Swiss franc's strength takes shine off Nestlé's leap in sales

Nescafé-to-Häagen-Dazs food giant Nestlé today displayed the pain which record-breaking levels of the Swiss franc has done to companies based in the country.

Despite what Nestlé said was 7.5% growth in organic sales in the first half, its reported profits dived 24% to Swfr4.7 billion (£3.9 billion). By contrast, if its profits had been reported in dollars they rose 30% to $5.2 billion (£3.2 billion) after tax. Nestlé said between its half-year ends of June 2010 and June 2011 the Swiss franc had strengthened from $1.083 to 83.2 cents and from �1.324 to �1.207. Today the rates are 72.3 cents and �1.04.

Chief executive Paul Bulcke said the first half had been "a period characterised by political and economic instability, natural disasters, rising raw-material prices and, yes, a strong Swiss franc".