Kuala Lumpur: Marking its 110th year in Malaysia, Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd recorded a higher net profit of RM205.18 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (Q1 2022) to RM205.18 million from RM175.16 million in the same period last year, despite the impact of increased commodity prices and the one-off Prosperity Tax.
Revenue also improved to RM1.69 billion from RM1.45 billion previously, the food and beverage counter said in a Bursa Malaysia filing.
The better turnover was driven by both higher domestic and export sales, which grew 14.9 per cent and 25.3 per cent, respectively.
Strong performance in both the core food and beverage (F&B) business and the Out-of-Home (OOH) business under Nestlé Professional, benefitting from the increased mobility and reopening of hotel, restaurant and café channels post-lockdown.
During Q1 2022, the group introduced several new products, including the low fat, low salt Maggi nutri-licious noodles range, certified with the Ministry of Health’s healthier choice logo, as well as Nescafé Tarik mixes and Maggi chicken marinade pastes.
The ice cream segment also saw new launches such as the Nestlé Musang King ice cream, Nestlé Mochi Boba ice cream and La Cremeria chocolate brownie fudge with seasalt.
On current year prospects, the group is confident about sustaining growth momentum across the year, even if it sees growth levelling down from current high levels in the coming quarters.
It, however, did not issue any profit forecast.
"The global environment remains very challenging, with widespread inflation gaining traction across the world and also in Asia, aggravated by the war in Ukraine impacting further prices and availability of key food commodities such as wheat, barley and sunflower oils.
"Overall, 2022 is shaping (out) as a year of solid growth in the top line and some pressure on the bottom line as we do our best to balance the tensions on our cost value chain with internal efficiencies and moderate price increases," Nestle said.
Despite the foreseeable hurdles, the company said it aims to continue leveraging all possible opportunities to drive another year of solid and resilient results, while making meaningful progress in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space to contribute to Malaysia’s sustainable progress.
