US: PepsiAmericas toasts Q2 figures jump

PepsiAmericas has posted a healthy lift in Q2 sales and profits on the back of a strong showing in Central Europe and the US.

The second largest global Pepsi bottler said today (25 July) that net income for the three months to
hit US$78m from $65m a year earlier. Sales for the period were also up, by 12.6% to $1.2bn from $1.06bn.

"We're very pleased with our second quarter performance," said chairman and CEO Robert Pohlad. "Continued business momentum in Central Europe and good US performance delivered an EPS improvement of over 20% in the quarter.

"By executing our key initiatives in the US, we successfully cycled through strong volume growth of a year ago and expanded our gross margins. Our revenue strategy is working, with our new sales organisation, customer alignment, playing a key role. We continue to build scale in our non-carbonated beverage portfolio, now 22% of our volume sold in the US.

"Central Europe delivered strong revenue growth, all markets showed double digit operating profit improvements, and operating margins doubled. The business fundamentals are strong. We continue to pursue both growth and expansion, like we have done in Romania and Ukraine."

While volume sales of CSDs in the US fell by 6% in the quarter, PepsiAmericas saw non CSDs leap by 23% excluding water. The company credited its Lipton tea business for the rise. Volumes in Central Europe, meanwhile, grew by 56.3%, with constant territory volume up 10.7%. Net sales soared by 85% to $207m, with nearly 51 percentage points of the increase coming from the Romania and Moldova, where PepsiAmericas has made recent acquisitions.

The bottler has subsequently upped its full-year EPS guidance to between $1.55 to $1.60 from its earlier forecast of between $1.35 and $1.40.