Nestle

Leche Carnation

Nestlé S.A. (French pronunciation: /nɛsle/) is a company Swiss multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It has been the world's largest food company, as measured by revenue and other metrics, for 2014, 2015, and 2016. It was ranked number 72 on the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014 and in the 2016 edition of Forbes Global 2000 of the largest public companies.

Nestlé's products include baby food, medical food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, frozen food, pet food and snack foods. Twenty-nine of Nestlé's brands have annual sales of more than $1 billion, including Nespresso, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffer, Vittel, and Maggi. Nestlé has 447 factories, operates in 194 countries and employs around 339,000 people. It is one of the main shareholders of L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics company.

Nestlé was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in the United States, established in 1866 by brothers George and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé. The company grew significantly during World War I and again after World War II, expanding its offerings beyond its early condensed milk and infant formula products. The company has made a number of corporate acquisitions, including Crosse & Blackwell in 1950, Findus in 1963, Libby's in 1971, Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988, Klim in 1998, and Gerber in 2007.

Nestlé has a primary stake in the SIX Swiss Exchange and is part of the Swiss Market Index. It has a secondary listing on Euronext. In 2011, Nestlé was listed as the #1 Fortune Global 500 most profitable company in the world. With a market capitalization of US$239.6 billion, Nestlé was ranked #11 in the FT Global 500 of 2014.

History

Foundation and early years (1866-1900)

Family Arms Shield Nestléof which the world logo of Nestlé.

Henri Nestlé, Swiss confectioner, was the founder of Nestlé and one of the leading creators of condensed milk.

Nestlé's origins date back to 1866, when two separate Swiss companies were founded that would later form the core of Nestlé. In the decades that followed, the two competing companies aggressively expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States.

In September 1867, in Vevey, Henri Nestlé developed milk-based infant foods and soon began to market it. The following year, in 1867, Henri creates a combination of powdered milk and wheat flour, which he called "lactate flour". The fame of this product grew in Europe and the industrial production of this formula, today known as Cerelac, began in 1868. This same year Daniel Peter began seven years of work perfecting his invention, the process for manufacturing chocolate with milk. Nestlé was the crucial partner Peter needed to solve the problem of removing all the water from the milk added to his chocolate to prevent the product from developing mold. Henri Nestlé retired in 1875 but the company, under new ownership, retained its name as Société Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé.

In August 1867, Charles (US Consul to Switzerland) and George Page, two brothers from Lee County, Illinois, USA, established the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland. Its first British operation was opened in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 1873.

In 1877, Anglo-Swiss added milk-based baby foods to its products; In the following year, the Nestlé Company added condensed milk to its portfolio, making the firms direct and rival. In 1879, Nestle merged with the inventor of milk chocolate Daniel Peter.

Mergers (1901-1989)

Certificate for 100 actions by Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co., issued on November 1, 1918

In 1904, François-Louis Cailler, Charles Amédée Kohler, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé were involved in the creation and development of Swiss chocolate, marketing the first Nestlé chocolate milk.

In 1905, the companies merged to become Nestlé & Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, retaining that name until 1947 when the name Festlé Alimentana SA was taken as a result of the acquisition of Fabrique de Produits Maggi SA (founded in 1884) and its holding company, Alimentana SA, of Kempttal, Switzerland. Maggi was a major manufacturer of soup mixes and related food products. The company's current name was adopted in 1977. By the early 1900s, the company operated factories in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. World War I created demand for dairy products in the form of government contracts, and by the end of the war Nestlé's production had more than doubled.

Nestlé building in Aleppo (Syria) during the 1920s.

In January 1919, Nestlé purchased two condensed milk plants in Oregon from the Geibisch & Joplin for $250,000. One was in Bandon, and the other was in Milwaukee. They expanded them considerably, processing 250,000 pounds of condensed milk daily at the Bandon plant.

In 1921, the company recorded its first loss; With commodity prices rising, the post-war economy slowing, and exchange rates deteriorating, pessimism continues to grow. Nestlé immediately felt the effects of World War II. Profits dropped from US$20 million in 1938 to US$6 million in 1939. Factories were established in developing countries, particularly in Latin America. Nestlé's first plant in Latin America was located in Ararás, Brazil. Soon, the company expanded throughout the continent.

Ironically, the war helped introduce the company's new product, Nescafé ("Café de Nestlé") in 1938, through the Brazilian Coffee Institute, first approaching Louis Dapples in 1930, looking for new products in which to take advantage of the large surpluses of coffee in Brazil. Eight years of research result in a soluble powder that became a staple drink for the US Army. Nestle's production and sales increased in the war economy.

