Nestlé Press Release

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Vevey/Switzerland, April 24, 2025

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[Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR]

Three-month sales 2025: Delivering broad-based growth, executing on strategy

Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO commented: "In an environment of heightened macroeconomic and consumer uncertainty, Nestlé delivered organic sales growth of 2.8%, with RIG of 0.7% and pricing of 2.1%. Growth was broad-based across markets and categories, with improving market share trends across many businesses, particularly our billionaire brands.

We have made further progress in delivering our strategy. Our 'Fuel for Growth' cost savings program is on track, providing the resources to help accelerate performance. In the quarter, we invested to strengthen our core business, achieved good consumer traction in the roll-out of our 'big bet' innovations such as Nescafé Espresso Concentrate, and saw some encouraging early improvements in our largest underperforming business cells. We are continuing to make changes throughout the organization to increase alignment and focus, with steps to harmonize our structure in Zone Europe and enhance our capabilities in R&D.

Performance in the first quarter was in line with our expectations, and our 2025 guidance remains unchanged. This is based on our assessment of the direct impact of current tariffs and our ability to adapt. The indirect impacts - on consumers and customers, as well as currencies and commodity prices - remain unclear at this stage. Overall, the situation continues to be dynamic, with heightened risks and uncertainty. Our 277,000 committed colleagues are focused on successfully executing our strategy: driving efficiencies and investing for growth to accelerate our categories and improve market share."

Sales performance summary

* 2024 figures restated following the combination of Zone North America and Zone Latin America to form Zone Americas and Zone Greater China
becoming part of Zone AOA as well as Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages becoming a Globally Managed Business, as of January 1, 2025.

Financial highlights

·     Delivering broad-based organic growth in an uncertain environment

○    Organic sales growth of 2.8%, with real internal growth (RIG) of 0.7% and pricing of 2.1%.

○    Pricing actions taken to address input cost inflation in coffee and cocoa, with limited customer disruption. Actions targeted with aim to recover input cost increases while maintaining medium-term consumer penetration.

○    RIG reflected short-term impacts of consumers and customers adjusting to price increases.

Operational and strategic progress

·     Good progress on strategy to accelerate category growth and improve market share

○    Investing to strengthen the core, with positive market share momentum for billionaire brands.

○    Roll-out of innovation 'big bets' on track; encouraging consumer response to Nescafé Espresso Concentrate and gourmet pyramid-shaped cat food; recent launches of chocobakery across Latin America and AOA.

○   Continued active management of 18 key underperforming business cells, with early indications of improvement.

·     Operational management driving broad growth across categories

○    Strongest organic growth delivered in confectionery (8.9%) and coffee (5.1%), led by pricing, with double-digit increases in some markets.

○    PetCare organic growth (1.6%) was RIG-led and reflects some market softness, especially in the US, but with continued market share gains in most markets.

○    Nestlé Health Science organic growth slowed to 4.2%, reflecting mixed performance.

·     Further simplification of organization to support effective execution

○    Advancing organizational change after moving rapidly in 2024 to create alignment and focus.

○    Continuing to eliminate duplication and accelerate innovation, including steps to harmonize the organization in Zone Europe and enhance our capabilities in R&D.

●    'Fuel for Growth' cost savings program progressing to plan

○    On track to deliver CHF 0.7 billion incremental cost savings in 2025, to date primarily driven by realization of procurement savings.

2025 guidance unchanged

·     2025 guidance remains unchanged, based on our assessment of the direct impact of current tariffs and our ability to adapt.

·     Organic sales growth expected to improve compared to 2024, strengthening over the year as we continue to deliver on our growth plans.

·     UTOP margin expected to be at or above 16.0% as we invest for growth.

·     Overall, the situation continues to be dynamic, with heightened risks and uncertainty.

