VEVEY (dpa-AFX) - Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle SA (NSRGY.PK, NSTR.L) reported Tuesday that its total first-quarter sales increased 5.6 percent to 23.47 billion Swiss francs from last year's 22.24 billion francs.
Organic sales growth reached 9.3 percent, with broad-based contributions across geographies and categories. Pricing was 9.8 percent, reflecting significant cost inflation. Real internal growth or RIG was down 0.5 percent.
The company noted that organic growth was 8.6 percent in developed markets, led by pricing. Organic growth in emerging markets was 10.3 percent, driven by pricing and positive RIG.
Zone North America sales grew 8.9 percent on a reported basis and 11.6 percent organically to $6.31 billion. Zone Europe sales grew 5.4 percent on a reported basis and 9.7 percent organically.
By product category, Purina PetCare was the largest contributor to organic growth.
By channel, organic growth in retail sales was 8.7 percent. E-commerce sales grew 13.6 percent, reaching 16.2 percent of total Group sales. Organic growth of out-of-home channels was 17.8 percent.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2023, Nestle continues to expect organic sales growth between 6 percent and 8 percent and underlying trading operating profit margin between 17.0 percent and 17.5 percent. Underlying earnings per share in constant currency is expected to increase between 6 percent and 10 percent.
Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO, said, 'Nestlé delivered strong organic growth in the first quarter... Portfolio optimization efforts and responsible pricing helped to offset the ongoing pressures from two years of cost inflation... Following a strong start to the year, we confirm our full-year 2023 outlook..'
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