A 'swift and disciplined' first half for Nestlé

Shaun Weston9 Aug 2012

Nestlé's first-half 2012 performance has been described by CEO Paul Bulcke as demonstrating "swift and disciplined execution".

Highlights

  • Sales of CHF 44.1bn, 6.6% organic growth, 2.9% real internal growth.
  • Trading operating profit of CHF 6.6bn (+6.3%), margin 15.0% (-10 bps).
  • 12.9% organic growth in emerging markets and 2.6% in developed markets.
  • Underlying earnings per share CHF 1.63 up 12.4% in constant currencies.
  • The Group's operating cash flow CHF 5.1bn, up from CHF 2.1bn in the first half of 2011.
  • Full-year outlook reconfirmed: organic growth of 5% to 6%, improved margin and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies.

"Our first-half performance shows the relevance of our strategic roadmap in today's new reality and demonstrates our swift and disciplined execution behind it, making the right choices at the right time," said Bulcke. "We continue to drive innovation globally, ranging from popularly positioned products to super premium offerings. We're continually opening new routes-to-market to reach emerging consumers, and using new media to increase both our direct engagement with consumers and our return on brand investment. This approach has delivered profitable growth in both emerging and developed markets.

"Our first-half top line growth and our trading operating profit margin, together with our focus on capital efficiency, allow us to reconfirm our full-year outlook."

Source: Nestlé

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