US: Coca-Cola Q3 profits rise, N America bucks trend

The soft drinks giant said today (17 October) that operating profit for the three months to the end of September rose by 10% on the corresponding period last year, reaching US$1.83bn. Sales for the period also rose, by 19% to $7.69bn.

Net profit followed suit, rising by 13% year-on-year to $1.65bn.

Coca-Cola credited the strong performance to an 8% climb in international volumes, despite the strong comparable period in Europe last year, where volumes slipped by 2%. Countering this, however, was double-digit volume growth emerging markets including China, Russia, India and Brazil.

The company also trumpeted a 1% rise in case volumes in North America, the first time the region has delivered a positive volume figure in the last five quarters.

"Once again, this strong performance was led by our international business," said company chairman and CEO, Neville Isdell. "Emerging market growth, combined with sequential improvement in North America, resulted in our third consecutive quarter of 6% unit case volume growth.

"Global sparkling beverage volume growth remained robust at 4%, and still beverages increased 14% as we focused on the highest value opportunities around the world.

"As we enter the final quarter of the year, we will continue to leverage our leading brands and strategic acquisitions and build our innovation pipeline while driving productivity."