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Clorox CEO Stands By Bet on Cleaning Boom Despite Sales Drop

Clorox Co. Chief Executive Officer Linda Rendle is standing firm in her bet on the longevity of consumer demand for the company’s disinfectants, despite investor concerns that the pandemic-driven hygiene boom is gone.

Clorox isn’t alone in having to contend with a waning pandemic. In February, Hanesbrands Inc. reversed course on its production of masks because personal protective equipment was no longer “a long-term growth opportunity.”Oakland, California-based Clorox now expects organic sales, which strip out items like currency swings and acquisitions, to decline by 2% to 6% in the current fiscal year. Yet the company still has “strong confidence in the future trends,” Rendle said, noting that consumers are still using cleaning products more than they were before the pandemic. As cases of the delta variant surge across the U.S., the company will be ready to meet demand if it spikes again.“Every indication that we’re seeing continues to give us that confidence,” Rendle said. “We’re not going to get it right on a weekly basis, a monthly basis, but we’re pretty confident that consumer behavior has changed.”