Follow today's event live

10:30 CEST Investor call audio webcast:

https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/go/Nestle-2025-Three-month-sales/

Full details on our website:

https://www.nestle.com/media/mediaeventscalendar/allevents/2025-three-month-sales

Press release links

2025 three-month sales press release - French (pdf):

https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-04/three-month-sales-press-release-2025-fr.pdf

2025 three-month sales press release - German (pdf):

https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-04/three-month-sales-press-release-2025-de.pdf

Sales review

1.   Group

Total reported sales increased by 2.3% to CHF 22.6 billion, including impacts of -0.5% from foreign exchange movements and 0.1% from net acquisitions. Organic growth was 2.8%, in a period of fragile consumer confidence. Pricing contribution increased to 2.1% as we took pricing actions to address input cost inflation in coffee and cocoa-related categories. Despite the significant level of the increases in many markets, the actions were implemented with limited customer disruption. RIG was 0.7%, reflecting soft consumer demand and the short-term impact of consumers and customers adjusting to price increases.

By category, confectionery and coffee were the largest organic growth contributors. This growth was pricing-led, with double-digit increases in some markets. Our focus in these two categories is on smart pricing action to fully address input cost increases where possible, while maintaining medium-term consumer penetration. Where larger price changes were implemented, in some cases we saw a pronounced initial impact on RIG, which is easing as consumer behavior and the competitive environment adjust and stabilize. Outside confectionery and coffee, organic growth was more modest, but RIG was positive across all other reported categories.

By geography, all regions contributed to positive organic growth. In developed markets, organic growth was 1.6%, driven by RIG of 1.4% along with positive pricing. In emerging markets, organic growth was 4.5%, driven by pricing of 4.8%, with RIG slightly negative.

By channel, organic growth in retail sales was 2.5%. Organic growth of out-of-home channels was 6.6%. E-commerce sales grew organically by 15.1%, reaching 20.1% of total Group sales.

2.   Operating segments

* 2024 figures restated following the combination of Zone North America and Zone Latin America to form Zone Americas and Zone Greater China
becoming part of Zone AOA as well as Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages becoming a Globally Managed Business, as of January 1, 2025.

Zone Americas

In a challenging macroeconomic environment with fragile consumer confidence, we delivered a solid performance in Zone Americas. In North America, organic growth was broadly flat and we returned to positive RIG, with market share gains across a number of categories and reducing share losses in frozen foods and coffee creamers. In Latin America, growth was pricing-led, driven by coffee and confectionery. Across the Zone, we continue to focus on executing our strategy to drive further improvement in performance, despite the uncertain external context.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 1.9%, with 0.1% RIG and 1.7% pricing.

·      Reported sales growth was flat versus the prior year at CHF 8.6 billion, including a -2.0% impact from foreign exchange movements.

·      In North America, organic growth was 0.1%, with 1.1% RIG and -1.0% pricing. In Latin America, organic growth was 5.1%, with -1.6% RIG and 6.7% pricing.

·      By market, growth was led by Brazil, with some weakness in Mexico and Canada.

·      Market share gains were achieved in portioned coffee, ambient culinary and PetCare; market share developments in frozen food and in coffee creamers show some recent signs of an improving trend.

Key organic sales growth drivers by product category

·      Confectionery was the largest growth contributor, led by strong pricing actions driving double-digit growth in Garoto in Brazil and Tollhouse in the US, and supported by chocobakery expansion.

·      Beverages (including coffee and coffee creamers) delivered mid single-digit growth, with growth momentum for Nescafé, more than offsetting a sales decrease in Coffee mate.

·      Nestlé Professional grew at a high single-digit pace, with positive contributions across all segments.

·      PetCare posted low single-digit growth, with solid growth for science-based premium brands partially offset by weaker category growth impacting sales in mainstream dog brands and in snacks.

·      Dairy reported mid single-digit growth supported by a lower prior year base of comparison.

·      Frozen food continued to decline, but at a slower rate than during 2024, driven by an improved trend in pizza and snacks.

·      Infant Nutrition recorded negative growth, with continued sales declines in Gerber and Nido.

Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa

In Zone AOA, growth was broad-based and led by pricing. By category, growth was strongest in confectionery, where we achieved positive RIG and market share gains while taking pricing actions. Growth was also notable in strategic focus areas of culinary and emerging markets PetCare. Most regions delivered positive organic growth, with the strongest contributions from Central & West Africa, the Philippines and India. In China, growth in the quarter was positively impacted by sales phasing with distributor inventory increases in some categories, in a challenging, deflationary environment where consumer demand remains flat.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 3.1%, with 0.7% RIG and 2.4% pricing.

