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NESTLE

Nestlé sales tumble in first quarter

 

Swiss food giant Nestle said Friday its first quarter sales fell 9.3 percent, hit by the strong Swiss franc and costs arising from its sale of eyecare group Alcon.

 

Published: 15 April 2011 11:54 CEST
Nestlé sales tumble in first quarter

Sales for the period fell to 20.3 billion francs (€15.7 billion).

“Sales were impacted by -9.8 percent from foreign exchange and by -5.9 percent from divestitures net of acquisitions,” the group said in a statement.

The world’s biggest food company also noted that the first three months of the year was marked by “high-impact events ranging from civil unrest and natural disasters to extreme volatility in raw material prices.”

Nevertheless, Nestle said it would be able to meet its full year target of organic growth of between 5 and 6 percent.

The group reported in February that its 2010 net profits more than trebled to 34.2 billion francs on the sale of eyecare group Alcon to Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis.

NESTLE

‘Unlimited resources’: Switzerland’s Nestle goes vegan

Swiss food giant Nestle, which has made billions with dairy products, said Monday it will host start-ups that want to develop vegetarian alternatives.

Published: 29 September 2020 15:33 CEST
'Unlimited resources': Switzerland's Nestle goes vegan
Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP

Nestle could thus find itself at the forefront of a sector that has strong growth potential, an analyst commented.

It plans to open its research and development (R&D) centre in Konolfingen, Switzerland to “start-ups, students and scientists” a statement said.

In addition to testing sustainable dairy products, the group plans to encourage work on plant-based dairy alternatives, it added.

Chief executive Mark Schneider was quoted as saying that “innovation in milk products and plant-based dairy alternatives is core to Nestle's portfolio strategy.”

The group unveiled a vegetable-based milk that had already been developed with the process, and technical director Stefan Palzer told AFP it planned to focus on 100-200 such projects a year.

Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, noted that while Nestle had missed some consumer trends in the past, it has now “taken something of a lead in the plant-based alternative market for food”.

And “given its pretty much unlimited resources, Nestle is going to come out one of the winners in the space,” Cox forecast in an e-mail.

Nestle said that “internal, external and mixed teams” would work at the R&D centre over six-month periods.

Nestle would provide “expertise and key equipment such as small to medium-scale production equipment to facilitate the rapid upscaling of products for a test launch in a retail environment,” it added.

The Swiss food giant has long been known for its dairy products, but faced a boycott in the 1970s for allegedly discouraging mothers in developing countries from breastfeeding even though it was cheaper and more nutritious than powdered formula.

On Monday, the group's statement also underscored that the research initiative was part of its commitment to help fight global warming.

“As a company, we have set ambitious climate goals. This is part of our promise to develop products that are good for you and good for the planet,” it said.

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