Soft demand for dog food and snacks leads to sales drop at Nestlé Purina

Nestlé’s pet care sales declined by 2.3% year-over-year (YoY) from January to June to CHF 9.23 billion ($10.4B/€9.6B). In the first half of 2024, Purina hit sales of CHF 9.45 billion ($10.7B/€9.8B).

The portfolio registered organic growth of 1.3% in H1 2025, driven by a solid performance in cat food, offset by weaker category dynamics that impacted sales in mainstream dog brands and snacks.

“The growth of [the] pet category has come down from a year ago, but is now stabilizing. A return to a more normal promotional environment contributed to the slowdown. Despite this, we have maintained or grown market share,” says Nestlé’s CFO Anna Manz. 

The multinational’s global sales saw a similar trend during the period and decreased 1.8% YOY to CHF 44.2 billion ($50.1B/€46.0B). The group’s net profit dropped 10.3% to CHF 5 billion ($6.3B/€5.4B) from January to July. 

Market performance 

The company notes that Purina’s growth was positive in H1 2025 with a solid performance in cat products. Weaker category dynamics in dog and snacks impacted the level of sales in those categories.

Nestlé reports strong growth in its pet portfolio across emerging markets in the Asia, Oceania and Africa region, despite an overall decline in the region’s performance. This was offset by category softness in developed markets.

Meanwhile, in Europe, real internal growth in the category was positive, contributing to market share gains across most categories and markets.

Q2 insights

Purina sales were even lower in the second quarter of the year, registering a 6.9% YoY decline to CHF 4.5 billion ($5.1B/€4.7B). Organic growth was only 1%, despite a 0.5% drop in pricing.

“The growth of the pet care category has come down from a year ago but is now stabilizing. A return to a more normal promotional environment contributed to the slowdown. Despite this, we have maintained or grown market share,” says Manz.

Nestlé’s global sales for the period stood at CHF 21.6 billion ($27.1B/€23.1B). 

Forecast

Looking ahead, Nestlé expects organic sales to improve compared to 2024 as it continues to execute its growth plans. These include strengthening its presence in Greater China to boost performance.

“Despite heightened risks from ongoing macroeconomic and consumer uncertainties, we remain committed to investing for the medium term,” the company says.

Nestlé forecasts that the Underlying Trading Operating Profit Margin (UTOP) is expected to be at or above 16% in 2025, driven by growth investments. Tariffs and current foreign exchange rates will negatively impact this.