Swiss food group Nestlé recorded a 3.1% fall in sales in the first nine months of the year, as it was hit by negative foreign exchange rates.
The group’s underlying sales rose 4.5% to CHF66.2bn (£43.9bn), it said in a statement this morning. But negative foreign exchange of -7.5% and divestitures, net of acquisitions, reduced sales by 3.1%.
Paul Bulcke, chief executive, said the company was still aiming for organic growth of about 5% for the year with “improvements in margins, underlying earnings per share in constant currencies and capital efficiency”.
Europe enjoyed underlying sales growth of 1% to CHF11.1bn, which the company said was driven by innovation and “premiumisation”.
Consumer confidence, however, remained fragile on the continent and the environment affected pricing. Nestlé singled out Great Britain, Germany and Italy as the weaker nations in Western Europe, whereas Spain, Portugal, France, Austria and the Netherlands contributed to growth.
Nestlé said Nescafé Dolce Gusto continued to grow well and Nescafé Gold performed strongly in many markets.
Frozen pizza continued its positive growth momentum but ice cream endured a challenging summer in most of Europe.
Bulcke said: “In a volatile global trading environment where there are no tailwinds, we achieved good broad-based growth.
“While focusing on delivery today, we have taken decisions that reshape and strengthen our business for tomorrow. “
Bulcke added that the group had created a ‘Nestlé Business Excellence’ arm to integrate corporate support functions and better leverage its scale.
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