ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle
"We confirm our full-year outlook: performance will be weighted to the second half, outperforming the market, with organic growth around 5 percent," the world's biggest food group said in a statement on Tuesday.
The maker of Maggi soups and Nescafe soluble coffee is facing a difficult trading environment, where penny-pinching Europeans often opt for cheaper private label goods and slow emerging markets no longer make up for weak developed markets.
Sales rose to 20.8 billion Swiss francs (14.15 billion pounds), short of a forecast for 21.46 billion francs in a Reuters poll. They fell 5.1 percent in Swiss francs, hit by the relative strength of the Swiss currency.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz)