Company Briefs : Nestle

Nestle, the Swiss food giant, yesterday launched KitKat V, a plant-based version of one of the world's most popular chocolate bars, with a roll-out planned across 15 European countries including Britain.

Unlike the classic KitKat, the vegan version uses a rice-based formula as a milk substitute, as first revealed by Bloomberg News. It's one of the biggest launches of a vegan alternative of a major confectionery brand and took two years to develop.

The vegan chocolate market is valued at US$533 million (S$742 million) and is expected to more than double to US$1.4 billion in 10 years.

BLOOMBERG

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Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies joined rivals in predicting a slowdown as runaway inflation and the darkening economic outlook prompt consumers and businesses to tighten their purse strings, sending its shares down 8 per cent in extended trading on Thursday.

While Dell's enterprise-focused business has somewhat made up for the PC slowdown, company executives were cautious about the outlook for the unit that generates nearly half its revenue. Co-chief operating officer Chuck Whitten cited caution around future hiring, trade-offs within IT budgets, and customers reducing the size of orders.

BLOOMBERG

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Panasonic

Panasonic Holdings, which supplies electric car batteries to Tesla Inc, is in talks to build another battery plant in the US worth around US$4 billion (S$5.6 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Oklahoma is a likely location for the new plant, although there are no guarantees an agreement will be reached. The Japanese manufacturer is seeking to ramp up production capacity to meet growing demand from Tesla and other electric vehicle makers as consumers start to embrace cleaner cars in a meaningful way.

BLOOMBERG