Environmental Factor: Nestle S.A.

Solution Preview

I have taken Nestle as a company.

As per Wikipedia, "Nestle S.A. is the largest food company in the world."1.

Its headquarters are in Vevey, Switzerland and has Sales more than CHF 107.6 billion and net profit was CHF 10.43 billion in 2009. As per the corporate website, Nestle's " mission of "Good Food, Good Life" is to provide consumers with the best tasting, most nutritious choices in a wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning to night." 2

Its key financials are as follows:

2010 consolidated (In millions of CHF)
Sales 109 722
EBIT (a) Group 16 194
as % of sales 14.8%
Net profit (b) 34 233
as % of sales 31.2%
Capital expenditure 4 576
as % of sales 4.2%
Equity attributable to shareholders of the parent 61 867
Market capitalisation, end December 178 316
Operating cash flow 13 608
Free cash flow (c) 7 761
Net debt 3 854
Ratio of the debt to equity (gearing) 6.2%

http://www.nestle.com/AboutUs/KeyFigures/Pages/KeyFigures.aspx

The above table is showing that Nestle has robust financial with positive operating cash flows. Nestle is a multinational company and it operates in more than 80 countries. Let us evaluate the environmental factors affecting Nestle.

Analyze the influence of global economic interdependence and the effect of trade practices and agreements.

I have taken factors such as National Income and industry growth rate to understand the economic environment and its impact on Nestle. GDP is important because that this number tells about the national income of the country and also about the world at large. Right now US and Europe is facing recession and GDP growth is below average and developing countries like India is having ...