Nestlé has seen confectionery sales decline over the last nine months while total turnover rose 6% on the back of its $10.3bn acquisition of US petcare group Ralston Purina.

To September 30, the maker of Nescafé and Häagen-Dazs ice cream said confectionery sales fell 3.7% to CHF7.5bn, while petcare products soared 74.2% to CHF7.8bn.

Total sales rose 6% to CHF66.2bn from CHF62.4bn last year, with exchange rates impacting the results negatively by 7.3%, said Nestlé.

CEO Peter Brabeck noted: “Nestlé succeeded in maintaining profitable growth despite a deteriorating economic climate. I remain confident that we will achieve sales and profits above those of 2001.”