Nestlé get Schoeller green light

Food group Nestle has been granted permission by the European Commission to complete the purchase of German ice cream company Schoeller.

In a statement Nestle said that it would use Schoeller to strengthen its ice cream business in Germany and to expand its Northern and Central European ice cream business. It will now proceed with its 100% takeover of the Schoeller Holding Group.

Nestle has also released its results for 2001, with sales up 4.4% on 2000, 0.4% ahead of its target for the year. For 2001, Nestle’s earnings per share figure grew 15.7% on 2000 to e11.7, with net profit up 15.9% in the same period to e4.5 billion.

The company said that it had seen particularly strong performance in 2001 from its East European and Asian businesses.