Sales were impacted by -9.8% from foreign exchange and by -5.9% from divestitures (mainly Alcon) net of acquisitions (mainly Kraft Pizza). For the continuing business, sales in Swiss francs were down 1.2%. The first quarter organic sales development of +6.4% reflects strong, broad-based growth, building on the momentum in 2010. The organic growth was 4.3% in the Americas, 3.9% in Europe and 13.8% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. Developed markets grew 3%, while emerging markets achieved around 12% organic growth.
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke said: “We achieved growth in all categories in the first three months of 2011, maintaining last year’s momentum. We continue to invest for the future, particularly in R&D and consumer-facing marketing, while addressing the challenge of higher input costs by accelerating the pace of innovation as well as ensuring the appropriate balance between savings from Nestlé Continuous Excellence and pricing. In view of the strong start to the year, we are able to reconfirm our guidance for 2011 as a whole.”
Highlights
Nestlé Waters
Nestlé Waters saw sales of CHF 1.5bn, 4.4% organic growth, and 5.0% real internal growth.
The business grew in Europe and North America and achieved double-digit organic growth in emerging markets, a performance reflected by market share gains in all its major markets. This is the result of continued growth in the retail market in Europe and North America, as well as a return to growth in the Home and Office Delivery market.
Both the S. Pellegrino premium brand and the Nestlé Pure Life value-priced brand enjoyed double-digit organic growth. There were also strong performances from Perrier, Vittel and a number of regional brands, including Ozarka and Ice Mountain in North America, and Hepar in France.
Source: Nestlé
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