NESTLE

Unilever (ULVR), the second-largest global consumer goods company, posted an underlying sales growth of 7.8 percent in the third quarter, but said profitability for the fiscal year still may fall.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe denied speculation his health is failing and hinted at taking action against Swiss firms in retaliation for his wife and aides being denied visas to visit Geneva, the official Herald newspaper reported on Monday.

For the small club of companies who trade the food, fuels and metals that keep the world running, the last decade has been sensational. Driven by the rise of Brazil, China, India and other fast-growing economies, the global commodities boom has turbocharged profits at the world's biggest trading houses.

The world's biggest food group Nestle said weakening consumer sentiment in developed markets would make it harder to improve margins as it raised its sales growth outlook for 2011 after beating forecasts for the first nine months.

The world's biggest food group Nestle on Thursday raised its sales growth outlook for the year after price hikes and strong demand in emerging markets helped its underlying sales rise more than expected in the first nine months of 2011.

French food group Danone SA gave a confident outlook for 2012 and said its water business was still strategic, playing down a report it was in talks on a disposal.

French food group Danone SA said softening commodity prices, robust growth in emerging markets and the expected benefits from the acquisition of Unimilk in Russia made it confident for 2012.

L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt's daughter won control over her 88-year-old mother's business affairs Monday almost two years after she first asked to take over on the grounds her mother had been exploited.

Francoise has been trying to gain control of the family’s assets for two years.

While the national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent (and Illinois has a 10 percent rate), Pembroke’s jobless rate stands at an astounding 50 percent.

HPQ shares are down about 6.1 percent as of 3:15 p.m. (New York time).

HPQ’s chief executive Leo Apotheker has already said he wants to grow the company’s presence in so-called “cloud computing” while shedding lower-margin businesses like PCs.

European food groups Nestle and Danone are the early frontrunners working on bids for Pfizer's Wyeth baby formula business, worth up to $10 billion, a banking source close to the situation said.

What do the best U.S. small towns to live in have in common? They all have low crime rates, good schools, and plenty of cultural activities, according to the latest small town survey by Money Magazine, which boasts that it has uncovered some hidden gems.

The world's biggest food group Nestle raised its full-year outlook on Wednesday after strong demand for its Maggi and Nescafe brands in emerging markets helped it post a forecast-beating 7.5 percent rise in underlying first-half sales.