After the war, government contracts dried up, and consumers switched back to fresh milk. However, Nestlé management responded quickly, streamlining operations and reducing debt. The 1920s saw Nestlé's first expansion into new products, with chocolate manufacturing becoming the company's second most important activity.Louis Dapples was CEO until 1937 when he was succeeded by Édouard Muller until his death in 1948.

A 1915 announcement for "Nestlés Food", an early childhood formula

Growth accelerated and numerous companies were acquired. In 1947 Nestlé merged with Maggi, a manufacturer of condiments and soups. Crosse and Blackwell followed in 1950, as did Findus (1963), Libby (1971), and Stouffer (1973). Diversification came with a stake in L'Oréal in 1974. In 1977, Nestlé made its second company outside of the food industry, through the acquisition of Alcon Laboratories Inc.

The end of World War II was the beginning of a dynamic phase for Nestlé, although it would also be noted that after the agreement with L'Oréal in 1974, Nestlé's overall position changed rapidly. For the first time since the 1920s, the company's economic situation deteriorates as the price of oil rises and the growth of industrialized countries slows. In addition, exchange rates deteriorate with the French franc, the dollar, the pound sterling and the mark, all losing value against the Swiss franc. Although with all these facts, between 1975 and 1977, coffee prices quadrupled and cocoa prices tripled.

Between 1980 and 1984, the company divested from various non-strategic or non-profit businesses. At the same time, Nestlé ends a series of controversies over the marketing of infant formulas in the Third World. This debate has led to a boycott of Nestlé products by certain organizations. This issue is still simmering in some quarters, but there are no significant boycott attempts.

After dumping some properties, he returns with the $3 billion Carnation acquisitions in 1984, bringing the brand of evaporated milk, as well as Coffee-Mate and Friskies to Nestlé. The Rowntree Mackintosh confectionery company was acquired in 1988 for $4.5 billion, bringing brands like Kit Kat, Smarties and Aero. The same year, Nestlé Chile acquired Centenario S.A., the company that owns Hucke and McKay, which was important news for Chilean consumers.

International growth (1990-2011)

The first half of the 1990s proved favorable for Nestlé. Barriers to trade collapsed and world markets became more or less integrated trading areas. Since 1996, a number of acquisitions have been made, including San Pellegrino (1997), D'Onofrio (1997), Spillers Petfoods (1998), and Ralston Purina (2002). There were two major acquisitions in North America: in June, Nestlé combined its ice cream business into Dreyer's, and in August a US$2.6 billion acquisition of Chef America, the creator of Hot Pockets, was announced. In the same time frame, Nestlé entered into a joint bid with Cadbury and came close to buying the iconic American company Hershey's, one of its fiercest confectionery competitors, but the deal eventually ended.

In 2003, it began with the acquisition of Mövenpick ice cream, improving Nestlé's position in this product category. In 2006, Jenny Craig, the American weight management company, and Uncle Toby's were added to the Nestlé portfolio.

In December 2005, Nestlé bought the Greek company Delta Ice Cream for €240 million. In January 2006, it took full ownership of Dreyer's, thus becoming the world's largest ice cream maker, with a 17.5% market share. In July 2007, completing a deal announced on Last year, Nestlé acquired the medical nutrition division of Novartis Pharmaceutical for $2.5 billion, also acquiring the milk-flavored product known as Ovaltine, the "Boost" and "Resource" and Optifast diet products.

The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, inaugurating a Nestlé factory in Feira de Santana (Bahía) in February 2007.

In April 2007, going back to its roots, Nestlé bought US baby food manufacturer Gerber for US$5.5 billion. In December 2007, Nestlé signed a strategic alliance with a Belgian chocolate manufacturer, Pierre Marcolini.

Nestlé agreed to sell its controlling stake in Alcon to Novartis on January 4, 2010. The sale would form part of a larger US$39.3 billion offer by Novartis for the complete acquisition of the care company largest eyepiece in the world. On March 1, 2010, Nestlé completed the purchase of Kraft Foods' US frozen pizza business for US$3.7 billion.

Since 2010, Nestle has been working to transform itself into a nutrition, health and wellness company in an effort to combat declining confectionery sales and the threat of expanded government regulation of such foods. This effort is carried out through the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences under the direction of Ed Baetge. The Institute aims to develop "a new industry between food and pharmaceuticals" by creating food products with preventative and corrective health properties that would replace medicine from pill bottles. The Health Sciences branch has already produced various products, such as protein drinks and shakes aimed at combating malnutrition, diabetes, digestive health, obesity and other diseases.

