Nestlé posts positive growth in first quarter

Nestle has posted a positive result in the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year, with sales of more than US$21.6 billion. This represents growth of 3.9 per cent, with 3 per cent coming from internal growth, while the other 0.9 per cent came from pricing gains. The company has now confirmed its full-year outlook, predicting  organic growth in line with 2015, with improvements in margins and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies, and capital efficiency “As anticipated, the first quarter continued the positive momentum in real internal growth, with softer pricing. We gained market share in the majority of our categories and businesses,” Nestlé’s CEO, Paul Bulcke, said in a statement. “The strongest performances were in Europe, in South East Asia and in Africa as well as for Nescafé, Nespresso and petcare . . . The trends seen over the last few quarters show the relevance of our investments and allow us to confirm our outlook for the year.”