Nestle to invest on production line in Ukrainian facility

Switzerland-based food company Nestle is set to invest over UAH100m ($4.4m) in its Ukraine plant.

A new production line will be installed at the Torchyn factory.

The firm recently installed new air conditioning equipment at its distribution facility in Smolyhiv.

Nestle Ukraine saw total sales of UAH5.7bn ($250m) in the 2014 fiscal year.

Nestle Ukraine director Moldova Ansgar Bornemann was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine as saying: "For us, sales are stable in general, which is the result of the fantastic work of all our employees.

"It is a great challenge for my company, because we see there is some downturn in some categories. We are working hard on the ways to maintain our market share. We are even growing in some categories."

There has been industry talk linking Nestle with an interest in buying leading firm Roshen Confectionery, a company owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, which produces 450,000t of chocolate annually.

In May, Bloomberg reported that Nestle was keen to buy Roshen Confectionery for $1bn, however Poroshenko expected the estimated value of his firm to be around $3bn.

Nestle has been the only potential firm to have shown interest in acquiring the confectionery firm.