LONDON (Reuters) – Nestlé on Thursday reported first-quarter organic sales growth below estimates as the food giant raised prices and sold fewer products, particularly in North America.
Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency movements and acquisitions, increased by 1.4% between January and March, while analysts on average expected an increase of 2.9%.
“We expected a slow start and are seeing a strong rebound in sales volumes in the second quarter, with reliable results for the remainder of the year,” Mark Schneider, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement.
For more than two years, the food industry has sharply raised prices due to rising input costs linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This price increase, however, weighed on volumes.
For 2024, Nestlé confirmed its financial forecast, namely organic sales growth of around 4% and a moderate increase in underlying operating margin.
(Report by Richa Naidubureau; by Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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