The world’s largest food and drink maker and U.S.’s largest retailer announced lackluster profits. Walmart announced a profit that was essential the same as the profit it reported last year, but the report did beat analysts expectations. For the article by Stephanie Rosenbloom in the New York Times, click here. According to the article,
“On Thursday Wal-Mart said it made a profit of $3.44 billion, or 88 cents a share for the three months ended July 31; it reported a profit of $3.45 billion, or 87 cents a share, a year ago.”The Associated Press is reporting that Nestle’s saw a profit decline of 2.7% in the first half of 2009. This report also beat the market’s expectations, but the company has dropped its full-year growth forecast for 2009. For the Associated Press article in the New York Times, click here. According to the article,
“Sales through June fell 1.5 percent, to 52.3 billion francs.Posted: 08/13/09
Food and beverages sales fell 2 percent, to 48.3 billion francs. Sales stagnated in the Americas, its biggest market, but fell 7.5 percent in Asia and Africa and 21.6 percent in Europe.
Nestlé’s bottled water was the big loser as sales fell 4.7 percent on lower demand in Western Europe and North America.
The company’s nutrition unit also reported a 3.5 percent decline in sales, even as its infant nutrition business showed some signs of gaining momentum in Europe and the United States. It said its cereals business and Nespresso coffee continued to perform well.”
