After registering good results in plant-based meat and plant-based dairy alternatives categories, Nestle representatives said they look at entering new categories. Statements were made while discussing 2020 fiscal year results during a February earnings call.
“Those opportunities to reinvigorate the food category are few and far between. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I think we’re making good progress with that,” Ulf Mark Schneider, chief executive officer said. “But when you look at the wider opportunity, when you look at where we use these ingredients to then make more attractive downstream offerings like frozen pizza with plant-based toppings or frozen meals or other prepared dishes, then it’s a much bigger opportunity,” he said. “Then we’re talking almost CHF700m, and here, again, growing at double-digit organic sales growth rates.” He pointed out that Nestle’s sales of plant-based meat options total about USD223m. Sales of plant-based dairy alternatives are up to about CHF100m.
“We had seen great success last summer with the product that a few people had on the radar screen, and that is plant-based tuna alternative, which has been now one of the best-selling plant-based items in select European markets, and we’re still scaling this up and can’t make it fast enough,” he said.
In 2020, Nestle’s net profit decreased by 3% to CHF12.23bn, while sales were down 9% to CHF84.3bn.
“Sales in retail remained strong throughout the year,” Francois-Xavier Roger, executive vice president and CFO said. “In out-of-home, sales decline moderated in the second half of the year, stabilizing at around minus 26%. We remain cautious and expect continued headwinds for the out-of-home channels in the first half of 2020. Improvement in the out-of-home channel is expected to be gradual, with a recovery back to pre-COVID levels, at the earliest, in 2022.”