Quarterly profits at Coca-Cola have been boosted by sales of its PowerAde sports drink and Dasani bottle water brands. The company also posted strong growth in such countries as China, Russia and Turkey, which reported an uptick in case volume.
Revenues for the quarter were $5.2 billion, flat with last year due to a change in the way the company records revenues in Spain. Unit case volume jumped 5%, with solid quarter for both North America and Latin America. Northwest Europe reported improved unit case volume and the Philippines, India and Africa showed declines. The quarter ended March 31.
Carbonated beverages in North America saw increased unit case volume of more than 3%, driven by sales of Coca-Cola (3%), Sprite (5%) and Fanta (2%). Unit case volume for diets and lights grew 2%.
Double-digit growth was seen in unit case volume for PowerAde and Dasani and Minute Maid grew high single-digits, contributing to 11% growth in noncarbonated beverages.
Noncarbonated beverages unit case volume grew 7% lead by PowerAde and Dasani.
“This quarter underscores that we are on track to deliver on our long-term growth targets,” said Chairman and CEO Neville Isdell, in a statement. “Spurred by innovation and execution in key markets and increasing success in stabilizing some challenging ones, we effectively balanced results across our global operations to deliver 5% volume growth—3% in carbonated and 11% in noncarbonated—ahead of our long-term target. Strong growth in our Latin America group and our other emerging markets, along with another solid quarter in North America, is helping to drive our business.”
During the quarter the company introduced a number of new products, including Coca-Cola Blak in France and the U.S., Coca-Cola Zero in Australia and Tab Energy, Vault, Dasani Sensations and Simply Lemonade in the U.S. Also debuting was the major new campaign for Coke—the first fully integrated, cross-media campaign for the brand in its history—The Coke Side of Life, supported by an increase in marketing dollars.
Network
