Nestlé boss does not want to get into the veterinary drugs business
Published: Saturday, Jun 29th 2024, 08:20
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The Swiss food giant Nestlé is not entering the pet medication business. According to an advance report, CEO Ulf Mark Schneider said this in an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung".
Nestlé's core competence lies in the nutrition of humans and animals. Veterinary medicine is a completely different business area with specialized companies. "As far as I'm concerned: stick to your last," he said.
Nestlé generates annual sales of around 19 billion Swiss francs with food and accessories for dogs and cats - more than with ready meals and mineral water combined. Most recently, the US biotech company Okava Pharmaceuticals caused a stir with a slimming injection for pets that is said to have a similar effect to the preparations of the pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly for humans. The market for such a drug is likely to be large.
However, the Nestlé CEO told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" that he did not see this as a separate business area for his company. He also ruled out setting up his own veterinary practices. One of Nestlé's fiercest competitors in the market for pet food and accessories, the US company Mars, operates its own veterinary practices.
"We hold a minority stake in a chain of veterinary clinics," said Schneider. Nestlé is learning a lot from this. "But we don't run the clinics ourselves, and I think that makes sense."
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