Nestle sees no big downtrading, premium brands help

VEVEY, Switzerland Oct 23 (Reuters) - Nestle (NESN.VX), the world's biggest food group, said it had not been hurt much by customers trading down to cheaper and sometimes private label products, helped by its strategy of expanding premium brands.

Investor relations head Roddy Child-Villiers said Nestle products had relatively limited exposure to downtrading, except in bottled water where it had seen some switching to lower-price brands in North America and western Europe.

He said Nestle was less exposed to consumers buying big tubs of cheaper ice cream, where it has expanded into premium brands like Haagen Dazs.

"We are benefiting from our strategy of focusing on added-value categories and increasingly on the more premium (brands)," Child-Villiers told a conference call for analysts.

"We have strong differentiation not just from private label but also our value competitors and that's what's driving these strong numbers," he said. [ID:nLM110369] (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by David Holmes)