KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Nestle (M) Bhd is set to adopt a cautious approach this year given a volatile market condition despite a solid performance in 2015.
For financial year ended Dec 31, 2015, Nestle’s pre-tax profit rose to RM727.71 million from RM701.19 million in 2014. Revenue increased to RM4.84 billion from RM4.81 billion previously.
In its corporate report 2015, Nestle said, this was attributable to the growth in domestic business and improvement in export business despite the challenging market condition.
It said last year was challenging with various market conditions weighing down Malaysia’s economy and impacting the consumers.
“These included the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and rising cost of living, as well as depreciation of ringgit and the sluggish overall global economy,” it said.
To mitigate the uncertainty over price movements, effective promotional activities were launched and that had contributed to the strong topline performance, it said.
Nestle said the market condition this year will remain volatile, coupled with reduced consumer confidence as a result of GST implementation.
It said commodity prices were also expected to increase and raw materials could be further impacted by the ringgit depreciation.
However, Nestle said, it remained positive on the middle- and long-term prospects of Malaysia as one of its the top five markets in Asia.
The group said it will continue to improve the product portfolio to cater to the evolving consumer preference in Malaysia with great value proposition in terms of quality and affordability.
It said being in Malaysia for over a hundred years, the group was committed to maintain its business strategy of prudent cost management, coupled with proactive investment for the future.
“Through steady and continuous investment over a long term and delivering solid results over the short term, we are confident that we are able to capitalise on the vast opportunities in Malaysia,” it said. — Bernama
