Nestle annual profit drops; sales exceed forecasts

Nestle annual profit drops; sales exceed forecasts

Blog Article

Nestle posted on Thursday a drop in annual net profit for 2024 but the Swiss food giant's sales were better than expected by analysts.

The group, which makes Nespresso capsules, KitKat chocolate and Purina dog food, said sales fell 1.8 per cent to 91.3 billion Swiss francs (£80.3bn).

Analysts surveyed by Swiss financial news agency AWP had forecast sales of 91 billion francs.

Its profit after tax was down 2.9 per cent to 10.9 billion francs, lower than the 11 billion francs estimated by analysts.

Nestle said organic growth - a closely-watched sales metric that excludes currency fluctuations and acquisitions - reached 2.2 per cent, better than the two-percent forecast by the group.

Growth strengthened during the year, led by coffee, confectionery and PetCare; by geography, growth was driven by emerging markets and Europe.

Nestle's shares have slumped in the past year as the group raised prices to cope with high inflation across major markets.

"In a challenging macroeconomic context and soft consumer environment, we achieved a solid performance in 2024 in line with our latest guidance," chief executive Laurent Freixe said in a statement.

Freixe took over in September in a surprise change at the top of the Swiss group, whose products range from food to water to health care nutrition.

A company veteran who headed the Latin America division before his promotion, Freixe was given the task of reviving Nestle sales.