09/01/2008 15h21
Nestlé bets in emerging markets to grow
Gazeta Mercantil - 09/01/2008
In a time of high in food prices and emerging countries leading the world economic growing, Nestlé SA faces a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to obtain the least cost possible for its products, which should go through the development increasingly sophisticated items and items that allow consumers to experience sensations, take care of themselves, or prevent diseases. The opportunity is to expand with greater momentum in the strong expansion markets, as the Country's. "Brazil should grow above the company's growth rate", said Paul Polman, Nestlés's vice-chairman and executive responsible for the Americas region, which goes from Canada to the Patagonia. "The company should double its size in the next five years", he added, during an interview to journalists, after a two-day visit to the Country. The executive - who was the finance director of the group and assumed the new position in February, replacing the company's current president Paul Bulcke - emphasized that the subsidiary has already doubled its size in the last five years and there is no reason for not repeating the performance in the future. The aim is not new to Nestlé. In the middle of last year, when it announced R$ 11 billion (US$ 5.1 billion) in revenues, accrued in 2006, the president of the company in Brazil, Ivan Zurita, said that the company should reach R$ 22 billion (US$ 13.5 billion) until 2012, showing an evolution two times superior to the gross domestic product (PIB) in the period. In 2007, the company's revenue was R$ 12 billion (US$ 6.2 billion), a high of 9,2% compared to 2007. The rate was superior to Brazilian GDP's 5.4% growth and the company's organic growth of 7.4 %. The performance of the first six months of this year was not released. "We closed the semester well, in line with our objectives, and we will continue advancing", said Zurita.
