Nestle plans to bring down M&A spending

Nestle intends to reduce its annual budget for acquisitions to 2 billion francs ($1.7 billion) after spending $8 billion this year. The world''s largest food company, which last week announced plans to buy back a record 25 billion Swiss francs ($21 billion) of shares, will also consider selling units. The maker of Nescafe and Perrier mineral water agreed to buy the Gerber baby food brand and a medical nutrition business from Novartis AG, Switzerland''s biggest drugmaker, this year. Unilever said on August 2 that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs over four years. Last week, Nestle reported an 18% gain in first-half profit, the largest in two years.