Swiss food and drinks company Nestle SA reported Wednesday a 7.5 percent rise in half-year net profit to 5.45 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) and raised its full-year outlook as global sales increased despite adverse currency exchange rates. The results from the maker of Nescafe, Jenny Craig and Haagen-Dazs beat analyst expectations and compared with a 5.1 billion francs profit a year earlier. Sales rose to 55 billion francs during the six month period to June from 52 billion francs. Nestle now expects its core food and drinks business excluding currencies effects and one-off events to grow 5 percent, an improvement on its previous forecast of over 3.9 percent. Shares in Nestle were flat at 51.50 francs ($48.85) on the Zurich exchange, the Associated Press reported.
