CEO of Nestlé welcomes improved first quarter, with confectionery results leading the way
Nestle_Hauptsitz_05
The CEO of Nestlé, Laurent Freixe, has welcomed the company’s upturn in first quarter results amid a period of considerable market turbulence, with confectionery delivering 8.9% organic growth, which represented the highest figure for the group, reports Neill Barston.
Alongside its sweets and snacks interests, which includes its flagship KitKat brand, the company noted that its coffee interests were also proving instrumental in forging positive momentum, which follows in the wake of a challenging period for the business and wider food and drink sector.
According to the company, its improved performance for confectionery, as well as other categories, had been based on smart pricing to address considerable increases in ingredients costs, namely within cocoa (with prices reaching $12,000 a tonne earlier this year), as well as sugar costs, which have also fluctuated notably, along with supply issues within Europe, and US.
The company has embarked on a period of continued product development for the confectionery sector, with its key KitKat brand delivering impactful partnerships with the F1 racing championship, as well as a strong pipeline of products emerging, including new flavours of Yorkie bars.
The upturn in its performance was welcomed by the company’s recently appointed CEO, who took on the role in the wake of a position of revenues being down 1.8% for 2024, at CHF 91.3 billion.
Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO commented: “In an environment of heightened macroeconomic and consumer uncertainty, Nestlé delivered organic sales growth of 2.8%, with RIG of 0.7% and pricing of 2.1%. Growth was broad-based across markets and categories, with improving market share trends across many businesses, particularly our billionaire brands.
We have made further progress in delivering our strategy. Our ‘Fuel for Growth’ cost savings program is on track, providing the resources to help accelerate performance. In the quarter, we invested to strengthen our core business, achieved good consumer traction in the roll-out of our ‘big bet’ innovations such as Nescafé Espresso Concentrate, and saw some encouraging early improvements in our largest underperforming business cells. We are continuing to make changes throughout the organization to increase alignment and focus, with steps to harmonize our structure in Zone Europe and enhance our capabilities in R&D.
“Performance in the first quarter was in line with our expectations, and our 2025 guidance remains unchanged. This is based on our assessment of the direct impact of current tariffs and our ability to adapt. The indirect impacts – on consumers and customers, as well as currencies and commodity prices – remain unclear at this stage. Overall, the situation continues to be dynamic, with heightened risks and uncertainty. Our 277,000 committed colleagues are focused on successfully executing our strategy: driving efficiencies and investing for growth to accelerate our categories and improve market share.”
