LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Nestle posted a far-better-than-expected first-quarter sales growth on Thursday as more people bought coffee and pet food made by the world's biggest packaged food company.
Nestle, which makes Maggi seasonings, Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate wafer bars, maintained its full-year outlook of organic growth between 3% and 4%, and a higher underlying trading operating profit margin than last year.
Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency movements and acquisitions,
rose 3.5% in the three months ended March. Analysts had on average expected organic sales growth of 2.4%.
Total reported sales decreased by 5.8% to 21.3 billion Swiss francs ($27.12 billion) meeting analyst estimates.
A source close to Nestle told Reuters in February that new CEO Philipp Navratil is planning a sharper focus on four product categories - coffee, petcare, nutrition and health, and food and snacking - to try to lift sales volumes this year.
The strategy reflects a stronger emphasis on the four areas rather than a major overhaul of the business, the source added.
Nestle's 2.3% first-quarter price increases met the average analyst estimate of 2.3%. Real internal growth - or sales volumes - rose 1.2% versus expectations of a 0.1% increase, driven by coffee, food and snacks.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
