Zurich, Aug 7 - Nestle , the world's largest food company, is expected to post 3.9 percent organic sales growth in the first half, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Closely-watched underlying, or organic, sales growth, strips out currency effects and acquisitions. The 11 analysts polled by Reuters forecast on average that sales including those factors would fall 0.6 percent to 52.7 billion Swiss francs ($49.48 billion).
The maker of Nescafe coffee, KitKat chocolate bars and Maggi soup reported organic sales growth of 3.8 percent in the first quarter.
Sales this quarter were expected to have taken a 4.2 percent hit from foreign exchange effects, largely due to the strong Swiss franc, which also hit sales in the first quarter.
At a June investor seminar, Nestle reiterated its target for 2009 organic sales growth "at least approaching 5 percent", saying it expected performance to be weighted towards the second half when it saw growth coming less from pricing and more from volume.
Analysts said they see 3.2 percent of the organic growth coming from price rises in the first half and just 0.7 percent from volume.
"Nestle has guided for a gradual improvement in food and beverages volume growth in the course of the year. We expect the company to make similar statements as the global economy stabilises and signs of improvement increase," said SNS Securities analyst Richard Withagen.
Nestle's rival Unilever Plc/NV , the world's third-biggest food and consumer goods group, beat forecasts on Thursday with a 4.1 percent rise in second-quarter sales while volume growth of 2 percent boosted its shares to a seven-month high.
French food group Danone also reported forecast-beating results, with price cuts helping volumes rise 2.7 percent in the second quarter.
Nestle shares, which have underperformed the DJ Stoxx European food and beverage index this year, are trading at about 13.8 times 2010 earnings, compared to about 13.9 times for Danone and 13.5 times for Unilever.
Following is a breakdown of analysts' forecasts for Nestle. The company is due to report figures on Wednesday at 0530 GMT.
(Figures in million Swiss francs, except EPS and dividend in francs)
H1
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago Change%
Sales 52,724 52,501 53,463 52,100 13 53,066 -0.6
EBIT 7,358 7,345 7,577 7,210 13 7,341 0.2
Pretax profit 6,658 6,650 6,923 6,425 9 6,570 1.3
Net profit* 4,934 4,877 5,328 4,607 13 5,214 -5.4
EPS - fully diluted 1.33 1.33 1.43 1.24 13 1.39 -4.3
Sales growth H1 (%)
- Organic growth 3.9 4.0 4.2 3.2 11 8.9 n/a
- - RIG 0.7 0.7 1.0 0.4 9 3.5 n/a
- - Price 3.2 3.3 3.5 2.8 9 5.4 n/a
- Acquisitions -0.6 -0.6 -0.3 -0.7 10 3.2 n/a
- Exchange -4.2 -4.3 -2.5 -5.1 10 -8.3 n/a
FY2009
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago Change%
Sales 110,531 110,372 113,207 108,800 11 109,908 0.6
EBIT 15,899 15,842 16,465 15,113 11 15,676 1.4
Pretax profit 14,695 14,672 15,160 14,138 8 21,833 -32.7
Net profit* 10,384 10,364 10,800 9,730 11 18,039 -42.4
EPS - fully diluted 2.83 2.85 3.00 2.70 11 4.84 -41.5
Dividend per share 1.45 1.45 1.52 1.40 9 1.40 3.6
Sales growth FY2009 (%)
- Organic growth 4.3 4.3 5.1 3.4 9 8.3 n/a
- - RIG 1.8 1.8 2.2 1.2 9 2.8 n/a
- - Price 2.5 2.5 3.1 2.1 9 5.5 n/a
- Acquisitions -0.4 -0.4 0.0 -0.7 9 1.7 n/a
- Exchange -3.5 -3.6 -1.5 -4.4 9 -7.8 n/a
FY2010
Mean Median High Low No.
Sales 115,403 115,187 119,437 113,184 6
EBIT 16,896 16,870 17,590 16,244 6
Pretax profit 15,773 15,923 16,386 14,627 6
Net profit* 11,025 11,056 11,585 10,412 6
EPS - fully diluted 3.09 3.06 3.40 2.92 6
Dividend per share 1.56 1.60 1.70 1.40 6
Sales growth FY2009 (%)
- Organic growth 5.0 5.3 5.5 4.0 5
- - RIG 3.1 3.4 3.5 2.0 5
- - Price 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.8 5
- Acquisitions -0.1 0.0 0.0 -0.6 5
- Exchange -0.9 0.0 0.0 -3.5 5