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Food and beverage giant Nestlé announced it will eliminate sixteen thousand roles within the coming 24 months, as its new CEO Philipp Navratil pushes a strategy to concentrate on products offering the “greatest profit margins”.

The Swiss company must “change faster” to keep pace with a dynamic global environment and implement a “performance mindset” that rejects declining competitive position, according to the CEO.

He took over from ex-chief executive the previous leader, who was dismissed in last fall.

The job cuts were revealed on the fourth weekday as Nestlé reported better sales figures for the first nine months of the current year, with increased sales across its key product lines, encompassing coffee and sweets.

Globally dominant packaged food and drink company, Nestlé manages a multitude of labels, among them Nescafé, KitKat and Maggi.

The company plans to eliminate 12,000 professional jobs on top of four thousand other roles throughout the organization within the next two years, it stated officially.

These job cuts will cut costs by the consumer goods leader approximately CHF 1 billion per annum as a component of an continuous efficiency drive, it said.

The company's stock value rose seven and a half percent shortly after its quarterly update and job cuts were revealed.

Mr Navratil said: “We are fostering a culture that embraces a achievement-oriented approach, that refuses to tolerate market share declines, and where success is recognized... Global dynamics are shifting, and Nestlé needs to change faster.”

Such change would involve “hard but necessary decisions to cut staff numbers,” he said.

Equity analyst an industry specialist remarked the report signalled that Nestlé's leader seeks to “enhance clarity to aspects that were formerly less clear in its expense reduction initiatives.”

The job cuts, she noted, appear to be an attempt to “reset expectations and rebuild investor confidence through concrete measures.”

The former CEO was dismissed by Nestlé in the start of last fall after an investigation into whistleblower allegations that he failed to report a romantic relationship with a junior employee.

The former board leader Paul Bulcke moved up his leaving schedule and resigned in the corresponding timeframe.

Sources indicated at the time that shareholders blamed Mr Bulcke for the company's ongoing problems.

Last year, an study discovered infant nutrition items from the company sold in low- and middle-income countries included undesirably high quantities of sweeteners.

The research, by a Swiss NGO and the International Baby Food Action Network, established that in several situations, the same products available in developed nations had no added sugar.

• Nestlé manages a wide array of labels worldwide.
• Workforce reductions will impact 16,000 workers during the upcoming biennium.
• Cost reductions are anticipated to amount to one billion Swiss francs per year.
• Share price climbed seven and a half percent following the announcement.