April 11, 2008

Nestle to achieve 2008 goals, new chairman appointed

Nestle S.A. will likely reach its goals this year and is upbeat regarding the coming years, chairman Peter Brabeck said Thursday.

"We are completely confident of achieving our objectives yet again this year and remain highly optimistic about the years to come," Brabeck said in an address at the company's general meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In mid-March, Nestle, the world's largest food and beverages company, said it expects full-year 2008 organic growth to be close to 2007's level of 7.4 percent, clearly above the company' long-term trend target of between 5 percent and 6 percent.

At Thursday's AGM in Lausanne, shareholders will vote on a dividend of CHF 12.2 (US$12.1) a share, a stock split and new statutes, among other items.

Brabeck is stepping down as CEO at the AGM to focus on his chairman post. Paul Bulcke is replacing him as CEO.

Nestle posted a 2007 net profit of CHF 10.6 billion (US$10.5 billion) on sales of CHF 107.5 billion (US$106.7 billion).