Colgate-Palmolive Co. said its first-quarter earnings fell 16% as the consumer-products company recorded a charge related to Venezuela's exchange rate for foreign investments, masking a slight increase in sales.

All operating divisions contributed to the company's 6.5% organic sales growth in the quarter, which excludes effects from foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestments, said Chief Executive Ian Cook. He also noted that the organic sales growth was led by the emerging markets, where organic sales grew 10%.

Consumer-products companies have suffered from the devaluation of emerging-market currencies in the past year, reducing the value of sales. Unilever PLC, for instance, on Thursday said the Argentine peso and Russian ruble had been especially weak in the most recent quarter and said it would raise prices in emerging markets in an attempt to tackle currency weakness.

Colgate in February had warned it could book one-time losses between $180 million to $200 million tied to Venezuela's moves related to the exchange rate for foreign investments. The company added that it was unclear how Venezuelan law on pricing announced earlier this year would affect Colgate's pricing strategy in the region.

The company on Friday said the after-tax charge tied to Venezuela ended up being a $174 million, or 19 cents a share.

Meanwhile, Colgate has been relaunching its Hill's Science Diet line of pet food as well as adding new products. Colgate's sales have improved in recent quarters, but costs for its restructuring efforts have been a drag on its bottom line of late.

Overall, Colgate reported a profit of $388 million, or 42 cents a share, down from $460 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier. In addition to the charge tied to Venezuela and foreign exchange, the latest period included $74 million of after-tax charges tied to the implementation of the company's global growth and efficiency programs, and the sale of land in Mexico. Excluding items, per-share earnings were 68 cents.

Net sales edged up 0.2% to $4.33 billion. Global unit volume grew 5% as pricing rose 1.5%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of 68 cents a share and revenue of $4.32 billion.

Gross margin widened slightly to 58.4% from 58.3%. Selling, general and administrative expenses edged up 0.5%.

Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires