Nestle Invests in Sri Lanka’s Future

Continues Investment Commitment to Country with Malt Beverages Expansion

Nestlé, the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company, invested LKR 560 million in inaugurating an expansion of its Malt Beverages line at their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kurunegala, which currently produces over 90% of their products in Sri Lanka.

This investment is the first phase of a master plan for massive expansion and development in the country by Nestlé Lanka, where the Company announced that, commencing 2011, LKR 10 billion would be invested in dairy development and manufacturing capacity expansion in the Beverages and Culinary areas over the next few years.

The new plant at Nestlé  Lanka’s manufacturing facility was inaugurated by Hon. Chamal Rajapaksa, Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament, in the presence of Hon. Anura P. Yapa, Minister of Environment; Hon. Athula Wijesinghe, Chief Minister – North Western province; Mr. Pierre Schaufelberger, Vice President – Nestlé Zone AOA, Switzerland and Mr. Alois Hofbauer, Managing Director for Nestlé Lanka PLC.

Said Mr. Pierre Schaufelberger, Vice President – Nestlé Zone AOA, “In line with our philosophy to Create Shared Value, it is a fundamental Nestlé belief that investments have to be good for the country as well as the company; creating long term value for the countries we operate in creates long term value for all stakeholders. Nestlé sees a lot of opportunity in Sri Lanka and believes in its potential. Accordingly, we have stepped up our investment in the country. With our long term investment plans for Sri Lanka, we are taking a far-sighted view of business development to stimulate significant local development here.”

Mr. Alois Hofbauer stated that close to LKR 10 billion had been invested in the country by Nestlé so far, where close upon LKR 1.1 billion was invested in dairy development and capacity expansion in the Company’s Kurunegala factory in 2010. “This is approximately 5% of our 2010 sales and significantly higher compared to earlier years. In 2011, we will further accelerate our investment by doubling our commitment in these same areas to LKR 2 billion” he said.

He further stated that almost one-third of the total LKR 10 billion investment plan would relate to dairy development and dairy based products, highlighting the Company’s commitment to doubling local fresh milk collection in support of the Country’s vision to significantly increase domestic dairy production over the next five years. As the largest private sector collector of fresh milk in the country with the largest number of milk chilling centres, Mr. Hofbauer added that many Dairy Development initiatives were in place by the Company to achieve this.  The Food and Beverage giant is also the world’s largest exporter of coconut milk powder.

“All our future plans are in line with our ambition to enhance the lives of Sri Lankan consumers with great tasting and nutritious products at affordable prices and uphold our consumers trust in us as a Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company. These investments will help us deliver our promise of ‘Good Food, Good Life’ by delighting consumers with great tasting products of superior nutritional quality and enabling us to Create Shared Value for all stakeholders, particularly for communities where we operate,” said Mr. Hofbauer.

Photo captions: (Top) From left: Mr. Bandula Egodage, AVP – Corporate Affairs & Communication for Nestlé Lanka PLC; Anura P. Yapa, Minister of Environment; Mr. Pierre Schaufelberger, Vice President – Nestlé Zone AOA, Switzerland; Chamal Rajapaksa, Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament; Mr. Alois Hofbauer, Managing Director for Nestlé Lanka PLC; Athula Wijesinghe, Chief Minister – North Western Province and Mr. Sant Lal Girdhar, VP – Technical for Nestlé Lanka PLC.

(Bottom) Chamal Rajapaksa, Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament, inaugurates the new plant at Nestlé Lanka’s manufacturing facility in the presence of Anura P. Yapa, Minister of Environment; Athula Wijesinghe, Chief Minister – North Western Province; Mr. Pierre Schaufelberger, Vice President – Nestlé Zone AOA, Switzerland, Mr. Alois Hofbauer, Managing Director for Nestlé Lanka PLC and Mr. Sant Lal Girdhar, VP – Technical for Nestlé Lanka PLC.