Nestlé reports $35.8-billion full-year net profit

Source: BusinessMirror
GENEVA - Swiss food and drinks giant Nestlé SA boasted a full-year net profit of 34.23 billion Swiss francs ($35.8 billion) on Thursday, inflated by the sale of its shares in eye-care company Alcon that added 24.5 billion francs net to its balance sheet in 2010. The company reported a net-profit of 10.4 billion francs for 2009. Excluding the extraordinary one-off gains from Alcon, Nestlé posted a net profit of 8.78 billion francs from continuing operations compared with 9.26 billion francs the previous year. The Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of Nescafé, Perrier, Jenny Craig and Haagen Dazs said its continuing operations achieved organic growth of 6 percent, slightly above analyst expectations. Chief executive Paul Bulcke said the company's target for 2011 would be 5 percent to 6 percent. AP

2010 ARAW Values Advertising Awards: MILO Marathon Advocacy Wins Gold

The MILO Marathon “Help Give Shoes” advocacy won the Gold in the category for “Respect and care for human life, dignity and the rights of all” in the 2010 ARAW Values Advertising Awards, besting over 180 entries that vied for the award.

The MILO Marathon “Help Give Shoes” campaign called on runners from all walks of life to come together in order help provide thousands of underprivileged children with running shoes. The MILO Beverages team, together with its communication partner Publicis Manila, came up with a campaign that featured the unique Filipino custom of sending cutouts of their feet, instead of shoe sizes, when requesting their relatives—usually the ones abroad— to buy them new pairs of shoes.

This iconic and quirky foot cutout became the centerpiece of the campaign that made use of different above-the-line and below-the-line communication vectors in order to spread its message. The campaign was a success, with more than 200,000 runners joining the 34th National MILO Marathon. As a result, over 4,000 public school children each received a brand new pair of running shoes, shoes that they can use for school, for sports and other activities.


The ARAW Awards is a biennial awards program of the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines, and this year’s theme is centered on the values embedded in advertisements and how they are delivered. The organizing committee categorized the entries according to the seven cornerstone values: (1) Love of God and respect for religious beliefs; (2) Commitment to truth, honesty and justice; (3) Love of country and respect for national customs and traditions; (4) Reverence for family, unity and inviolability of marriage; (5) Respect and care for human life and dignity and the rights of all; (6) Respect for law and authority and the promotion of self discipline; and (7) Concern and preservation of the environment.