Pepsi Bottling Group, the soft drinks bottler, has reported full-year profits ahead of guidance, despite a slip in sales.

Net profits for the 12 months to the end of December 2009 more than tripled to US$612m, Pepsi Bottling Group said today (2 February).

The figure follows profits of $162m in 2008, when more than $400m in one-off impairment charges damaged earnings and saw the bottler slip to a loss in the fourth quarter. It swung back to profits of $90m in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The better-than-anticipated profits performance came despite a 1% fall in like-for-like net sales for the year, to $13.2bn. Including currency fluctuations, sales fell 4%.

Volume sales fell by 3% for the year, reflecting 2% falls in the US and Canada, 4% in Mexico and 8% in Europe.

Operating income was flat against 2008 on a currency neutral basis, said PBG, which added that it also achieved a better-than-expected $350m in cost savings during 2009.

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PBG and fellow bottler PepsiAmericas are to be wholly owned by PepsiCo in a deal worth $7.8bn. PBG chairman and CEO Eric Foss welcomed today’s results and added: “I remain very optimistic about the future of the Pepsi system.”

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