Food group Nestle confirmed its full-year guidance after organic sales growth accelerated to 2.8% in the first quarter of 2018, helped by improving volumes.
Nestle is among packaged food companies taking action after seeing sales slow as many consumers prefer fresh foods.
They are reacting by cutting costs, divesting underperforming businesses and increasing efforts to innovate with new products.
The maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Maggi soups confirmed its target to grow organic sales by 2-4% this year and improve its trading operating margin.
It also said it was on track to return to mid-single-digit organic sales growth by 2020.
Nestle also confirmed it expected restructuring costs of around 700 million Swiss francs this year.
Quarterly organic growth of 2.8%, which strips out currency swings and portfolio changes, was ahead of the average estimate of 2.5% in a Reuters poll and up from 1.9% in the final quarter of 2017.
Volume growth picked up to 2.6%, from 1.2% in the final quarter of 2017, but prices rose by only 0.2%, Nestle said in a statement. Price pressures were illustrated by a price row with European retailers.
There were also broadly positive reports from other consumer goods companies.
French yogurt maker Danone yesterday reported a 4.9% rise in first-quarter underlying sales, helped by strong demand for baby formula products in China.
Anglo-Dutch Unilever reported first-quarter sales that met expectations, helped by volume gains, and maintained its full-year outlook.
For Nestle, growth in the Americas accelerated to 1.2% and Asia (AOA), at 4.7%, was also better than the previous quarter.
But Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) slowed to 2.2%, hit by declining prices, Nestle said.
Analysts said the company's sales figures were better than feared, highlighting the improvement in the US.
They said that deflationary pressures in Brazil and Europe had led to the weak pricing, but the slightly better-than-expected figures should help market sentiment.
