ZURICH (Reuters) – Nestle <NESN.S> raised its guidance for organic sales growth to around 3% for 2020 on Wednesday after posting better-than-expected growth of 4.9% for the third quarter driven by strong demand for pet food and health products.
The world’s biggest food group has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic better than some of its peers thanks to its broad portfolio, with resilient pet food and health businesses making up for a slump in food sales to restaurants and cafes.
Demand for foods and drinks consumed at home, well-known brands and products with health benefits remained strong during the pandemic, while sales of products destined to out-of-home venues struggled in the third quarter, the maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate said in a statement.
For the first nine months of the year, Nestle’s organic sales grew by 3.5%, compared to analysts’ average estimate for 2.8%, according to a company-supplied consensus.
Sales in the Americas posted the strongest growth rate in the nine-month period, while Asia was only slightly positive.
Sales in Swiss francs fell 9.4% to 61.9 billion Swiss francs ($68.33 billion) hit by the sale of Nestle Skin Health and the U.S. ice cream business.
Nestle had previously expected organic growth of 2-3% for this year.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz, editing by John Revill)
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