·      Reported sales increased by 3.6% to CHF 5.5 billion, impacted by foreign exchange movements, which increased sales by 0.6%.

·      In Greater China, organic growth was 1.7%, with 4.0% RIG and -2.3% pricing. In the rest of the Zone, growth was led by Central & West Africa, the Philippines and India.

·      Key market share developments were gains in confectionery, PetCare and Infant Nutrition and losses in culinary and soluble coffee.

Key organic sales growth drivers by product category

·      Confectionery grew at a high single-digit pace, driven by KitKat and supported by the continued rollout of the chocobakery range.

·      Culinary delivered mid single-digit growth fueled by solid sales momentum for Maggi across formats and regions.

·      Infant Nutrition and dairy posted low single-digit growth, led by NAN and improved growth momentum for Milo.

·      Coffee posted low single-digit growth, driven by Nescafé soluble and ready-to-drink offerings.

·      Nestlé Professional achieved mid single-digit growth, across geographies and product segments.

·      PetCare posted mid single-digit growth, with strong double-digit growth in emerging markets partially offset by category softness in developed markets. From April 1, we are positioned to accelerate our PetCare business in South Korea, integrating it into Nestlé after exiting a JV structure.

Zone Europe

Growth in Zone Europe was broad-based across markets and categories, in an ongoing fragile consumer environment. We delivered pricing-led growth in confectionery and coffee and RIG-led growth in PetCare. Customer negotiations to implement pricing actions were navigated with limited disruption, in a continued competitive environment. Market share trends are improving across most country-category combinations.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 2.4%, comprising -0.6% RIG and 3.0% pricing.

·      Reported sales increased by 2.5% to CHF 4.4 billion, including 0.2% impact from foreign exchange movements.

·      Growth was broad-based by category and market, with the strongest contributions from Türkiye, France and Iberia while growth in Germany was negative.

·      Market share gains were achieved in PetCare and coffee, with reducing losses in confectionery and food.

Key organic sales growth drivers by product category

·      Confectionery posted high single-digit growth, led by pricing, with KitKat the main growth driver.

·      PetCare delivered low single-digit growth, led by Purina ProPlan and Purina ONE. Growth was RIG-driven and broad-based across markets.

·      Sales in Nestlé Professional grew at a double-digit rate, driven by beverage solutions.

·      Coffee posted low single-digit growth, with solid growth in Starbucks products partially offset by slower growth for Nescafé soluble as we took action on pricing.

·      Infant Nutrition recorded low single digit-growth, reflecting soft category trends.

·      Food saw a decline in sales, impacted by some customer disruptions.

Nestlé Health Science

Organic growth slowed in Nestlé Health Science, with mixed performance across the business. In VMS (Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements) , we are executing well in our premium brands, with continued double-digit growth. But overall VMS growth was held back by our discontinuation of some private label business and by weaker performance in Nature's Bounty, where consumer uptake has been slower than expected following resolution of last year's supply issues. In Active Nutrition, an acceleration in Orgain was partially offset by weaker performance in Vital Proteins in a more competitive environment. In Medical Nutrition, we grew strongly in adult medical care products, but saw softness in Zenpep after changes to the reimbursement model in the US. To address the mixed performance across Nestlé Health Science, we are prioritizing investment behind our strong premium brands and focusing on strengthening innovation and improving consistency of execution.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 4.2%, with 4.8% RIG and -0.7% pricing.

·      Reported sales increased by 5.4% to CHF 1.6 billion, including a positive foreign exchange impact of 1.1%.

·      Market share was stable in both Medical Nutrition and VMS, with losses in Active Nutrition.

Key organic sales growth drivers

·     By geography, North America posted low single-digit growth, Europe delivered mid single-digit growth, and other regions saw high single-digit growth.

·     VMS recorded mid single-digit growth, with strong sales momentum for premium brands, particularly Garden of Life, Pure Encapsulations and Solgar. This was partially offset by slower growth in Nature's Bounty and by brand portfolio management actions, as we discontinued activities with some private label clients.

·     Active Nutrition posted low single-digit growth, with increased momentum for Orgain partially offset by a weaker performance from Vital Proteins.

