Currency fluctuations hamper sales at Nestlé

  • October 22, 2009
  • Daniel Palmer

In the first nine months of 2009 the world’s largest food manufacturer achieved organic growth of 3.6%, but the major headwinds of a strong Swiss Franc earlier in the year have hurt the bottom line, with sales falling 2.2 per cent for the period.

Nestlé remains confident about the future, however, maintaining their full year outlook as organic growth rose to 3.8% in the third quarter.

“The increased momentum of real internal growth in the third quarter, coming on top of high growth in 2008, once again proves the strength of Nestlé’s strategy,” CEO Paul Bulcke explained. “In these challenging times, we have been streamlining our structures and product portfolio and, at the same time, we continue to invest in innovative technologies and expand our R&D capabilities around the world.”

“In addition, we have increased spending in product innovation and consumer-facing brand-support. All this allows me to confirm my expectation that volume-driven organic growth will further accelerate and that the EBIT margin in constant currencies will improve for the full year.”

The Asia, Oceania and Africa zone was again the growth leader for the company, with organic sales surging 5.8%.

“All the emerging regions contributed to improved volumes, although real internal growth in Oceania and Japan was unchanged,” the company advised in a statement. “By category, real internal growth in ambient dairy improved and remained strong in ambient culinary, soluble coffee, powdered beverages and chocolate.”


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