Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co. reported its third quarter 2016 operating results.
"I am pleased to report that we delivered results in line with our expectations," said Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Co., in a statement. "We continued to see solid revenue results in our developed markets with 2 percent unit case volume growth and a continued focus on price realization. The United States, Japan and Western Europe delivered standout performance underpinned by innovation and world-class marketing. Globally, we gained non-alcoholic ready-to-drink value share for the 37th consecutive quarter and are on track to deliver our financial commitments for the full year.
"While our year-to-date reported net revenues declined 5 percent, our core business organic revenues have grown 4 percent, despite continued global economic and political volatility,” he continued. “We believe this core business reflects the ultimate destination of our transformed company — an enterprise positioned to capture sustainable growth through a laser focus on innovating across our portfolio, building strong brands and leveraging unparalleled customer service through aligned bottlers. As we continue on our path to transform the global system, we remain committed to our strategic actions for growth that will create long-term shareowner and stakeholder value."
According to the company, net revenues were $10.6 billion, a 7 percent decline from the prior year, impacted by a foreign currency exchange headwind of 2 percent and a headwind from acquisitions, divestitures and structural items of 8 percent. Organic revenues grew 3 percent, evenly split between volume and price/mix growth, it adds.
Additionally, the company gained global volume and value share in the total non-alcohol ready-to-drink beverage market. Value share grew ahead of volume share, as a result of its focus on accelerating revenue growth management strategies, it says.
Sparkling beverage unit case volume was even, as growth in three of the four geographic operating segments was offset by a 2 percent decline in Latin America, while still beverage case volume grew 3 percent, driven by water and sports drinks, the company says.
In North America, reported net revenues and organic revenues both grew 3 percent, reflecting ongoing pricing initiatives in the company’s sparkling portfolio as well as continued growth within its still beverage portfolio, it adds.
The Coca-Cola Co. has continued to make progress against its refranchising plans and remains on track to meet its goal by the end of 2017, it says. On Oct. 26, it announced six definitive agreements and four transaction closings for its North America operations. Additionally, in Africa, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa began operations during Q3 and the company recently laid the groundwork to acquire Leuven, Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev’s majority stake in the entity in order to implement its long-term strategic plans with other partners, it says. In Latin America, The Coca-Cola Co. reached an agreement with Arca Continental regarding concentrate prices on sparkling soft drinks in Mexico and other initiatives to keep jointly capturing value in Arca Continental’s Mexican territories, it adds.