·    Medical Nutrition delivered mid single-digit growth, driven by strong sales momentum for adult medical care products, particularly Resource and Compleat. Sales for Zenpep were flat, with negative pricing and some impact on RIG in the quarter, driven by the effect of changes in drug reimbursement as part of the Inflation Reduction Act in the US.

Nespresso

In Nespresso, we delivered good growth, with positive RIG, while we also began to increase pricing. North America delivered double-digit growth and further market share gains, and in Europe, the rate of market share losses slowed. Performance in the quarter benefited from some pull forward of demand ahead of price increases, which took effect towards the end of the quarter.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 5.7%, with 2.6% RIG and 3.2% pricing.

·      Reported sales increased by 6.1% to CHF 1.6 billion, including a -0.1% impact from foreign currency and a 0.4% benefit from net acquisitions.

·      Market share in North America continued to increase, while we slowed the share losses in Europe.

Key organic sales growth drivers

·      By geography, sales in North America grew at a double-digit rate, while Europe posted positive growth.

·      By system, growth was driven by the Vertuo system, with strong sales momentum across all geographies. Sales for out-of-home channels grew at a high single-digit rate, backed by the Momento system.

Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages

In Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, the new organizational structure as a standalone globally managed business took effect on 1 January 2025. We moved swiftly to drive alignment and simplification, and delivered improved growth and good strategic progress. Growth was broad-based across markets, and was mainly driven by Maison Perrier and Sanpellegrino . We are progressing with the strategic evaluation of the business, including exploring partnership opportunities.

Segment performance summary

·      Organic growth was 3.6%, with 1.6% RIG and 2.0% pricing.

·      Reported sales increased by 3.9% to CHF 0.8 billion, including a positive impact from foreign exchange of 0.2%.

·      Market share remains under pressure in a number of markets but with an improving trajectory.

Key organic sales growth drivers

·     By geography, Southern Europe and AOA posted mid single-digit growth, while the Americas and Northern Europe delivered low single-digit growth.

·     Growth was strong in premium beverages, supported by the roll-out of new products under the Maison Perrier and Sanpellegrino beverages platforms.

·     Within waters, we saw good growth from S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, with weaker performance at Perrier due to the continued impact of supply constraints.

3.   Category performance

* The new management organization as of January 1, 2025 had no impact on the above table.

Powdered and liquid beverages was the largest category growth contributor, with 5.2% organic growth. This was pricing-led, as we took pricing actions to address input cost inflation in coffee, with double-digit increases in some markets.

Confectionery organic growth of 8.9% was pricing-driven and led by KitKat, supported by continued growth in chocobakery. 

PetCare delivered 1.6% organic growth, reflecting a slowdown in category growth compared to early 2024. We continue to focus on driving category growth, and we are gaining share in many markets, with good momentum for science-based premium brands Purina ProPlan, Purina ONE and Felix.

Water organic growth was 2.9%, with good growth from S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, and weaker performance from Perrier due to the continued impact of supply constraints.

Milk products and Ice cream posted 0.8% growth, with improved sales momentum for ambient dairy offset by weakness in coffee creamers. 

Nutrition and Health Science delivered positive organic growth. Within this, Nestlé Health Science delivered mid single-digit growth. Infant Nutrition posted negative growth as continued momentum for NAN was more than offset by softer sales in Gerber and Nido. 

Prepared dishes and cooking aids reported close to flat growth, as solid growth in ambient culinary products, particularly for Maggi, was more than offset by a decline in frozen food in North America. 

Other developments

Organization

After moving rapidly in 2024 to strengthen alignment and focus within the organization, we have been advancing the organizational changes with further simplifications to support effective execution. With a continued focus on eliminating duplication and accelerating innovation, we have begun to take steps to harmonize organizational structures in Zone Europe and enhance our capabilities in R&D.

Acquisition of minority interests and JVs

During the first quarter, we increased our ownership in two companies as follow-ons from earlier acquisitions. In China, we acquired all the outstanding minority interests of confectionery company Hsu Fu Chi, and in Nestlé Health Science we further increased our majority stake in Orgain, a leader in plant-based nutrition, where we had an option as part of the original acquisition structure. In South Korea, from 1 April 2025 we have taken control of our Purina business from the existing JV structure and integrated it into Nestlé South Korea.