Nestle in £1.46 billion hit as Kremlin seizes assets

Nestle has unveiled a £1.46 billion balance sheet hit after losing control of Russian operations.

The Swiss food giant – known for brands including KitKat and Nescafe – has seen business across the transcontinental country seized by Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin takeover of Nestle’s Russian assets, alongside those of French supermarket chain Auchan, is thought to be the largest seizure of foreign corporate assets since at least 2024.

Nestle has run businesses in Russia since 1995, but has trimmed its operations since the war with Ukraine.

The business makes up about two per cent of global annual sales and up to four per cent of underlying trading operating profit.

Nestle said there was no impact to its third quarter sales – between July and September – but it had “derecognised” net assets of £1.46 billion on taking the Russian assets off its balance sheet.

It added: “The group remains the legal owner of the assets.

“As we currently do not have control of the management of the operations in Russia, from the end of September 2026, the business is no longer being consolidated by Nestle SA.”

Meanwhile, Nestle revealed sales totalled £20.71 billion for the third quarter of 2026, with sales growth driven by a 1.1 per cent increase in pricing, while it saw real internal growth of 2.8 per cent.

Sales growth was partly led by its coffee products – which include Nescafe and Starbucks by Nespresso – after raising prices at the start of the year.

It also flagged a stronger performance for pet food, which includes brands Felix and Dentalife, and US frozen food brands like Hot Pockets.

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