FX.co ★ Nestle Q1 Total Sales Down 5.9%; Confirms 2024 Outlook - Quick Facts

Nestle SA, the Swiss multinational food and drink conglomerate, reported a decline in total sales for their first quarter, dropping to 22.1 billion Swiss francs which is a decrease of 5.9% from the previous year. Factors contributing to this decrease include currency fluctuations, which resulted in a 6.7% fall in sales, and net divestitures that negatively impacted sales by 0.6%.

For the same quarter, the group's organic sales growth experienced a modest increase of 1.4%. This growth was primarily driven by the European region and emerging markets, but slightly offset by lower sales in North America. The reported pricing was 3.4%, a number influenced by comparisons to high performance in 2023.

The company detailed the performance of its geographical business areas. Specifically, Zone North America saw a 2.5% decline in organic revenues for this quarter, with a moderated pricing of 3.3%. In contrast, Zone Europe experienced a 4.4% increase in organic revenues and a consequential 4.6% pricing rate.

Looking forward to the entire fiscal year of 2024, Nestle maintains its forecast of around 4% organic sales growth alongside a mild increase in the underlying trading operating profit margin. Nested in this outlook, the firm also anticipates a rise in the underlying earnings per share, adjusted for currency variations, in the range of 6% to 10%.