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Other tandem perovskite players have been hitting headlines with efficiencies of more than 30%, but these are often lab-scale tests for cells not yet on the market. According to Japanese expert Tsutomu Miyasaka, whose team was the first to use perovskites for solar power applications in 2009, records achieved for lab-made cells generally represent “champion” cells that perform better than larger panels manufactured in factories, where quality can be inconsistent over large areas.

Berry highlights that the data a company claims in commercial spec sheets to buyers is more representative of performance. “If they’re able to close the gap between this and their record, that is meaningful,” he says.

Oxford PV says it is now manufacturing its cells at a factory in Germany and recently sent its first pilot of around 100kW of tandem solar panels (enough to power around 14 average US households) to a commercial-scale solar farm in the US. These solar models have an efficiency of 24.5%, Oxford PV says, and their performance will be closely monitored. “We want our panels tested in multiple different parts of the world so we can build a dataset of performance,” says Ward.

The company is not alone in pushing ahead with scale-up. In June 2025, Swift Solar, a spinout from US universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford, announced a pilot with communications-infrastructure firm American Tower Corporation to deploy its perovskite tandem panels across some of its 42,000 telecommunications towers. Boston-based CubicPV and NREL have achieved 24% efficiency in tandem cells. And Caelux recently sent out its first commercial shipment of its Active Glass perovskite technology.

Firms in China, the world’s largest solar market by far, are also moving fast. In April 2025, Changzhou-based solar giant Trinasolar reportedly announced a new world-record conversion efficiency of 31.1% on a tandem solar cell, and Oxford PV recently signed a deal to allow the firm to license its technology in China’s domestic market. Other firms have announced high conversion efficiencies of their own, including Shanghai-based Longi which says it has achieved a 33.9% efficiency for a single cell.

Nestlé has said it will cut 16,000 jobs over the next two years as the owner of KitKat and Nescafé attempts to reduce costs and increase sales.

The Swiss-headquartered multinational said the cuts would include 12,000 white-collar professionals and 4,000 in its manufacturing and supply chain, close to 6% of Nestlé’s global workforce.

“The world is changing and Nestlé needs to change faster,” said Philipp Navratil, the new chief executive. “This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years. We will do this with respect and transparency.”

Navratil, who replaced Laurent Freixe last month after he was fired for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate, announced an acceleration of his predecessor’s cost-saving plan to free up cash.

The company, which owns a suite of consumer goods brands including Häagen-Dazs ice-cream, Nespresso coffee capsules and Purina cat food, will seek to make savings of SFr3bn (£2.8bn) by 2027, up from a previous target of SFr2.5bn.

Freixe’s firing, which was followed two weeks later by the resignation of the chair, Paul Bulcke, destabilised Nestlé, already under pressure to bolster growth and reduce debt.

“We will be bolder in investing at scale and driving innovation to deliver accelerated growth and value creation,” Navratil said. “We are fostering a culture that embraces a performance mindset, that does not accept losing market share, and where winning is rewarded.”

The cuts were announced as the company reported a 1.9% year-on-year fall in sales to SFr65.9bn in the first nine months of the year. It said this was primarily due to negative foreign exchange impacts of 5.4% and that, on an organic basis, sales grew at 3.3%.

“We have been stepping up investment to achieve this, and the results are starting to come through,” Navratil said. “Now we must do more and move faster to accelerate our growth momentum.

“As Nestlé moves forward, we will be rigorous in our approach to resource allocation, prioritising the opportunities and businesses with the highest potential returns.”

However, the company said its higher sales were fuelled by inflationary pressures leading to price rises, with “double-digit percentage increases in some markets”. Sales growth was led by coffee and confectionery, where Nestlé has had to factor in higher coffee and cocoa costs.

Geographically, all regions achieved organic growth, with emerging markets expanding at 5.2% and developed markets at 2.1%.

Chris Beckett, a consumer staples analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said: “The new Nestlé chief executive has used today’s results to indicate that despite his history as a career Nestlé employee, it will not be business as usual.

“[He is] happy [to] take drastic action to arrest Nestlé’s slide. Management have grand ambitions to being Nestlé back to where it has historically been, but for now the company is a work in progress.”