Coca-Cola Posts Higher Quarterly Sales --Update
30 Enero 2020 - 7:42AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Dave Sebastian
Coca-Cola Co. reported higher sales in the latest quarter as
demand for its namesake drinks grew, beating analysts'
estimates.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 16% to $9.07 billion from a year
earlier, ahead of the $8.88 billion analysts polled by FactSet had
expected.
The beverage giant on Thursday said organic revenue, which
excludes currency swings, acquisitions and divestitures, grew 7%.
Global unit case volume increased 3% for the quarter, led by growth
in emerging markets.
Sales of its sparkling soft drinks, which include its namesake
soda drink, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite, grew 3% for the quarter,
led by growth in China, Brazil and Southeast Asia.
Sales of water, enhanced water and sports drinks were up 2%, and
tea and coffee volume grew 4%.
Coke has pushed to roll out new flavors and diversify its
offerings in recent years. The company late last year launched a
new flavored seltzer brand, Aha, with caffeinated options. It was a
late entrant to the category that includes market-leading bubbly
water LaCroix, which has lost market share as new drinks crowd
store shelves. PepsiCo Inc. in 2018 launched a competitor called
Bubly.
Unit case volume, or the number of 24 8-ounce servings of
finished beverage sold, in North America was flat for the quarter,
though the metric for its water, enhanced water and sports drinks
grew 3%. The Coca-Cola Zero Sugar beverage grew by a double-digit
percentage, the company said.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, unit case volume grew 4%,
driven by growth in Nigeria, North Africa, Turkey and central and
Eastern Europe. But quarterly operating income in the region fell
14%, or 5% on an adjusted basis, due to reduced bottler-inventory
levels related to Brexit, Coke said.
In Asia Pacific, unit case volume grew 2%, though sales in China
softened as growth in sparkling-soft-drink sales was offset by the
downsizing of certain water and juice products.
The Atlanta-based company recorded earnings of $2.04 billion, or
47 cents a share, compared with $870 million, or 20 cents a share,
in the same period a year before.
Adjusted earnings were 44 cents a share, meeting analysts'
expectations.
For 2020, the company expects organic sales to grow about 5%. It
sees adjusted earnings of about $2.25 a share for the year.
Shares rose 1.4% in premarket trading.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 30, 2020 08:27 ET (13:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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