Assuming a gradual, if uneven, recovery from the first half COVID-19 impact, we expect full year 2020 Healthcare and Life Sciences segment sales to show strong growth over the prior year, with modest pressure on our Industrial segment businesses and lessening but still significant pressure on sales of our Institutional and Other segments, with the COVID-19 impact on restaurant, hospitality and entertainment to result in a significant decline for the Institutional division within the Institutional segment for the full year. We expect a gradual sequential improvement from second quarter levels through the second half as our product and service innovation, investments in new hygiene and digital technologies, and successful sales initiatives augment a continuing recovery in customer activity.
About Ecolab
A trusted partner at nearly three million commercial customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. With annual sales of $13 billion and more than 45,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and personalized service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. www.ecolab.com
Ecolab will host a live webcast to review the second quarter earnings announcement today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The webcast, along with related materials, will be available to the public on Ecolab's website at www.ecolab.com/investor. A replay of the webcast and related materials will be available at that site.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This communication contains certain statements relating to future events and our intentions, beliefs, expectations and predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words or phrases such as “will likely result,” “are expected to,” “will continue,” “is anticipated,” “we believe,” “we expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “may,” “will,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “target,” “forecast” (including the negative or variations thereof) or similar terminology used in connection with any discussion of future plans, actions or events generally identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our financial and business performance and