Global manufacturer Nestlé has reported a 2.9% decline in net profit for 2024, as sales fell by 1.8%.
Nestlé achieved an underlying trading operating profit of CHF 15,704 million, down 2.2% from its 2023 rate of CHF 16,053 million. Net profit reached CHF 10,884, down 2.9% from CHF 11,209.
Free cash flow increased 2.5% from CHF 10,403 million to CHF 10,666 million, with Nestlé stating that growth was led by its confectionary category. Its outlook for 2025 remained unchanged as accelerated delivery of cost efficiencies offset increases in key commodity prices.
Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO, commented: “In a challenging macroeconomic context and soft consumer environment, we achieved a solid performance in 2024 in line with our latest guidance. Organic growth was 2.2%, with a return to positive real internal growth of 0.8%, and both strengthened in the second half. Free cash flow improved to CHF 10.7 billion, and the Board proposes an increase in the dividend per share to CHF 3.05.
“We have a clear roadmap to accelerate performance and transform for the future. Increasing investment to drive growth is central to our plan. This means delivering superior product taste and quality with unbeatable value, scaling our winning platforms and brands, accelerating the rollout of our innovation ‘big bets’ and addressing underperformers. We are creating the fuel for these growth investments through our new CHF 2.5 billion three-year cost savings program. We are making good progress and have already secured over CHF 300 million of these savings for 2025.
“From 2025, we expect our actions to drive an improvement in organic sales growth, with a lower underlying trading operating profit margin in the short term as we invest for growth. While there is macroeconomic uncertainty, we have lots of opportunities ahead of us, and we have the strategy, the resources and the people and team to deliver.”
