The most important opportunities and pressing challenges we face today and going forward demand that we become a more unified, global company.
Higher pricing has impacted volume, both in North America and internationally.
In the first half of the year, we saw our category growth rates slow down in the U.S. as higher prices impacted consumption.
We don't want the higher input costs from commodities to prevent us from investing back in our brands.
We're taking steps that are responsive to societal concerns, while at the same time driving our business results by transforming our portfolio to better align with consumer trends,
We are finding we are getting incremental sales and that has been a big focus of what we do in our new product development.
As we look at the 2006 environment, we see it continuing to be challenging. We wanted to move aggressively to deal with that environment.
