Nestle SA (ETR: NESR) said on Thursday that its net profit in 2020 saw a decline amidst the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Sales, the company added, still increased organically last year. Nestle also expressed confidence on Thursday that its organic growth and profitability will sustain pace in the upcoming months.
Nestle shares, that you can learn to buy online here, opened at £79.78 in the stock market on Thursday and are currently trading at a slightly higher £80.02 per share. In March 2020, the Swish company had touched a low of £75 per share.
Nestle reports £67.42 billion of annual sales
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Nestle said that its full-year net profit printed at £9.78 billion in 2020 versus the year-ago figure of a higher £10.08 billion. The food and beverage company reported £67.42 billion of annual sales on Thursday – also weaker than last year. In an announcement last August, Nestle said it wanted to acquire Aimmune Therapeutics for £1.95 billion.
On the back of robust performance in the Americas, especially from Nestle Health Science and its Purina PetCare segments, the Swiss company said that its organic growth in 2020 stood at 3.6%. In comparison, analysts had forecast the company to post £67.78 billion of sales in 2020. Their estimate for net profit was capped at a lower £9.57 billion.
In separate news from Europe, Credit Suisse said on Thursday that it swung to a loss in the fiscal fourth quarter.
Nestle expects close to a 5% sales growth in the mid-term. The company forecasts its per-share underlying earnings to increase this year. The multinational’s board of directors proposed a slight increase to £2.20 per share of dividend on Thursday.
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CEO Mark Schneider’s comments on Thursday
CEO Mark Schneider commented on the financial update on Thursday and said:
“2020 was a year of hardship for so many, yet I am inspired by the way it has brought all of us closer together. I want to thank our employees and our partners – from farmers to retailers – who worked with us to ensure the supply of food and beverages to communities globally.”
Nestle remained almost flat on average in the stock market last year with an annual decline of under 2%. At the time of writing, the Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate is valued at about £231 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 21.46.
