Nestlé sales in the first quarter of 2005 were up and on target to reach the company’s full year goals it said today (Monday).


Total sales in January-March 2005 were 20.464bn Swiss francs (US$17.3bn) compared with 20.409bn francs a year ago. Real internal growth was 2.6% while organic growth was 4.6% the company said


“Our satisfactory first quarter growth is in line with our expectations. It allows me to confirm our full-year organic growth target of between 5% and 6%, said chairman and CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe “While the first quarter, as expected, still showed some upward pressure in raw material prices, we were able to compensate this through price increases. I therefore believe that we will be able to reach our target of an improved constant-currency EBITA margin for the full year.”