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Hill’s Pet Nutrition sales at US$719 million in Q1 2020

Net sales of Hill’s increased 20% compared to this time last year to reach US$719 million, up from US$600 million in the first three month of 2019.

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(Wildstrawberry | BigStock.com)
(Wildstrawberry | BigStock.com)

Sales of Hill's Pet Nutrition in the United States and Europe led organic growth for parent company Colgate-Palmolive in the first quarter of 2020. Net sales of Hill’s increased 20% compared to this time last year to reach US$719 million, up from US$600 million in the first three month of 2019. First quarter operating profit for Hill’s hit US$203 million. That represented a 24% increase for the pet food company compared to the same time last year. Sales of Hill’s made up 18% of Colgate-Palmolive’s overall sales for the period.

Hill’s operating profit growth as a percentage of net sales was primarily due to lower overhead expenses, cost savings from Colgate-Palmolive’s funding-the-growth initiatives and higher pricing, partially offset by increased advertising investment and higher raw and packaging material costs, the company wrote in a press release.

Colgate-Palmolive’s overall net sales increased 5.5%, while organic sales increased 7.5%, in the first quarter of 2020. However, the company withdrew its 2020 financial guidance due to the uncertainty surrounding the business impacts from COVID-19 and related macroeconomic volatility.