Nestlé redefines its European division

28-Sep-2014 - Last updated on 29-Sep-2014 at 11:17 GMT

North Africa will become part of Nestlé's new EMENA Zone - Europe, Middle East and North Africa

Nestlé has integrated the Maghreb, the Middle East, the North East Africa region, Turkey and Israel into its ‘Zone Europe’, renaming the business division EMENA, for Europe, Middle East and North Africa.

The company said the change reflected changing socio-economic and political developments.

It said in a statement that it had made the change “as the Zones need to have the necessary balance between the emerging and developed market trends, as well as the different socio-economic consumer dynamics.”

It has also redefined its Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA) Zone.

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke said: "While always privileging a decentralised structure to stay close to the local consumer and keep agility in execution, we are increasing our efforts to better leverage our scale. We are looking into how our company is organised and operates to keep an optimal balance between category and geographic focus. By taking these steps, we are building our company for continued growth and performance."

The restructuring will take effect on October 1, 2014, and fully operational by January 1, 2015, the company said.