Lex is a premium daily commentary service from the Financial Times. It helps readers make better investment decisions by highlighting key emerging risks and opportunities.

The problem with being an investor in Nestlé is that it is too easy to get lost in a blizzard of detail. The world’s biggest food company makes hundreds of products and sells in most countries; it is the sum of a lot of moving parts. Whether sales of bottled water in Mexico are up or down in a particular quarter is really immaterial. Yet it was still these details that prompted investors to knock 3 per cent of Nestlé’s shares on Thursday when the Swiss food group reported 2012 results.