Atlanta: The world’s largest soft drink maker Coca-Cola Co. said its third quarter profit rose more than analysts had estimated because of higher sales outside the US.
Net income increased 14% to $1.89 billion (Rs9,147.6 crore) from $1.65 billion a year earlier, the Atlanta-based firm said on Wednesday.
Blunting impact: The Atlanta firm offset slowing sales in the US by promoting more in emerging economies, lowering production costs. Chris Rank / Bloomberg
Revenue rose 9.1% to $8.39 billion from $7.69 billion in the three months ended 26 September, the company said in a statement. Sales of the beverage climbed 5%.
Sales in North America dropped 2%, the company said. However, the Indian arm of the company showed double-digit growth in volumes. “Emerging markets continued to drive the results, with China, Turkey, India, southern Eurasia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Korea delivering double-digit unit case volume growth,” it said.
One unit case contains 24 bottles of 8 oz (0.24 litre) each.
Chief executive officer Muhtar Kent promoted Sprite and Minute Maid in emerging economies and lowered production costs, blunting slowing sales in established US and European markets where consumers face a possible recession.
Coca-Cola reported its results a day after PepsiCo Inc. said profit fell 9.6%.
“There may be economic disruption in the near term, but Coca-Cola always tends to come up on the other side of it in fairly decent shape,” Greggory Warren, an analyst with Morningstar Investment Services Inc., had said in a 13 October interview.
Coca-Cola rose $2.07, or 4.7%, to $45.80 at 7.19am in trading before the New York Stock Exchange opened. The stock declined 29% this year before Wednesday, while PepsiCo dropped 28%. Bloomberg n
(Mint’s Vijaya Rathore in New Delhi contributed to this story.)