Nestle (NESN.S), said the indirect impact of U.S. tariffs was “unclear” and posted better-than-expected first-quarter organic sales growth, as the world’s biggest packaged food company hiked prices for its Kit-Kat chocolate bars and Nescafe coffee.
The Swiss company maintained its 2025 outlook, saying it still expects organic sales growth to improve and estimates an underlying trading operating profit margin at, or above, 16%.
Nestle’s organic sales growth, which excludes the impact of currency movements and acquisitions, rose 2.8% in the first quarter ending March 31, Nestle said. Analysts had forecast average organic sales growth of 2.5%.

The company’s 2.1% price increases were above the average analyst estimate of 1.8%. Real internal growth – or sales volumes – rose 0.7% versus expectations of a 0.8% increase.
Total reported sales increased by 2.3% to 22.6 billion Swiss francs ($27.28 billion), slightly ahead of analyst expectations of 22.5 billion francs.

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Gross profit was CHF 20.6 billion. The gross profit margin decreased by 60 bps to 46.6%, primarily driven by the impact of higher coffee and cocoa prices on cost of goods sold, which were not fully compensated by price increases.

Underlying trading operating profit was CHF 7.3 billion, a decrease of 7.1%. The underlying trading operating profit margin was 16.5%, a decrease of 90 bps on a reported basis or 80 bps in constant currency.
Net profit decreased by 10.3% to CHF 5.1 billion. Basic earnings per share decreased by 9.0% to CHF 1.97 driven by lower net profit, which was partially offset by the impact of the share buyback program, which concluded in December 2024.