Nestle to examine banking relationships following Credit Suisse downfall
Reuters
Published Mar 28, 2023 04:40AM ET
Updated Mar 28, 2023 05:12AM ET
ZURICH (Reuters) -Nestle will examine its banking relationships following the planned takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, the food group's Chief Executive Mark Schneider said on Tuesday.
The world's largest food group was a client of Credit Suisse, Schneider told broadcaster TeleZueri in an interview to be shown on Tuesday evening, and had been following the collapse of Switzerland's second-biggest bank.
"We have worked closely with Credit Suisse for many decades in a spirit of trust," Schneider told the broadcaster.
"You can see from such an example that Switzerland as a business location and a financial centre are very closely linked. We now have to see how to reorganise our banking relationships, both with Swiss and international providers."
Schneider said the intervention by the Swiss government, the central bank and financial market regulator to engineer a merger with UBS had stabilised the situation and restored confidence.
Speaking about Nestle, Schneider said the company had made a good start to 2023, although further price rises by the company were likely, Schneider said, to offset inflation of raw material costs.
The maker of Nescafe instant coffee and KitKat chocolate bars raised prices by 8.2% last year, but that did not fully offset the impact of increased ingredient costs on margins.
Price increases had so far only had a "very limited" impact on consumer spending, Schneider said.
"As inflation continues, and then also affects our own profitability, we will have to adjust prices," Schneider said.
"We will continue to do this in a responsible way, we don't want to be a price driver. We respond to inflation, we don't fuel it," he said.
The food maker was also working on savings to reach its goal for a full-year underlying trading operating profit margin target of between 17% and 17.5% , Schneider added.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.