Nestle raises full-year guidance after third quarter sales beats poll

ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle 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.

 

 

($1 = 0.9059 Swiss francs)

 

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz, editing by John Revill)