Coca-Cola Beats Profit Estimates

July 21, 2009
Lifted by emerging markets

Coca-Cola on July 21 reported forecast-beating quarterly profit, aided by strong volume growth in emerging markets like China and India.

The soft-drink maker said it had net profit of $2.04 billion in the second quarter, up 43% from a year ago when heavy charges were taken.

In the 2008 second quarter, Coca-Cola had taken several charges for restructuring and asset writedowns. Excluding those special charges, net earnings in the 2009 April-June period were 9% lower on an annual basis, the company said, explaining the decline was mainly due to the negative foreign exchange impact of a weaker dollar.

Quarterly sales fell 9% from a year ago to $8.26 billion, slightly below market expectations of 8.66 billion dollars.

Global sales volume rose 4% from the same period in 2008. Coca-Cola said unit case volume growth increased strongly in key emerging markets, with 33% growth in India and 14% growth in China. "Sound" case volume growth occurred in other key markets, including Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, Korea and Northwest Europe, it said.

Case volume declined 2% in North America and 1% in Europe.

"In the first half of the year, we delivered volume and profit results in line with our long-term growth targets, despite very challenging global economic conditions said Muhtar Kent, chief executive of Coca-Cola. "We outperformed the nonalcoholic ready-to-drink industry in most of our key markets and drove further global volume and value share gains."

Kent confirmed the company was on track to reach a $500 million target in annualized savings by 2011, adding that more than half of the savings were expected to be delivered by the end of this year.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Process Mining For Dummies

Nov. 19, 2023
Here it is. Everything you need to know about process mining in a single book, written in the easy-to-understand, hard-to-forget style that ‘For Dummies’ manages so effortlessly...

Legacy Phone Lines Are Draining Your Profits

Oct. 30, 2023
Copper wire phone line expenses that support emergency devices could be costing your company millions of dollars in wasteful overhead expenses. Rates have been skyrocketing while...

Food and Beverage 2024 Trends and Outlook for North America

Oct. 29, 2023
Ready to hear what 200 of your peers said are the top challenges and opportunities in 2024? Don’t fall behind. Uncover actionable insights to better prepare for 2024 in this whitepaper...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!