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MILAN – Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe aims to put the food giant back on the road to success by focusing on three pillars for further growth: the expansion of strong brands such as the Kitkat chocolate bar, the introduction of fewer but more successful innovations, and investments in future-oriented nutrition areas.
“We are determined to regain trust, and to again become the benchmark in our industry,” said the CEO, who has been in office since September 2024, speaking at the company’s 158th Annual General Meeting for shareholders that took place on Wednesday April 16, 2025, in Lausanne.
The 62-year-old reiterated his intention to further accelerate growth and continue the transformation that has been initiated. Now is the time for energetic and immediate action,” he stressed.
Nestlé’s growth strategy is based on three pillars: the expansion of strong brands such as the Kitkat chocolate bar, the introduction of fewer but more successful innovations – so-called “big bets” – and investments in future-oriented nutrition areas such as women’s health and healthy ageing.
As for big bets, “Our Nescafé Espresso Concentrate is one of them, and it is capitalizing on the cold coffee trend, which is driven by younger generations worldwide” said Freixe. “We recently launched this new product in Australia, China, the US, Japan and the UK, with other European markets to follow.”
Nestlé releases the results from its Annual General Meeting
Nestlé S.A. held its 158th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne. Shareholders approved all of the Board of Directors’ proposals. 986 shareholders or their proxies attended the event in person, representing 58.5 percent of the capital and 80.3 percent of the shares entitled to vote. The Independent Representative acted on behalf of 99.4 percent of shares represented at the AGM.
Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO, was elected to Nestlé S.A.’s Board of Directors. The Chairman and all other members of the Board of Directors were re-elected for a term of office until the end of the next Annual General Meeting. Shareholders also elected the members of the Compensation Committee for a one-year term.
Pablo Isla will continue in his role of Lead Independent Director and Vice Chairman, and he will chair the Board’s Nomination Committee. Dick Boer will continue to chair the Compensation Committee. Hanne de Mora and Renato Fassbind will continue to chair the Sustainability Committee and the Audit Committee, respectively.
The annual review and the financial statements were approved, as were the proposed dividend of CHF 3.05 per share and the capital reduction. The dividend represented an increase of 5 centimes over the previous year and was the 29th increase in a row.
Shareholders also voted on and approved Nestlé’s Non-Financial Statement for 2024.
They also approved the Compensation Report 2024 as well as the total compensation budgets for Nestlé’s Board of Directors and Executive Board. Ernst & Young Ltd was re-elected as statutory auditors for the financial year 2025.
For the year ahead, the Board and its different committees will be composed as follows:
Board of Directors
Paul Bulcke, Laurent Freixe, Pablo Isla, Renato Fassbind, Hanne Jimenez de Mora, Dick Boer, Patrick Aebischer, Dinesh Paliwal, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chris Leong, Luca Maestri, Rainer Blair, Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch as well as Geraldine Matchett.
Chair’s and Corporate Governance Committee
Paul Bulcke, Laurent Freixe, Pablo Isla, Renato Fassbind, Hanne Jimenez de Mora, Dick Boer
Compensation Committee
Dick Boer, Pablo Isla, Patrick Aebischer, Dinesh Paliwal
Nomination Committee
Pablo Isla, Paul Bulcke, Dinesh Paliwal, Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch
Sustainability Committee
Hanne Jimenez de Mora, Dick Boer, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chris Leong
Audit Committee
Renato Fassbind, Luca Maestri, Rainer Blair, Geraldine Matchett
