Amendment: Fitch Affirms Colgate-Palmolive's Ratings; Outlook Stable.

NEW YORK -- (The following is an amended version of a release that was issued earlier today. Please note the updated debt information in the second paragraph.)

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Colgate-Palmolive's ratings as follows:

-- Issuer default rating (IDR) at 'AA-';

-- Senior unsecured rating at 'AA-';

-- $1.25 billion bank facility at 'AA-';

-- Commercial paper program at 'F1+'.

At Sept. 30, 2005, outstanding debt totaled $3.565 billion. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

The ratings reflect the company's scale, global leadership position in oral and personal care, and its historically strong operating performance. The company is the global leader in toothpaste with an estimated 35.5% market share in the U.S. It also has a large share of the dishwashing detergent market as well as U.S. leadership position in the liquid hand soap category. Despite mature categories, the company has been able to increase revenues and volume through brand/category growth activities and a strong international presence with more than 73% of revenues derived from outside the U.S. Additionally, Colgate has dominant oral care market shares in many international markets. Volume growth has been particularly strong over the last four quarters as the company stepped up advertising support. Restructuring charges and some degree of commodity cost increases have negatively affected margins with debt levels trending upwards as the company executes a 20 million share buy-back program. Nevertheless, profits and cash flow remain strong, thus credit metrics continue to support the ratings. Leverage (total debt/operating EBITDA) has remained in a narrow range of 1.3 times (x) to 1.6x for the past eight years and was 1.4x at LTM Sept. 30, 2005. It is anticipated that leverage will remain in this tight band. Cash flow coverage (operating EBITDA/interest expense) was strong at 19.1x at LTM Sept. 30, 2005.

Fitch recognizes that the consumer product industry is highly competitive. Additionally, rapid cost escalations in raw materials, energy, packaging, and logistics are pressuring industry margins. Thus, the company's ability to execute its cost savings and business building goals to offset margin pressure and preserve current high levels of cash flow in light of increasing levels of debt is a concern. Debt balances are expected to moderately increase as the company completes the current program. Since Colgate has purchased an average of $900 million in shares in the past five years, it is expected that these shareholder friendly programs will continue into the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, the company has strong cash flow, a history of being able to execute on its cost savings goal, has improved its mix as lower margin heavy-duty detergent brands are being sold and new products are being introduced with better pricing, and has instituted price increases on selected products within the overall product portfolio. Colgate is expected to remain prudent with regards to stock repurchases and to fund them primarily with internally generated cash flow. Fitch understands that management is committed to maintaining their strong ratings and has a history of prudently managing operations in a way that protects bondholders.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. The issuer did not participate in the rating process other than through the medium of its public disclosure.