Nestlé half-year results

(Image: Nestlé S.A.)

Nestlé surprises with stronger-than-expected growth, but a sales dip and leadership shake-up hint at deeper challenges

Nestlé half-year results highlights

• Nestlé reports 2.9% organic growth in H1 2025, beating analyst expectations of 2.8%
• Share price up 4% year-on-year, though still trailing competitors like Unilever and Danone
• Sales fell 1.8%, from CHF 45.0bn to CHF 44.2bn, largely due to price hikes in confectionery (+10.6%) and coffee (+6%)
• CEO Laurent Freixe under pressure to revive performance, but reassures investors with strategic progress and innovation
• Chairman Paul Bulcke to step down early next year amid ongoing transformation efforts
• Focus areas include Greater China expansion and premium positioning in the Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements category

Nestlé’s half-year results reveal a 2.9% increase in organic growth. This surpasses analysts’ expectations of 2.8%.

The company’s share price is also up, with a 4% bump on last year, though it continues to lag behind rivals including Unilever and Danone.

All this will help to ease investor pressure on CEO Laurent Freixe, who was brought on to revive the company’s share price, in August last year.

“We are executing our strategy to accelerate performance and transform for the future,” said Freixe in a statement this morning. ” We are accelerating our category growth and improving our market share, through better execution and increased investment, funded through a relentless pursuit of efficiency.“

But it’s not all good news. The Swiss multinational, known for big-name brands including KitKat, Nespresso and Shreddies, saw a 1.8% drop in total reported sales, from 45.0 billion Swiss francs to 44.2 billion Swiss francs.

“Pricing actions” taken through the first half of the year are said to be responsible for the drop in sales, with confectionery prices increased by 10.6% and coffee by 6%.

This drop in sales could be the reason behind the recent announcement that long-standing Nestlé Chairman, Paul Bulcke, would be stepping down early next year.

Looking to the future

Since his appointment, Laurent Freixe has made it clear that Nestlé’s focus is on growth.

“Where we are investing to accelerate category growth, we are growing four times faster than the Group, and our six innovation ‘big bets’ achieved sales of over CHF 0.2 billion Swiss francs in the first half,” says Freixe.

He goes on to say that Nestlé is also addressing its “18 key underperforming business cells”, and the “aggregate growth gap to market has improved by a third”.

Perhaps most interestingly for investors is the announcement that Nestlé plans to strengthen its presence in Greater China and focus its Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements business on winning premium brands.

“We have maintained our guidance for 2025, while recognising increased macroeconomic risks and uncertainties,” says Freixe. “We remain confident that our actions to drive performance and transformation will deliver our medium-term growth and profit ambitions.”

Of course industry and investors will be watching closely to see if Nestlé achieves these ambitions.