In July 2011, Nestlé SA agreed to purchase 60 percent of Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd. for about US$1.7 billion. On April 23, 2012, Nestlé agreed to acquire the infant nutrition unit of Pfizer Inc.., formerly Wyeth Nutrition, for US$11.9 billion, beating out a joint offer from Danone and Mead Johnson.

Recent evolution (2012-2017)

In recent years, Nestlé Health Science has made several acquisitions. Acquired Vitaflo, which makes clinical nutritional products for people with genetic disorders; CM & D Pharma Ltd., a company specializing in the development of products for patients with chronic conditions such as kidney disease; And Prometheus Laboratories, a company specializing in treatments for gastrointestinal diseases and cancer. It also has a minority stake in Vital Foods, a New Zealand-based company developing kiwifruit-based solutions for gastrointestinal conditions as of 2012.

Another recent purchase included Jenny Craig's weight loss program, for $600 million. Nestlé sold the Jenny Craig business unit to North Castle Partners in 2013. In February 2013, Nestlé Health Science bought Pamlab, which makes L-methylfolate-based medical foods that target depression, diabetes and memory loss. In February 2014, Nestlé sold its PowerBar sports nutrition business to Post Holdings, Inc. Later in November 2014, Nestlé announced that it was exploring strategic options for its frozen food subsidiary, Davigel.

In December 2014, Nestlé announced the opening of 10 skin care research centers around the world, deepening its investment in a fast-growing market for health products. That year, Nestlé spends about $350 million on research and development in dermatology. The first of the research centers, Nestlé Skin Health Investigation, Longevity Education and Development, will open in mid-2015 in New York, followed by Hong Kong and São Paulo, and later in North America, Asia and Europe. The initiative is being launched in partnership with the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), a consortium that includes companies such as Intel and Bank of America.

Nestlé announced in January 2017 that it would move its US headquarters from Glendale, California to Rosslyn, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC.

Presence in American countries

America

The brand reached several countries in America through the importation of dairy products that arrived in those countries, to officially establish itself over the years. The company has a presence in these countries:

• Argentina (with presence since the end of the century)XIXofficially established since 1930; has 9 factories)

• Brazil (with a presence since 1875, when Milkmaid condensed milk arrives in Brazil; officially established since 1921, when the first factory of Nestlé is opened in Latin America, in the city of Araras, São Paulo State)

• Bolivia (with presence since 1960s; officially established since 2000)
• Chile (with a presence since 1934; officially established since 1945; has 7 factories)
• Colombia (with a presence since 1922; officially established since 1944; has 4 factories) (will invest $100 million in 2026)
• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador (with presence since 1955; officially established since 1970)
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico (with a presence since 1930; officially established since 1935; has 13 factories)
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay (with presence since 1964; officially established since 1998)
• Peru (with presence since 1919; officially established since 1940) In 1986 Nestlé was forced to sell Leche Gloria to a third, national, for a claw mistake by his General Manager Harry Korner, who, in the absence of a subsidy, threatened the Minister of Agriculture Remigio Morales Bermúdez with stopping the collection of fresh milk at the national level.
• Puerto Rico (with a presence since 1899; officially established since 1931)
• Uruguay (with presence since 1920; officially established since 1976)
• Venezuela (with a presence since 1886; officially established since 1941; has 5 factories)

Spain

Former Nestlé factory in Udalla (Cantabria).

In 1905, due to the high industrial and livestock activity in the province of Santander at the beginning of the XX century, founded the first Nestlé factory in Spain in the town of La Penilla, with a small initial staff of 30 workers headed by Lorenzo Pfersich Wüscher. It is the first factory that the Swiss multinational established outside its country of origin. Its first item in production were tins of Nestlé milk flour, despite the fact that it was an existing product in the country, which added to the initial mistrust towards a newly introduced brand meant difficult business growth until the end of the following decade.

By 1920 the company was able to establish itself as a trusted brand in Spain and constituted the company AEPA (Anónima Española de Productos Alimenticios), and it expanded by creating branches in the most important cities of the country, obtaining in 1927 the title of "Official supplier of the Royal House" by King Alfonso XIII. During this period, Nestlé invested in large marketing and image campaigns, and in 1928 it incorporated the production and sale of chocolates under the Peter, Cailler and Kholer brands into its factory (until then only produced in foreign factories and not marketed in Spain). Fruit of the merger in 1929 with Chocolats Suisses S.A. The La Penilla factory becomes one of the thirteen factories in the world where the new line of Nestlé chocolates is produced, naming the infante Don Jaime de Borbón in charge of it.

