February 21, 2008

Nestle's 2007 profits up by 16-percent

Nestle has announced a 16-percent increase of profit and a rise in dividends, a result enabled by price increases and tight cost control.
 

Nestle's net profit for 2007 has raised from US$8.4 billion to US$9.7 billion, exceeding initial analyst expectations of US$9.4 billion.

The company's acquisition of baby food brand Gerber and medical nutrition business from Novartis AG has assisted it to exceed US$91 billion for the first time, with the top line rising by 9.2 percent from US$89.6 billion to US$98 billion.

Nestle has proposed to pay a dividend of US$11.1 per share, up from last year's US$9.47.

The company's organic growth rate for 2007 is 7.4 percent. The figure is made up of volume growth and price increases. Operating profit margin for 2007 increased by 50 basis-points to 14 percent, exceeding initial analyst forecast of a 40 basis-point increase.