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