Ian Cook
Analyst · Joe Altobello with Oppenheimer and Company
Let me start with Latin America. And you raised organic, so let me answer the question using that as a measuring point. The organic growth that we experienced in Latin America was in the mid- teens in Latin America for the fourth quarter. We expect that our organic growth in Latin America going forward will likewise be in the mid- teens, and of course, there is a little bit of effect from pricing given the pricing action consistent with the devaluation that will be taken in Venezuela, but we expect our volumes to be in the same mid-single digit area it was in the fourth quarter. Now, if I take a step back still on Latin America, and talk about competitive activity, you mentioned the pharmacy share in Brazil, I would comment that if we look at Brazil, our overall market share for the year, nationally, was running at around 70%. In fact in December, it was up to over 71% when we look at our share in pharmacy, it's essentially flat year-on-year, and the independent Nielsen data I'm looking at says that the competitive share which is the Oral- B toothpaste brand is running at a 5% market share in pharmacy nationally, with pharmacy nationally in Brazil as we have said before at about 12% to 13% of the total category. Interestingly, I would comment that pharmacy in Brazil accounts for 50% of the consumer purchases of toothpastes that fight sensitivity and we have just introduced our Colgate Sensitive Pro Relief toothpaste which provides instant and long- lasting relief superior to what is currently available in the marketplace and, of course, we have pretty high expectations for that. So for us, nothing material has changed with the share profile in Brazil. What we see in Benelux is a light, mid-single digit share from Oral- B in toothpaste and a Colgate share that is essentially flat year on year. Benelux with no disrespect, there is obviously a slightly smaller geography than Brazil, but that's the status there, and as for China, our market share on toothpaste as has been commented is actually up to nearly 32% and our lead market national competitor is down in market share in that country, so as we have said before on these kind of calls, whilst we take nothing casually, we believe we have appropriate plans to meets in market events whether it be Brazil, Benelux or China.