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Nestlé sales show healthy growth

The world’s largest food group, Nestlé, has announced that its sales for the first quarter were up by 6.5 per cent compared with last year at SFr26.3 billion ($24.5 billion).

The company said it was confident about prospects for the rest of 2010 as the economic recovery began to make itself felt.

First-quarter revenues were higher than analysts’ expectations and included real internal growth of 4.8 per cent.

Nestlé, which has a stable of brands that include Nescafé and Nespresso coffee, Gerber baby food and Perrier mineral water, said in a statement that growth was achieved in all its regions and categories.

It repeated its targets for better sales and profit margin growth for the year as a whole.

“Our strong sales performance in the first quarter confirms we are capturing opportunities in our different growth pillars, both in emerging and developed markets, even in a global economic environment which remains challenging,” commented chief executive Paul Bulcke in a statement.

The group, which is based in Vevey in western Switzerland, made a 2009 net profit of SFr10.43 billion.

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