Nestle Says Commodity Costs to Weigh on First-Half Margins

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, said higher raw-material costs and marketing spending will weigh on first-half profitability.

The increase in input costs this year will probably be near the high end of the company’s forecast range of 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) to 3 billion francs, Chief Financial Officer Jim Singh said today at a conference for investors and analysts that was available via webcast.