Nestle reports drop in profits
Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle has said that it is ending its agreement with the well-heeled Bettencourt family of France over the L’Oreal cosmetics empire and is exploring options for its Gerber Life Insurance business.
The announcement came as the Vevey, Switzerland-based company reported net profit fell nearly 16% to 7.18 billion Swiss francs (€6.2bn) last year, compared to 8.53 billion in 2016. The company said the drop was mostly due to accounting of cash-flow issues at Nestle Skin Health.
Nestle said revenues edged up 0.4 percent to 89.8 billion francs, while underlying profit rose 4.6% to 3.55 billion francs.
The company reported growth of 2.4%, and CEO Mark Schneider acknowledged that organic sales growth came in “below our expectations” following “weak sales development” toward year-end.
Schneider said Nestle’s markets in North America and Brazil faced a “challenging environment” while sales growth was “encouraging” in Europe and Asia.
The company said it expects lower tax expenses in the United States of about 300 million francs as a result of the US tax reform package.
Nestle said it will consider “strategic options” including a possible sale of Gerber Life acquired from Novartis 11 years ago, but “remains fully committed to retain and develop the Gerber baby food business, which is an integral part of our infant nutrition growth platform.”
It said its shareholding in L’Oreal was an “important investment” and expressed confidence in the French cosmetics company’s management. Nestle said it would not renew a shareholding agreement with the Bettencourt family, the other top shareholder, that is set to expire next month — though it said it did not plan to boost its stake in L’Oreal.
Nestle said the main terms of the deal with the Bettencourt family held that neither side could increase their stakes in L’Oreal during the lifetime of Liliane Bettencourt and six months after that. She died in September.