Currently, Nestlé in Spain has its headquarters in Esplugas de Llobregat, in Barcelona, and 10 production centers spread over five autonomous communities. They are found in Puentecesures (Pontevedra), Gijón and Sebares (Asturias), La Penilla (Cantabria), Gerona and Viladrau (Gerona), Castellbisbal (Barcelona), Reus (Tarragona), Miajadas (Cáceres) and Herrera del Duque (Badajoz).

With an average workforce of about 4,500 people, Nestlé offers food products to be consumed at different stages of life: baby foods, dairy products, chocolates, coffees and cereal-based beverages, culinary, breakfast cereals, quick-frozen, mineral waters, clinical nutrition specialties and pet food and care.

Projects in Spain

Comprehensive coffee capsule recycling plan

In 2011, Nestlé Spain launched a comprehensive recycling plan for coffee capsules with town halls and municipal organizations. As of today, there are 1,469 municipal collection points for capsules that serve more than 16 million inhabitants of 12 autonomous communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Catalonia, La Rioja, Madrid, Navarra)., Basque Country and Valencia).

Chocolates made with sustainable cocoa, certified by UTZ

Since 2016, the UTZ-certified sustainable agriculture program certifies the cocoa with which Nestlé produces all the chocolate from the Penilla de Cayón factory, in Cantabria. This organization aims to help improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers and protect the environment. Currently, the cocoa that Nestlé buys comes mainly from the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ecuador.

The 10 Nutritional Commitments

In 2014 Nestlé Spain presented its 10 Nutritional Commitments that define the company's nutrition strategy. These commitments focus on three areas: product formulation, consumer information and education.

Scientific research

Globally, Nestlé has a network of 40 research and development centers located in various countries around the world, where 4,800 professionals work.

Corporate affairs

Nestlé is the world's largest food company, with a market capitalization of approximately 231 billion Swiss francs, which is more than US$247 billion as of May 2015.

In 2014, consolidated sales were CHF 91.61 billion and net profit was CHF 14.46 billion. Investment in research and development was 1.63 billion Swiss francs.

Sales by category in dollars

• 20.300 million powdered and liquid beverages
• 16.700 million dairy products and ice cream
• 13.5 billion dishes prepared and cooking aids
• 13.1 billion nutrition and health sciences
• 11.300 million petcare
• 9.6 billion confectionery
• 6.9 billion water

Percentage of sales by geographic area

• 43% of America
• 28% of Europe
• 29 per cent of Asia, Oceania and Africa

According to a 2015 global online consumer survey conducted by the Reputation Institute, Nestlé has a reputation score of 74.5 on a scale of 1-100.

Joint Ventures

Joint ventures include:

• Cereal brands worldwide with General Mills (50% / 50%)
• Lactalis Nestlé Produits Frais with Lactalis (40% / 60%)
• Nestlé Colgate-Palmolive with Colgate-Palmolive (50% / 50%)
• Nestlé Indofood Citarasa Indonesia with Indofood (50% / 50%)
• Nestlé Snow with Snow Brand Milk Products (50% / 50%)
• Nestlé Model with Model Group
• Dairy Partners America Brazil with Fonterra (51% / 49%)

Main brands

D'Onofrio ice cream station at José Abelardo Quiñones Square in the Peruvian city of Iquitos.

Brands are classified by markets and ordered by amount of economic benefits (from highest to lowest). Only those with the greatest international projection are included. Nestlé also has a 29% stake in L'Oréal, but would be planning a takeover bid for the 30% held by Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. The brands appear here under the original name (usually in English), as the same product it often goes by different names in the countries in which it is distributed. It must also be taken into account that in several countries the transnational has its own brands for having bought local companies that are only recognized there.

