Nestlé announces 2.5 percent rise in first-half profit

(AP) -- Food and drinks giant Nestlé on Friday announced a first-half net profit of SFr2.079 billion ($1.36 billion), up 2.5 percent on the same period last year.

(AP) — Food and drinks giant Nestlé on Friday announced a first-half net profit of SFr2.079 billion ($1.36 billion), up 2.5 percent on the same period last year.

In July, the Swiss-based group announced first-half sales of SFr35.3 billion($22 billion), unchanged from the same period last year. Last year’s first-half net profit was SFr2.07 billion ($1.35 billion).

The impact of economic downturn in East Europe and Latin America from the second half of last year was offset by Nestlé’s “strong position in Asia … and by further improvements in Western Europe and North America,” the group said in a statement.

For the full year, “Nestlé expects a further improvement in both sales and profit, provided that exchange rates do not deteriorate significantly.”

In March, it posted a net group profit for last year of SFr4.29 billion (then $3.15 billion).