“We expect these headwinds to moderate or annualize over the coming periods.”

In context

“G brands will still be available in the market through a distribution and licensing agreement with the new owner of the operations. Greater China organic sales declined 8%. Underlying market conditions have remained weak and the 6/18 key consumption period was down sharply versus prior year, just as we saw in the 11/11 Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day shopping periods. Also, brand-specific headwinds have continued on SK-II due to its Japanese heritage. We expect general market trends and the dynamics related to SK-II to improve over time, though it will likely be another quarter or two until we return to growth. Volume trends in some Europe enterprise and Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia have remained soft. We expect these headwinds to moderate or annualize over the coming periods. Global aggregate market share was down 30 basis points as we are now annualizing very strong growth in European-focused markets. Twenty-five of our top 50 category country combinations held or grew share for the quarter. On the bottom line, core earnings per share were $1.40, up 2% versus the prior year. On a currency-neutral basis, core EPS increased 6%. Core gross margin increased 140 basis points and core operating margin decreased 100 basis points. Strong productivity improvements of 250 basis points, funding a meaningful increase in marketing investment, currency-neutral core operating margin decreased 60 basis points. Adjusted free cash flow productivity was 148%. We returned nearly $4 billion of cash to share owners this quarter, over $2.4 billion in dividends, and $1.5 billion in”