By Connor Hart

Colgate-Palmolive swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, hurt by a large charge tied to its struggling skin-health business, but sales climbed despite what the company says is a difficult environment.

The maker of Irish Spring soap and Speed Stick deodorant on Friday posted a loss of $37 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a profit of $739 million, or 90 cents a share, a year earlier.

The recent quarter included a $794 million charge tied to Colgate's skin-health business, which is experiencing lower-than-expected category growth rates and weaker-than-expected performance, particularly in China, the company said. Colgate cut its outlook for the division and said it is taking action to improve performance.

Stripping out one-time items, such as those goodwill and intangible-assets impairment charges, earnings were 95 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 91 cents a share.

Sales rose 5.8% to $5.23 billion, topping Wall Street models for $5.12 billion. On an organic basis, sales increased 2.2%.

Overall volumes were flat during the recent quarter, while pricing increased 2.7%.

Chief Executive Noel Wallace said he was pleased with the company's growth last year, which he said came despite sluggish category growth in many markets.

"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," he said.

The New York consumer-products company expects net sales for the year to climb 2% to 6%. It sees organic sales rising 1% to 4%.

Shares ticked up 1.8%, to $86.81, in premarket trading.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2026 07:29 ET (12:29 GMT)

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