Nestle Expects Challenging 2013 After Emerging Markets Slow

Nestle SA said it expects 2013 to be as challenging as last year, when sales missed analysts’ estimates on a slowdown in emerging markets, where the world’s largest food company makes more than 40 percent of its revenue.

Sales advanced 5.9 percent in 2012 on a so-called organic basis, missing the 6 percent average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The stock fell as much as 2.7 percent, the steepest intraday decline in almost four months, after the Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of Nescafe soluble coffee said revenue growth in emerging markets slowed to 11 percent last year from 13 percent in 2011.