Nestlé S.A. has raised its growth projections, benefiting from consumers continuing some of their pandemic-related buying patterns.
Organic sales for the third quarter were up 6.5% over the same period last year, and Nestlé is now predicting growth for this year of 6% to 7%, up a full percentage point from previous predictions. Sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2021 were 63.3 billion Swiss francs ($68.8 billion), up 2.2% over last year.
Nestlé was buoyed by good performances in key segments, especially coffee and pet food. Consumers seem to be retaining a preference, developed at the height of the pandemic, for drinking coffee at home, which has boosted all three of Nestlé’s major brands: Nescafe, Nespresso and Starbucks retail. As for pet food, Nestlé is expanding to meet demand caused by households adopting pets during the pandemic. Three of the top four capital projects in Food Processing’s list this year were Nestlé pet food plants.
Dealing with inflation will be a major concern for Nestlé, said CEO Mark Schneider. Like most food companies, Nestlé is grappling with higher costs for ingredients, packaging, transportation and labor. Nestlé has raised prices for its products an average of 2.1% this quarter.
