![\"Nescafé](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Y242HUPNMZIM5DQMVXGYQQCXGY.png\")
Nescaf\u00e9 CEO Philipp Navratil. Picture: SUPPLIED <\/p>\nStory audio is generated using AI<\/p>\n
By Alexander Marrow<\/p>\n
London \u2014 Nestl\u00e9 is in talks to sell its remaining ice cream businesses as part of CEO Philipp Navratil\u2019s drive to streamline the sprawling Swiss consumer food group, the company said at its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The maker of Maggi stock cubes and Nescaf\u00e9 coffee said it is in advanced talks to sell ice cream businesses in Asia, Canada and parts of Latin America to Haagen-Dazs owner Froneri, a joint venture that Nestl\u00e9 established with European buyout firm PAI Partners. Nestl\u00e9 holds a 50% stake in Froneri, which was valued at \u20ac15bn, including debt, in October last year when Goldman Sachs and the state-linked Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested in the business.<\/p>\n
Nescaf\u00e9 CEO Philipp Navratil. Picture: SUPPLIED <\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9 plans to focus on its coffee, pet care, nutrition, and food and snacks units, it said in a statement, as it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are accelerating executions with a leaner, more performance-driven organisation, and the stage is set for continuous improvement in 2026 and beyond,\u201d Navratil told reporters. <\/p>\n
Infant formula recall<\/p>\n
Navratil\u2019s efforts to overhaul the packaged goods producer have been overshadowed by the biggest infant formula recall in Nestl\u00e9\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n
The CEO said the company had acted swiftly and transparently to earn the trust of regulators and consumers. \u201cThere might be some impact from the recall, but I think there is not a long-term reputational issue we\u2019re facing,\u201d he said, anticipating no spillover across products. <\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9, whose shares were up 2.8% by 9am GMT, is expecting 2026 full-year organic sales growth to be in the range of 3% to 4%. Nestl\u00e9 forecast its underlying trading operating profit margin this year would rise from 16.1% in 2025 and expects real internal growth, or sales volumes growth, to come in above last year\u2019s 0.8%. <\/p>\n
Waters business<\/p>\n
Navratil, who announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs soon after taking the helm in September last year, has been battling the negative impacts from US import tariffs and foreign exchange, and consumers with less purchasing power.<\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9 said it has concluded the strategic review of its mainstream and value vitamin and supplement brands and is looking to engage with potential buyers. It expects to deconsolidate its waters business from 2027, and began the formal process with potential partners in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Analysts have suggested US frozen foods could be another division for the chop, but Navratil said that remains part of the portfolio as a profitable, cash-generative asset.<\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9 trimmed net debt to Sf51.4bn ($66.6bn) by the end of December, from Sf60bn in June, thanks in part to strong cash flow generation. The board will propose a 5 centime increase in the dividend to Sf3.10 a share.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrong free cash flow and slashed net debt establish a solid foundation for a reset,\u201d said Vontobel analysts.<\/p>\n
Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency movements and acquisitions, rose 4% in the quarter ended December 31, above expectations for 3.4% growth.<\/p>\n
That was led by price increases of 2.8%, roughly in line with analyst expectations, and real internal growth of 1.3%, outperforming expectations for a 0.9% increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story audio is generated using AI By Alexander Marrow London \u2014 Nestl\u00e9 is in talks to sell its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[126],"tags":[9420,9416,9426,9411,541,199,9430,9418,9427,9423,9409,9408,9413,9410,9425,9419,9428,9421,9424,9405,9422,9406,9407,9415,9414,9412,9429,9431,9417,9404],"class_list":["post-12914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nestle","tag-ceo-philipp-navratil","tag-froneri-acquisition","tag-froneri-joint-venture","tag-ice-cream-business-sale","tag-infant-formula-recall","tag-nestle","tag-nestle-2026-sales-forecast","tag-nestle-business-restructuring","tag-nestle-cash-flow","tag-nestle-coffee-pet-care","tag-nestle-debt-reduction","tag-nestle-dividend-increase","tag-nestle-financial-results","tag-nestle-fourth-quarter-results","tag-nestle-fourth-quarter-sales","tag-nestle-froneri-joint-venture","tag-nestle-frozen-foods","tag-nestle-ice-cream-sale","tag-nestle-infant-formula-recall","tag-nestle-job-cuts","tag-nestle-net-debt-reduction","tag-nestle-organic-sales-growth","tag-nestle-product-focus","tag-nestle-restructuring","tag-nestle-sales-growth","tag-nestle-strategic-focus","tag-nestle-strategic-review","tag-nestle-streamlining","tag-philipp-navratil-ceo","tag-us-import-tariffs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}