ZURICH (AFP) – Nestle lowered its outlook again for 2024 and reshuffled its executive team yesterday as the global food giant reported falling sales for the first nine months of the year.
The Swiss group, whose brands range from Nespresso coffee capsules to Purina dog food and Haagen-Dazs ice cream, said sales reached CHF67.1 billion (USD77.4 billion), a 2.4 per cent drop from the same period last year.
“Consumer demand has weakened in recent months, and we expect the demand environment to remain soft,” Nestle’s new Chief Executive Laurent Freixe said in a statement.
Nestle appointed Freixe, who headed its Latin America unit, last month to replace Mark Schneider following slowing sales and a series of product scandals.
Freixe said Nestle now expects organic sales growth, which excludes currency fluctuations and acquisitions, of two per cent this year.
The group had already cut its annual sales growth expectations from four per cent to three per cent in July.
