Nestlé gives into another of Third Point’s demands
Zurich — Food giant Nestlé on Tuesday set a formal margin target, as several of its rivals have done, fulfilling another demand by activist shareholder Third Point. "The company will detail how it will reach its mid-single digit organic growth target by 2020, and will announce an underlying trading operating profit margin target of 17.5%-18.5% by 2020," the Swiss maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nespresso coffee said ahead of a highly anticipated investor seminar. The London event is the first time new CEO Mark Schneider will lay out his strategy for Europe’s largest company. Investors are looking for proof that Nestlé, the world’s largest packaged food company, can improve performance when the sector is battling a slew of upstart brands and changing consumer tastes and habits. "I guess many investors will be reassured, although the target doesn’t look over ambitious," Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said. Expectations had already been high for Schneider, the first outside...
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