Access the interim financial report for the six-month

Access the interim financial report for the six-month period ended June 30, 2009, for the Nestlé Group from the company’s website (www.nestle.com).

Instructions

(a) What are the period end dates that have been reported for the statement of comprehensive income, statement of financial position, statement of changes in equity, and statement of cash flows?

(b) On what basis have these interim statements been prepared? Summarize the type of information disclosed in note 1 for accounting policies.

(c) Describe the nature of information provided in the other notes.

(d) Is this information audited?

(a) The statement of comprehensive income has been presented for the six month periods ended June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2008.  The statement of financial position has been presented as at June 30, 2009, December 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008.  The statement of changes in equity has been presented showing the changes during the periods January 1 to June 30, 2009 and January 1 to June 30, 2008.  The statement of cash flows has been presented for the period January 1 to June 30, 2009 and January 1 to June 30, 2008.

(b)       Note 1 on accounting policies, basis of preparation, indicates that the company has followed IAS 34 in preparing the interim financial statements.  The company has used the same accounting policies and conventions as it did for its 2008 fiscal yearend report, except for the additional disclosures provided.  These changes in the accounting policies are the following:

·         IFRS 7 amendments will be provided in the 2009 year end report;

·         IFRS 8 on segments has been adopted and comparative information has been restated in these interim reports to comply with the new standard;

·         IAS 1 revised has been adopted using the two statement format for the statement of comprehensive income;

·         IAS 23 Revised borrowing costs does not have any impact on the company’s financial reports since the construction periods are short;

·         IFRIC 13 on Customer Loyalty has no impact on the company’s reports as the Group does not have many such programs in existence;

·         IFRIC 16 on hedges of a net foreign investment has been followed by the company in the past so no restatement is required;

·         Improvements and other amendments to IFRS have no material impact on the financial reports of the company;

·         IFRS 3 Business Combinations and IAS 27 Consolidated financial statements will impact the company for the year beginning January 1, 2010.

·           IAS 39 amendments on Financial Instruments will impact the company effective January 1, 2010.

(c)  The other notes include information on the following:

·         Note 2 - Modification in the scope of consolidations indicates that there were no acquisitions or disposals during the period.

·         Note 3 – Provides segmented information for the periods January 1 to June 30, 2009 and comparative information for the period January 1, to June 30, 2008.

·         Note 4 – discusses seasonality and indicates that the results for the group do not show seasonal variations or cyclical patterns.

·         Note 5 – Provides a detailed breakdown of “Net other income (expenses)” which provides further information on profit and losses on sales of assets and divisions, restructuring costs and impairment losses reported during the interim period.

·         Note 6 – Provides information on the share of associates’ profits and indicates that this relates to the group’s ownership of L’Oreal.

·         Note 7 on equity provides disclosure on share repurchases and issuances during the interim period and the total number of shares outstanding as of June 30, 2009.  In addition, the note provides information on dividends paid and declared during the interim period.

·         Note 8 – Provides the details of non-cash items included in profit for the year, and which are part of the reconciliation of net income to operating cash flow in the statement of cash flows.

·         Note 9 – Acquisitions and disposals of businesses states that the company had numerous small acquisitions during the interim period which did not materially impact revenues and profits for the interim period.  The note also states that the value of the assets and liabilities for these acquisitions was still being determined and had been only estimated for the completion of the interim reports.

·         Note 10 – Provides the details of specific bonds issued and repaid during the year.

·         Principal exchange rates used for ending period dates and average rates for the period are disclosed. 

(d) No, this information is not audited.