Analysis Soupline in Europe. Market leading position across diverse geographies enhances the brand image of the company as well as provides economies of scale in procurement and production. Diversified business operations Colgate-Palmolive operates a diversified business operation both in terms of product offerings and geographies. Colgate-Palmolive markets its products through four broad product categories oral care, personal care, home care and pet foods.The company is not over dependent on any particular product category for generating its revenue. Moreover, Colgate-Palmolive markets its products in more than 200 countries around the world. The company divides its products into two categories: oral, personal and home care; and pet nutrition. The oral, personal and home care operations are categorized under four geographic regions Latin America, Europe/ South Pacific, North America, and Greater Asia/Africa. In FY2010, the oral, personal and home care segment derived 31.6% from Latin American region, 23.9% from Europe/ South Pacific, 22.3% from North America, and 22.2% from Greater Asia/ Africa. Diversified business operations both in terms of product offerings and geography shows that the company has a wide spread sources of revenues and caters to businesses in different parts of the world. This helps in reducing its business risks across various geographies. Focus on innovation and new product launches Colgate-Palmolive maintains strong focus on product innovation. The company spends significant amount of its resource on R&D activity. Colgate-Palmolive's research and development expense was $256 million in FY2010, $256 million in FY2009, and $240 million in FY2008. Strong research and development capabilities and alliances enable Colgate-Palmolive to support its many brands with technologically sophisticated products to meet consumers’ oral, personal, home care and pet nutrition needs. The company launched a number of new products in the recent period, which include Colgate Wisp, Colgate Max White and Sensitive Enamel Protect toothpastes, Palmolive Aroma Sensations hand dish liquid, Speed Stick Pro and Lady Speed Stick Spa deodorants and Colgate Max White manual toothbrush. In addition, the company also introduced Speed Stick Stainguard and Lady Speed Stick Stainguard with Stain Defense technology. It introduced Colgate PROCLINICAL, a new line of professionally inspired daily toothpaste formulated with clinically proven technologies. Colgate-Palmolive's strong product development capability and focus on innovation allows it to renew its product line at regular intervals, which boosts customer loyalty and revenue growth.

Weaknesses Unfunded employee post retirement benefits Colgate-Palmolive Company Page 6 © Datamonitor Colgate-Palmolive Company SWOT Analysis The company has significant unfunded pension obligations. Colgate-Palmolive provides retirement benefits for most of their employees, either directly or by contributing to independently administered funds. In FY2010, the company’s pension benefit obligations stood at $1,952 million as compared to the planned assets of $1,377 million, resulting into an unfunded status of $575 million. Volatility in financial markets (equity and debt) led to decline in pension fund asset values. Unfunded pension obligations will force the company to make regular cash contributions to bridge the gap between pension assets and liabilities, pressurizing the liquidity position of the company.

Opportunities Growing global oral hygiene market Global oral hygiene market is growing at a significant pace. According to Datamonitor, the oral hygiene market reached to a value of $26.9 billion in 2009. Further by 2014, the global oral hygiene market is forecast to have a value of $31.1 billion, an increase of 15.7% since 2009. Colgate-Palmolive holds a leading market position in oral hygiene market. The company markets its products in more than 200 countries around the world. Additionally, Colgate-Palmolive is one of the most valued and recognized brands globally.With market leading position and globally recognized brands, Colgate-Palmolive is well positioned to capitalize on the growing global oral hygiene market. Strategic acquisition of Sanex Personal Care Brand Colgate-Palmolive entered into an agreement to purchase the Sanex personal care brand from Unilever, in March 2011. Sanex is a premium-priced personal care brand with a distinct positioning around healthy skin and strong market share positions in Europe. Sanex's unique positioning around skin health is a complement to Colgate-Palmolive’s natural extracts and skin care positioning, as well as to the company’s Protex brand which focuses on antibacterial protection for skin. This strategic acquisition would greatly strengthen Colgate-Palmolive’s positions in the shower gel and deodorant categories in several key countries in Europe and its overall personal care business in that region. Focus on developing and emerging economies Colgate-Palmolive has been active in developing and emerging (D&E) economies through its subsidiaries in Greater Asia / Africa, and South Pacific region. Further, the company expects to increase its operations in D&E economies. D&E economies are expected to account for major part of the world's population, and this is expected to drive demand for fast moving consumer goods. For instance, the Indian FMCG sector is expected to grow 4-fold from $25 billion sales in 2008 to $95 billion by 2018. The growth would be attributable to the rising income and increasing demand. Similarly, the Chinese FMCG market is also expected to growth at a rate of 15% a year in the next Colgate-Palmolive Company Page 7 © Datamonitor Colgate-Palmolive Company SWOT Analysis five year period (2009-13). With strong presence and leadership position across these markets, Colgate-Palmolive could exploit the growing market conditions.

Threats Cautious consumers for purchasing branded products Colgate-Palmolive's business is dependent on continuing consumer demand for its products and brands. The economic downturn adversely impacted its business by reducing the demand for some of its products. Further, the current economic climate is forcing shoppers to watch their expense and look for cheaper options of discounted brands or own label merchandise. Further, the branded goods suppliers like Colgate-Palmolive is facing pressure from the big retail chains like Tesco.These big retailers, for sustaining their revenue growths and margins, are promoting their own-labels. Though, the organization is working hard to handle all these external pressures, the lower consumer spending across the regions would affect its performance. Further, the dent in the disposable income of consumers is making it increasingly difficult for branded product manufacturers like Colgate-Palmolive to maintain their sales volume and revenue growth. Threat from fake products Counterfeit or fake versions of Colgate-Palmolive’s products are in circulation in various markets during recent past. For instance, towards the end of 2008 and in 2009, thousands of tubes of fake Colgate toothpaste were recalled by Sainsbury's and Boots, a retail chain companies located in the US. Fake Colgate products were discovered to contain a chemical ingredient used in anti-freeze. In addition, from time to time, third parties also sell counterfeit versions of its products. Purchasers of the authentic Colgate brand could confuse its products with products that they consider inferior, which could cause them to refrain from purchasing its brands in the future. This could impair brand equity and adversely affect Colgate-Palmolive's business. Changes in retail scenario globally Colgate-Palmolive products are sold in a highly competitive global marketplace which is experiencing an increased trade concentration and the growing presence of large-format retailers and discounters. With the growing trend toward retail trade consolidation, it is increasingly dependent on key retailers. Some of these retailers have a greater bargaining strength than it does. They may use this leverage to demand higher trade discounts, allowances or slotting fees, which could lead to reduced sales or profitability. Colgate-Palmolive may also be negatively affected by changes in the policies of its retail trade customers, such as inventory de-stocking, limitations on access to shelf space, delisting of products and other conditions. Changes in the policies of its retail trade customers and increasing dependence on key retailers in developed markets may adversely affect its business. Colgate-Palmolive Company Page 8 © Datamonitor Colgate-Palmolive Company SWOT Analysis