Swiss food giant Nestlé reports a decline in annual net profit for 2024. The multinational says sales fell 1.8% to CHF91.3 billion (US$100.2 billion).

Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO, flags a solid 2024 performance with Nestlé executing a plan to accelerate growth.

“In a challenging macroeconomic context and soft consumer environment, we achieved a solid performance in 2024 in line with our latest guidance. Organic growth was 2.2%, with a return to positive real internal growth of 0.8%, and both strengthened in the second half. Free cash flow improved to CHF10.7 billion, and the Board proposes an increase in the dividend per share to CHF3.05,” he says.

Freixe adds that the company has a clear roadmap to accelerate performance and transform for the future.

“This means delivering superior product taste and quality with unbeatable value, scaling our winning platforms and brands, accelerating the rollout of our innovation ‘big bets’ and addressing underperformers.”

“We are creating the fuel for these growth investments through our new CHF 2.5 billion three-year cost savings program. We are making good progress and have already secured over CHF300 million of these savings for 2025.” 

Sales growth highlights

PetCare was the largest growth contributor in North America, with low single-digit growth driven by premium brands, particularly in the cat and therapeutic diets segments.

Growth in Confectionery was driven by Tollhouse baking products and pricing actions particularly in the second half of the year, while Beverages (including coffee and coffee creamers) delivered positive growth overall, with new product launches supporting continued strong momentum for Nescafé and Starbucks, offsetting a decrease in Coffee mate.

Infant Nutrition saw a sales decrease, with a decline in Gerber in the context of a category slowdown in baby food.

Frozen food posted negative growth, primarily reflecting the impact of price competition in pizza and the winding down of the frozen meals business in Canada.

Higher input costs in coffee and cocoa

Freixe also notes that a crucial part of improving performance is strengthening Nestlé’s value propositions to consumers and customers. 

“Price competitiveness is a priority in the context of the high inflationary environment for certain commodities, most notably coffee and cocoa. We are taking an agile approach to passing on input cost increases, selectively investing in price as we focus on restoring competitiveness,” he says.