Nestle gives rivals plenty to chew over

By: Dean Best - 12 August 2010 11:52

One analyst spoke of Nestle's "unstoppable momentum" after the world's largest food maker published its first-half results yesterday (11 August).

And the Swiss food giant's numbers were robust, particularly the growth from its core food and beverage business in Europe, where trading for all companies remains tough.

However, perhaps the most telling part of Nestle's results announcement was the defence of its emerging market operations from CFO Jim Singh.

The Nestle finance chief pulled no punches in his attempt to see off criticism that the company is under-exposed to emerging markets.

Others may have a greater proportion of their sales in emerging markets but Singh argued that it was a company's scale in the developing world that counts. And Nestle's scale, he insisted, was "unmatched".

Singh's comments on Nestle's presence in emerging markets was a timely reminder of how far the company has come in the developing world - and a timely warning about the future to its competitors.