Nestlé: organic growth accelerates; shares rise
(CercleFinance.com) - Nestlé, the world's biggest food group, announced that organic growth accelerated in 2018 and said that it is aiming to continue improvements in organic sales growth in 2019.
Organic sales growth, which excludes currency effects and acquisitions, was 3% last year, compared with a 2.4% rise in 2017, supported by strong momentum in the US and China, as well as in infant nutrition, the Swiss giant said.
Total sales increased by 2.1% to 91.4 billion Swiss francs in 2018, while EPS increased by 45.5% to 3.36 Swiss francs.
"We are pleased with our progress in 2018. All financial performance metrics improved significantly," said CEO Mark Schneider.
Nestlé said it plans to raise its dividend by 10 cents to 2.45 Swiss francs per share and intends to complete its current share buyback program six months ahead of schedule by the end of 2019, due to "strong free cash flow generation."
Nestle shares are currently up 3.1% at 89.3 Swiss francs, outperforming a 1% rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Food & Beverage index.
Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
Organic sales growth, which excludes currency effects and acquisitions, was 3% last year, compared with a 2.4% rise in 2017, supported by strong momentum in the US and China, as well as in infant nutrition, the Swiss giant said.
Total sales increased by 2.1% to 91.4 billion Swiss francs in 2018, while EPS increased by 45.5% to 3.36 Swiss francs.
"We are pleased with our progress in 2018. All financial performance metrics improved significantly," said CEO Mark Schneider.
Nestlé said it plans to raise its dividend by 10 cents to 2.45 Swiss francs per share and intends to complete its current share buyback program six months ahead of schedule by the end of 2019, due to "strong free cash flow generation."
Nestle shares are currently up 3.1% at 89.3 Swiss francs, outperforming a 1% rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Food & Beverage index.
Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.