In order to counter the declining consumer sentiment in North America and Europe, Nestle has diversified its activities and developed Maggi Juicy Roasting cooking aids and Dreyer’s smoothies. It has also increased prices in order to pass on the burden of higher raw material costs to consumers. Helped by the introduction of products, such as DiGiorno Pizza Combos, Nestle’s sales gained 6.2 percent in its Americas unit.

 

The company reported that its net income from continuing operations went up to 9.49 billion francs from 8.78 billion a year. However, the strength of the franc reduced the value of sales achieved in other currencies. Nestle expects that its organic sales growth in 2012 will meet its target of 5 percent to 6 percent after doing so in 2010 and 2011. However, the strength of the franc against other currencies reduced 13 percentage points from its sales growth. Last year, the dollar was 15 percent lower, against the franc on average, while the euro was down 11 percent.