Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) — Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, withdrew its revenue target and posted sales below analysts’ estimates after recession-battered consumers turned away from bottled water and vitamin-enriched Nido milk powder.
The Vevey, Switzerland-based company also posted its first profit decline in six years, and its shares fell the most since March. First-half revenue fell 1.5 percent to 52.3 billion francs ($48.3 billion), the maker of Dolce Gusto coffee said today, below analysts’ 52.6 billion-franc average estimate.
Nestle said second-half revenue will accelerate, though it stopped repeating its previous forecast that so-called organic sales for 2009 will “at least approach” its long-range growth target of 5 percent to 6 percent. Chief Financial Officer Jim Singh said a “good interpretation” of Nestle’s current outlook would be the 4.1 percent growth rate on that basis estimated by analysts in the company’s own survey. Read More….