Coca-Cola Net More Than Triples on Acquisition Gain
Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Muhtar Kent, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Co.
Muhtar Kent, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Co. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Muhtar Kent, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Co., talks about expanding in emerging markets, food prices and the role of social networking in marketing. He speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse " at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. (Source: Bloomberg)
Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft-drink maker, said fourth-quarter profit more than tripled after a one-time non-cash gain related to the acquisition of its North American bottling operations.
Net income advanced to $5.77 billion, or $2.46 a share, the Atlanta-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 72 cents, matching the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Coca-Cola, led by Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent, now controls 90 percent of its North America beverage distribution following a deal last year with its largest bottler. The company boosted volume sales in the U.S. and Canada by 8 percent for the quarter, the third consecutive quarterly increase.
Coca-Cola advanced 28 cents to $63.15 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have fallen 4 percent this year, compared with a 1.4 percent slide for rival PepsiCo Inc.
Global sales by drink volume grew 6 percent, helped by a 5 percent gain in Latin America and a 2 percent increase in Europe. Volume in the Eurasia & Africa unit jumped 14 percent.
Coca-Cola will put “a lot of effort” into dairy drinks in conjunction with its growing juice business, Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent also said today in an interview. PepsiCo Inc. recently purchased a controlling stake in Russia-based Wimm-Bill-Dann to expand more into dairy-based beverages. Coca- Cola’s Minute Maid unit already sells a dairy and juice drink in China called Pulpy Super Milky.
Coca-Cola recorded a $5 billion one-time, non-cash gain for the 33 percent stake in Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. it traded in the purchase of the bottler’s North American operations.
Sales rose 40 percent to $10.5 billion, helped by the new distribution. Analysts on average estimated $10.2 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.54 billion, or 66 cents a share.
Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo, the second-biggest soft- drink company, is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow.
To contact the reporter on this story: {Duane Stanford} in Atlanta at dstanford2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net
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