LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Nestle announced it

is revamping senior leadership and its operating structure, cut

its full-year sales outlook and reported worse-than-expected

nine-month organic sales growth, after failing to raise volumes

amid continued price hikes.

The Swiss company said on Thursday it expects 2024 organic

sales growth to be around 2% and an underlying trading operating

profit (UTOP) margin of about 17% for the year.

In July, Nestle had said it expected full-year organic sales

growth of at least 3% and that its UTOP margin for 2024 would

grow moderately from the 17.3% it had reported in 2023.

Nine-month organic sales for 2024, which exclude the impact

of currency movements and acquisitions, rose 2%, the maker of

Maggi stock cubes and Nescafe coffee said.

Analysts had, on average, expected organic sales growth of

2.5%.

"Consumer demand has weakened in recent months, and we

expect the demand environment to remain soft," new CEO Laurent

Freixe said. Freixe assumed office at the start of September

after his predecessor, Mark Schneider, was ousted following

several quarters of weak sales volume growth.

On Thursday, Nestle said Freixe plans to reduce the size of

his executive board, merge the company's Latin America and North

America units, and merge its Greater China and Asia, Oceania and

Africa businesses, among other changes.

Nestle's nine-month 1.6% price increases were behind the

average analyst estimate of 1.7%. Real internal growth - or

sales volumes - rose 0.5% in the period versus expectations of a

0.8% increase.

By comparison, analysts expect major rival and Knorr stock

cube maker Unilever to report a 1% increase in underlying prices

and 3.2% underlying sales volume growth when it reports next

week, according to a company-provided consensus.