Church & Dwight Launches Strategic Review of Vitamin Business
Church & Dwight Co. is undergoing a portfolio restructuring, divesting its showerhead business while undergoing a strategic review of its vitamin offerings.
The company will exit the Flawless, Spinbrush and Waterpik businesses by early 2026.
Additionally, it is considering three options for its vitamin business, which manufactures and sells brands such as Vitafusion and L’il Critters. These include divestiture options, a potential joint venture or partnership, or supply chain transformation to strengthen the core business.
Divestiture would be the cleanest option, said CEO Richard Dierker during its earnings call last week. However, radically shrinking the business through supply chain reorganizations could not just help turn around the vitamin business, but also enable speed and faster decision making for the entire organization, he noted.
The gummy vitamin continues to be a drag on the company’s overall organic growth, according to Dierker. However, the category did grow by almost 4% in the second quarter — the third consecutive quarter of growth, and Dierker said there are green shoots with week-over-week improvements.
Strategy Considerations
Should it fall to a divestiture, the company would need to consider stranded costs, which Dierker said Church & Dwight just did for its showerhead business.
The vitamin business has separate manufacturing facilities in Vancouver and Washington, and it's embedded within the company’s York, Pa., manufacturing facility.
“But it's within its own four walls — it's like a plant within a plant within that facility. And then, as you would think, R&D and supply chain and marketing — all those functional supports — tend to be a little bit separate,” he said. “There are support structures within the corporation. And so there are some allocated costs.”
The company plans to reach a decision on its vitamin business by the end of the year.
