Coca-Cola profit beats forecasts
Coca-Cola reported a quarterly profit that slightly beat Wall Street estimates, as sales increased worldwide.
The world’s largest soft-drink maker, whose brands range from Sprite to Minute Maid and Powerade, said net income was $2.22bn (£1.4bn), or 95 cents per share in the third quarter, up from $2.06bn, or 88 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, earnings were $1.03 per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting $1.02 per share.
Revenue jumped 45 per cent to $12.25bn, boosted by last year’s acquisition of its North American bottling operations, price increases and a five percentage-point currency benefit. Analysts expected revenue of $12.01bn.
Worldwide volume rose five per cent. Volume in North America also rose five per cent, helped by the addition of new cross-licensed brands such as Dr Pepper. Excluding those brands, North American volume rose one per cent.
Volume increased seven per cent in Latin America, two per cent in Europe, seven per cent in the Eurasia and Africa segment and six per cent in the Pacific region.
Coca-Cola shares have risen 0.4 per cent to $67.25 in early trading.