Nestlé wants to keep growing organic sales towards a mid-single-digit rate this year, the food giant said on Thursday, after strong demand for pet food and health products in the Americas helped its growth outshine peers last year.
Consumers kept buying packaged food throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and Nestlé fared better than some rivals as it kept shedding underperforming businesses and investing in growth areas like plant-based food, coffee and health science.
Organic Sales
Full-year organic sales, which strip out currency swings, acquisitions and divestitures, grew 3.6% in 2020, ahead of Nestlé's own guidance for 'around 3%' and peer Unilever's 1.9% underlying sales growth.
Analysts in a consensus compiled by Nestlé were looking for 3.5% organic sales growth for the full year.
The company said it wanted to continue to increase its organic sales growth towards a mid-single-digit rate this year and sustain it over the mid-term.
Annual Performance
Net profit fell 3% to CHF12.2 billion (€11.3 billion), above a forecast for CHF11.97 billion (€11.1 billion). The year-ago period had benefited from a one-off gain linked to the sale of the skin health business.
The underlying operating margin improved to 17.7% last year, after reaching 17.6%, and thus the group's mid-term profitability target range of 17.5-18.5% in 2019, a year earlier than planned.
The company proposed to increase the dividend to CHF2.75 per share for 2020, up from CHF2.70 last year. It also has a share buyback programme under way.
