Rebecca Hubbard
Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:31 pm

The world’s largest food manufacturer, Nestlé, for its food and drinks business, has posted like-for-like sales growth of 2.2% in Europe over the past six months.

The Swiss giant’s food and beverages global sales were up 5.7%, with total first-half revenues reaching CHF55.3bn, which equates to 33.3 billion pounds. Overall profits for the period increased by 7.5% to CHF5.5bn.

Nescafé claimed the increase in takings was as a result of the increase in food and drink marketing spend, which has grown by 14% over the first half of 2009.

Nestlé  chief executive, Paul Bulcke, said: “the group’s very successful first-half performance is due to the excellent execution of our proven strategies in all parts of the world, covering the full range from premium brands to value-priced offerings.

“We have increased investment in our brands, people and capabilities and have prepared the company for a more challenging second half, which allows me to reconfirm our earlier full-year guidance [of 5% growth].”

Nestlé has been on the acquisition trail recently, buying up Latin American powdered drinks maker Mahler Group as well as UK nutrition specialist Vitaflo.