KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd recorded a lower net profit of RM175.16 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Q1 2021) from RM186.31 million in the same quarter last year.

However, its revenue rose one per cent to RM1.45 billion from RM1.43 billion previously.

"The key contributor was the core food and beverage business, which recorded a growth of five per cent, driven by robust in-home consumption with good momentum across most brands,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today. 

However, this was moderated slightly by out-of-home (OOH) activities which has been very much impacted by the Movement Control Order’s effect on the hospitality and restaurant sectors.

On prospects, the group is confident that it will be able to maintain a solid growth momentum for the remainder of the year and across businesses.

"We are encouraged by the signs of slow but firm recovery of OOH channels in the months ahead, while we have high confidence in the sustained momentum of our brands as the preferred choices by Malaysian families,” it said. 

Nestle also said that RM300 million of capital expenditure has been allocated for this year to ramp up its production capacity in several factories and upgrade its technology for increased productivity and efficiency, as well as the adoption of state-of-the-art automation and digitalisation. 

"We will also continue to drive our sustainability efforts across multiple fronts, with focus on reforestation, plastic reduction or collection and recycling as well as constant effort to reduce the carbon footprint of our operations,” it said. 

Moving forward, the company believes that 2021 could shape up to be another solid year, with top-line growth and resilient margins, even though a note of caution was needed due to the volatility in many commodity markets and the ongoing challenges to global supply chains. — Bernama