Nestle confirms 2015 outlook following organic growth in first half

Nestle has met its internal expectations for the first half of 2015, delivering a six-month sales total of 42.8 billion Swiss francs (28.12 billion pounds).

This represented a real internal growth rate of 1.7 percent, or 4.5 percent organic growth. Its trading operating profit margin was 15 percent, up 20 basis points in constant currencies, while underlying earnings per share rose by 7.3 percent in constant currencies.

Its good momentum was attributed to the strong execution of its nutrition, health and wellness strategy, as well as its investments in its new Nestle Health Science and Nestle Skin Health growth platforms.

This complemented the encouraging performance of its food and beverages businesses and allowed Nestle to confirm its outlook for the full year.

The group is still aiming to achieve organic growth of around five percent, with improvements in margins and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies.

Paul Bulcke, Nestle chief executive officer, said: "The first-half results were in line with our expectations, broad-based across categories and geographies, solid even in difficult circumstances, and consistent with our strong performance over time."