The Top 50

Every year when we put together The Top 50, our annual look at the leading U.S.-based companies in the household and personal products industry, we search for overriding trends that can tie many of these seemingly disparate companies together. In previous years, the emphasis was on mergers and aquisitions. As you’ll soon read, M&A is alive and well in the industry, but this year, the big news is on going green. Nevermind that no one is quite sure what that means—companies are emphasizing an array of green solutions to attract customers to their products. For example, Clorox acquired Burt’s Bees and rolled out Green Works, a line of environmentally-friendly cleaning products; S.C. Johnson acquired Caldrea and Colgate opened a manufacturing facility that makes toothpaste faster than ever but at the same time, uses less water, energy and materials. Industrial and institutional cleaning companies are emphasizing their green solutions too. On the following pages, you’ll find out how Johnson Diversey, State and other I&I companies are rolling out products with a more environmentally-friendly profile.
   
Acquisitions, of course, continue to get plenty of coverage in The Top 50. At press time, Huish was said to be in talks to acquire the North American laundry detergent business of Unilever. In April, Coty sold the Del pharmaceuticals business to Church & Dwight. And last year, Energizer became a major player in the sun care segment with the acquisition of Playtex Products, which owned the Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic brands.
   
Companies come and go, but some things remain constant in The Top 50—such as Procter & Gamble remaining No. 1 on our list as it has since we started compiling The Top 50 in 1978. Rounding out the top 10  this year are: Colgate-Palmolive, S.C. Johnson, Estée Lauder, Avon, Johnson & Johnson, Access Business Group, Ecolab, Coty and Johnson Diversey. New companies on our list include Energizer, Dermalogica and Tupperware.
   
A brief word on our ranking system. When two companies have the same annual sales, they share that number. That’s why this edition of The Top 50 ends at No. 49 with a tie between Blistex and H2O Plus.
   
We hope you enjoy this edition of The Top 50. As always, we welcome your comments on our ranking, as well as anything else that appears in Happi. Be sure to read our August issue, which includes The International Top 30, our article on the largest manufacturers of household and personal products with corporate headquarters outside the U.S.