Swiss food and drinks multinational Nestlé is the fourth-largest consumer products company in the world, according to a report by professionals services firm Deloitte.
Four other Swiss companies – Richemont (74), Swatch (104), Rolex (153) and Emmi (246) – appeared in the sixth annual «Global Powers of Consumer Products», which identifies the 250 largest consumer products companies.
For the first time, the top three spots were filled by companies from the electronic products sector. For the fifth consecutive year, Samsung retained its number one position, followed by Apple, which has climbed 21 spots in five years to rank second. Panasonic remained third.
According to the latest report, published on Wednesday, the world’s 250 largest such companies grew by seven per cent in the fiscal year 2011 despite global economic uncertainty, with total sales exceeding $3 trillion (CHF2.8 trillion), up from $2.82 trillion in 2010.
Additionally, the report found that the ten largest consumer products companies reported combined sales of $846 billion.
«The global economy has witnessed several challenges including inflation, the euro crisis and natural disasters. Healthy consumer product sales are an indicator that growth in many developing economies is more than offsetting adverse conditions in many developed economies,» said Howard da Silva, head of consumer business for Deloitte in Switzerland.
«For the coming years, this means the industry should see some continued growth, but disproportionately coming from developing markets.»