As it is financial reporting time, we aim to provide you with concise information on the performance of the major consumer goods companies. It was our original intention to provide this in one post but now it seems better to provide them individually.
Nestlé has reported a great first half result that exceeded not only the analyst's predictions but also their own internal forecasts. Their growth was 8.4% up on last year's result. The growth included 5.3% real internal growth and 2% price increases.
Stand out performances came from their Nestlé Nutrition product group which grew at 10.5% and their Nestlé Waters group which grew at 10.3%. Even their monster Nescafé and Nestea brands grew around 10%.
The Nestlé press release is here.
Nestlé's result is outstanding in the ultra competitive but stable food sector. Commentators have attributed their result to their anticipation of the demand driven increases in raw material prices which Nestlé responded to by hedging and putting through price emptive price increases on their own products.
Nestlé also tightened their management controls and increased their corporate transparency by rolling out a new global IT platform. Lastly they were successful in containing costs with a number of projects.