SWITZERLAND – Nestlé has delivered strong organic growth in the nine months of sales after successfully passing on price increases to customers to reflect inflation.

The total reported sales of the world’s largest packed food company increased by 9.2% to CHF 69.1 billion (US$69.22bn) (9M-2021: CHF 63.3 billion), having an organic growth reach of 8.5%.

Organic growth was 7.4% in developed markets, driven by pricing with slightly positive Real internal growth (RIG), while Organic growth in emerging markets was 10.2%, supported by both pricing and RIG.

Overall, RIG was resilient at 1.0%, and pricing was 7.5%, reflecting significant cost inflation, the Swiss conglomerate reported.

Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, commented:” We delivered strong organic growth as we continued to adjust prices responsibly to reflect inflation. The challenging economic environment is a concern for many people and is impacting their purchasing power.

That’s why we aim to keep products affordable and accessible while considering the interests of all our stakeholders. Our real internal growth remained resilient despite a high base of comparison and continued supply chain constraints, with limited demand elasticity.

At the same time, we continue to invest in R&D, marketing, and sustainability initiatives, as demonstrated by the recent launch of our Nescafé Plan 2030. We remain confident in the strength of our brands, operational execution, and underlying category dynamics which position us well for future growth.”

 By product category, Purina PetCare was the largest contributor to organic growth, and sales of coffee grew at a high single-digit rate, with positive sales developments for Nescafé, Starbucks, and Nespresso.

Growth in Infant Nutrition reached a double-digit rate, with broad-based contributions across geographies.

Confectionery water, vegetarian, and plant-based food reported double-digit growth, while dairy reported mid-single-digit growth, with continued momentum for coffee creamers and recovery for home-baking products.

Cocoa and malt beverages saw high single-digit growth, with particular strength for Milo as well as Nesquik ready-to-drink formats.

Prepared dishes and cooking aids posted low single-digit growth, following a high base of comparison in 2021, with continued strong demand for Maggi.

Nestlé Health Science recorded mid-single-digit growth, driven by Medical Nutrition and healthy-aging products.

On April 1, 2022, Nestlé Health Science completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Orgain, which Nestlé expects to be slightly accretive to its organic growth, while slightly dilutive to the Group’s underlying trading operating profit margin in 2022.

Net acquisitions, which include the one for majority stakes in Orgain, the acquisition of Puravida and The Better Health Company, had a positive impact of 1.2% in this result.

For the Full-year 2022 outlook, Nestlé expects organic sales growth of around 8%, the underlying trading operating profit margin at 17.0%, and the underlying earnings per share in constant currency and capital efficiency to increase.

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