Nestle posts 3.7 percent rise in first-half profit

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GENEVA — Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle SA posted a 3.7 percent rise in first-half profits and strong sales Thursday, despite what it described as the challenges of slowing markets and “value-conscious” consumers.

But the world’s biggest food and drink company said it still expects underlying sales growth of around 5 percent for the remainder of the year.

Based in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestle is the maker of dozens of household name brands such as Nescafe, Haagen Dazs and Jenny Craig. It also is a major buyer of food commodities, and its results can serve as an indicator of worldwide consumer demand and health of the global economy.

Nestle reported before the opening of the Zurich exchange that it had first-half profits of 5.1 billion Swiss francs ($5.5 billion) in the January to June period, up from a restated 4.9 billion francs in the same period last year.

It also said its sales rose 5.3 percent to 45.2 billion francs, up from a restated 42.9 billion francs in the comparable period a year ago.

Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said the first half shows “a balanced performance, both top and bottom line, in an environment of lower growth and lower input costs.”

The underlying sales growth, he said, was “somewhat muted, reflecting lower pricing by our markets, as we leveraged softer input costs to meet the expectations of today’s more value conscious consumers.”

Shares of Nestle closed at 64.7 francs Wednesday on the Zurich exchange, up more than 8 percent since the start of the year.