Nestlé Reports Strong Sales Growth

The nine month sales reflect a continuation of the strong, broad-based growth seen earlier in the year, with the organic growth for both the Group and the Food and Beverages business unchanged from the first half, the company reported.

Oct 22 2010 --- In the first nine months of 2010, Nestle Group reported sales of CHF 82.8 billion, consisting of 6.1% organic growth, including 4.5% real internal growth. Foreign exchange impacted sales by -2.7%, whilst acquisitions, net of divestitures, added 0.7%. Overall, Group sales increased by 4.1%. Food and Beverages sales reached CHF 77.0 billion, consisting of 5.7% organic growth, including 4.2% real internal growth. Foreign exchange impacted sales by -2.8%, whilst acquisitions, net of divestitures, added 1.6%. Overall, Food and Beverages sales rose by 4.5%.

The nine month sales reflect a continuation of the strong, broad-based growth seen earlier in the year, with the organic growth for both the Group and the Food and Beverages business unchanged from the first half, the company reported.

The company reported in a statement, “Our performance year-to-date, even as we face challenging comparatives in the final quarter, enables us to reconfirm our full-year guidance, that the Food and Beverages business will achieve organic growth around 5% as well as an improvement in the EBIT margin in constant currencies.”

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO: "Our performance is the result of clear strategic alignment and focus on execution throughout the whole organisation, both in developed and in emerging markets. Our ongoing efforts on the cost side combined with increased investment in our brands, innovation, capabilities and people have, as previously stated, prepared us well for the second half. Indeed, the first half's growth momentum continued unabated in the third quarter, providing a good base for the full year as we face challenging comparatives in the final quarter. We therefore reconfirm that our Food and Beverages business will achieve organic growth of around 5% combined with an increase in EBIT margin in constant currencies for 2010 as a whole."

The organic growth for all Food and Beverages operations was 5.5% in the Americas, 3.3% in Europe and 10.7% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. Western Europe and North America grew and emerging markets achieved around 11% organic growth.

Key drivers of this consistent performance included deeper distribution in emerging markets in support of our value-priced popularly positioned products (PPPs); a strong pipeline of targeted innovation combined with increased brand support; and the continued success of premium product initiatives around the world, the company reported.