The company, which had a net profit of Rs 66.24 crore in the year-ago period, said it has paid second interim dividend of Rs 9 per share, taking the total total dividend paid to Rs 17 per share for the nine months ended December 31, 2011.

During the quarter under review, the firm's net sales stood at Rs 669.57 crore, up 19.95 per cent from Rs 558.20 crore in the year-ago period.

"The company achieved 20 per cent (sales) growth over the same quarter of the previous year, led by a strong 15 per cent volume growth in the toothpaste category," the firm said in a filing to the BSE.

Under the toothpaste category, the company sells brands such as 'Colgate Dental Cream', 'Colgate Sensitive', Colgate Active Salt, 'Colgate Total Salt among others.

The company, which is in the process of setting up a new toothpaste manufacturing facility in Sanand, Gujarat at an investment of Rs 200 crore, said it has paid Rs 42.6 crore towards the allotment of leasehold land for the new plant during the third quarter this fiscal.

Scrips of Colgate Palmolive were trading at Rs 985.40 per share in the afternoon trade on the BSE, up 2.58 per cent from the previous close.

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