Nestle plans to return as much as €18bn to shareholders by 2022 and indicated an appetite for acquisitions to help chief executive Mark Schneider sustain faster growth and better profit margins.

The race to meet rising demand for vegetarian meals is heating up as Nestle unveiled plans to introduce its soy-protein-based burgers across Europe and the US this year.

French multinational food and nutrition group Danone has forecast profitability will improve this year as it contains costs to adjust for difficult markets such as China and Russia.

Danone, the world’s biggest yoghurt maker, gave a higher sales goal for the first time in four years yesterday as it pledged to boost profitability at its fresh-dairy business, which represents more than half of the French company’s revenue.