Disputes

On advertising powdered milk

A study conducted in the 1970s by British researchers demonstrated superior growth in newborns who drank breast milk compared to those who drank Nestlé powdered milk. In 1979, 150 international organizations created the IBFAN (International baby food action network) or International Network for infant feeding, whose objective is to fight against Nestlé's communication strategy that is supported, mainly in countries in development, on the alleged superiority of powdered milk over breast milk. In the United States, the International Nestlé Boycott Committee, made up of some thirty NGOs and Churches, launched a boycott campaign in 1977, mainly followed in North America, Great Britain, Sweden and Germany. An extraordinary session of the World Health Organization voted in 1981 for an international code for the marketing of powdered milk. It prohibited any advertising that encouraged the substitution of breast milk for powdered milk. This code, known as the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, was signed in 1984 by Nestlé. Since then, the multinational has been accused by NGOs and journalists of not complying with it, along with other companies. At the same time, various specialists warn about the psychological pressure on mothers who cannot breastfeed or simply wish to do so during the first months of the child's life, for which reason they consider it correct that the absolute suitability of formula milks be specified in advertising. A report entitled Cracking the Code and published in 1996 by the Interagency Group on Breastfeeding Monitoring lists the violations committed, listed by a network of associations in South Africa, Bangladesh, Poland and Thailand. In February 2011, the Directorate of Supervision, Control and Consumer Defense of the province of Mendoza, Argentina forced the company, after a detailed study, to change the label and packaging of two of its products, &# 34;The Milkmaid" and "Day by Day" because they are dairy substitutes made from milk but are not powdered milk. It was determined that the company's sales strategy, placing food next to milk containers in supermarkets, and the design of its packaging and instructions for preparing the product were "bordering on advertising deception." The IFBAN continues to regularly publish a dossier with the infringements committed by Nestlé in relation to this code.

Transgenic products

In the fifth edition (2013) of the Red and Green Guide of Greenpeace Spain of transgenic foods classified as:

• products whose manufacturers do not guarantee Greenpeace absence of GMOs – or their derivatives – in their ingredients or additives.
• products for which Greenpeace laboratory analysis have detected GMOs.
• products on the label containing transgenic or derivatives

Nestlé brands appear in the following categories:

• Infant food: all products.
• Food for pets: Nido, Friskies, Vital, Felix, Balance, Elite, Nutrition, Beneful, Gourmet, Tonus.
• Prepared and preserved: Maggi, Buitoni, Litoral, Solís, Nestlé, La Cocinera.
• Drinks: Nesquik, Nescafé, Nestlé, Bonka, Eko, Ricore.
• Breakfast cereals: Chocapic, Fitness, Fever1, Straits, Golden Grahams, Crunch, Cheerios.
• Frozen: Buitoni, The cook.
• Chocolate and treats: Nestlé, Milkybar, Crunch, After Eight, Kit kat, Nesquik, Blues, Dolca.
• Ice cream: La Lechera, Maxibon, Nestlé, Extreme.

Nestlé Purina in Venezuela

In early 2005, Nestlé Purina sold large quantities of contaminated pet food in Venezuela under local brands including: Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Fiel, Friskies, Gatsy, K-Nina, Nutriperro, Perrarina and Pajarina. It was reported that the contamination was caused by a supplier incorrectly storing corn for animal use, which caused growth of fungi with a high amount of aflatoxin, causing liver problems in animals fed with these products. On March 3, 2005, the National Assembly of Venezuela declared that the Nestlé Purina company was responsible for the quality standards of its products and that it should pay compensation to the owners of the affected and dead animals.

Anti-competitive conduct

In 2015, the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) of Spain imposed a fine of 10.6 million euros on Nestlé Spain for anti-competitive conduct. Several companies in the dairy sector were penalized in the same file for having arranged the distribution of the raw milk supply market "in a single and continuous infringement from at least the year 2000 to the year 2013 included".

Merger with Soprole in Chile

In November 2010, the Chilean subsidiary of Nestlé and Soprole, one of the country's largest dairy industries, announced their merger, although it is still unknown whether both brands would remain or merge into a single name. As a result, they would control the Chilean yogurt market by 50% and that of liquid milk by between 40 and 45%, according to figures provided by the aforementioned companies.

In Chile, the dairy market is controlled mainly by four industries (Nestlé, Soprole, Loncoleche - Calo and Colun) that manage 75%; displacing brands such as Parmalat - Danone —Parmalat has been in Chile since the 1990s, while Danone entered the Chilean dairy market at the end of 2007, when it bought the national subsidiary of the Italian dairy— and Surlat, among others. For this reason, experts predict a possible monopolistic behavior on the part of both industries, which, they say, should be reviewed by the Chilean Competition Tribunal, since they could manage up to two thirds of the national industry.

In March 2011, the National Economic Prosecutor's Office delivered a report to the court establishing the disadvantages of the merger, indicating that one consequence could be an increase in dairy prices. In April of that year, the companies decided to withdraw the consultation and not persevere with the merger.

Nestlé Supplier Award

• 2015 Proveedor Nestlé Award to Norbert Dentressangle Company