Hill’s puts cat food at the center of growth strategy

Hill’s Pet Nutrition recorded a 5.6% year-over-year (YoY) increase in net sales to $1.2 billion (€1.04B) in the third quarter (Q3) of fiscal year (FY) 2026, accounting for 22% of the group’s total net sales. Organic sales grew 5.7% YoY, with volume rising 1.8% and pricing up 3.9%.

Excluding a negative 70-basis-point impact from the company’s exit from the private label pet food business last year, organic sales growth reached 6.4%, while volume growth was 2.5%. Operating profit increased 5% YoY to $267 million (€232M).

For the first nine months of FY2026, Hill’s reported net sales of $3.6 billion (€3.13B), up 5.2% YoY, while organic sales increased 3.3%. Operating profit rose 4.9% to $816 million (€710M).

Growth drivers

According to Colgate-Palmolive’s pet food division, growth was broad-based across its Prescription Diet and Science Diet brands, with particularly strong performance in cat food.

President and CEO Noel Wallace announced to investors that Science Diet cat food experienced an increase in the “high single digits”. He also highlighted that Hill’s has been investing in Small Paws, its offering for small dogs, for the past five years as part of its strategy to focus on areas with growth opportunities.

“We put a significant amount of capital into understanding the nutritional values and health needs of small pets and use that to leverage some of the innovations that we’re bringing into the market.”

Prime100

The Prime100 pet food business, which Hill’s acquired in 2025, also continued to perform well, recording double-digit volume growth and high-single-digit pricing growth, resulting in double-digit organic sales growth.

“We were able to leverage our learnings from Prime100 and, in July, began the phased rollout of Hill’s Science Diet Single Protein dog food, our new offering in the fresh segment in the United States,” says the company.

The US rollout is continuing across retail and veterinary channels under the tagline ‘Science has entered the fridge’.

Company-wide results

Colgate-Palmolive reported net sales of $5.4 billion (€4.7B) in Q3, up 4.6% YoY. Organic sales grew 3.6%, including a negative 0.2% impact from the company’s exit from the private-label pet food business. Operating profit increased 3% YoY to $1.08 billion (€940M).

“Organic sales growth in developed markets was up 2.3% in the quarter, driven by strong performance at Hill’s and in Europe. Emerging markets delivered solid 5.4% organic sales growth, with continued strength in Latin America and Asia Pacific,” the company said.

In the first nine months of FY2026, net sales increased 6% YoY to $16.1 billion (€14B), while operating profit declined 4.5% YoY.

Guidance

For full-year 2026, Colgate-Palmolive raised its guidance and now expects net sales to increase by 4% to 5%, compared with its previous forecast of 2% to 6%, including a low-single-digit positive impact from foreign exchange.

Organic sales are now expected to be broadly in line with the company’s nine-month performance, compared with previous expectations of 1% to 4%. This outlook includes the impact of its exit from the private-label pet food business.