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The world's biggest food group Nestle's sales growth slowed in the first nine months of the year as Asian economies deteriorated and prices in Europe fell, but the maker of coffee and KitKat chocolate bars stuck to its full-year target.
Food groups are facing tough conditions as prices in developed markets decline and growth slows in emerging markets.
Sales at Nestle were 66.2 billion Swiss francs ($70.29 billion) in the nine months to September compared with 68.35 billion Swiss francs, just missing analysts' average estimate of 66.78 billion francs in a Reuters poll.
Underlying organic growth, which is adjusted for currency swings, acquisitions and divestitures, slowed to 4.5 per cent in the period under review from 4.7 per cent in the first half and fell short of a 4.7 per cent forecast in the Reuters poll.
Nevertheless the company reaffirmed its forecast for organic growth of around 5 per cent.
"Despite the tough environment, in view of our year-to-date performance, we are still aiming for organic growth of around 5 per cent for 2014 with improvements in margins, underlying earnings per share in constant currencies and capital efficiency," Nestle Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said in a statement.
Sales in Swiss francs fell 3.1 per cent as the strong Swiss franc took its toll.
Sales growth in emerging markets, which represented 44 per cent of group sales, slowed to 9.5 per cent from 9.7 per cent in the first half. Growth in developed markets also slowed to 0.5 per cent from 0.6 per cent in the first half.
But sales growth in the group's biggest market, the Americas, accelerated to 5.1 per cent from 4.9 per cent in the first half, while European growth was steady at 1.4 per cent as prices for Nestle products continued to fall.
French yogurt maker Danone on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected 6.9 per cent underlying rise in third-quarter sales, helped by improving baby food sales in Asia where it is seeking to recover from a health scare last year. (1 US dollar = 0.9418 Swiss franc)
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