Coca-Cola Q2 Profit Falls, Adj. EPS Meets View

(RTTNews) - Beverages giant Coca-Cola Co. (KO) Tuesday reported lower profit for the second quarter, as revenues declined amid slowness in some economies as well as wet and cold weather conditions. Adjusted earnings matched Wall Street estimates.

Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, said, "Our second quarter volume results came in below our expectations, reflecting an ongoing challenging global macroeconomic environment and unusually poor weather conditions in the quarter.''

Kent noted that while the firm is not happy with its performance, it did gain global volume and value share in total nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages as well as in sparkling and still beverages in the quarter.

Net income attributable to shareowners of the company slipped 4 percent to $2.676 billion from $2.788 billion in the previous year. Earnings per share dropped to $0.59 from $0.61.

The latest results included restructuring charges, costs related to global productivity initiatives and transaction gains/losses, among others. In the prior year, results included charges related to changes in the structure of Beverage Partners Worldwide and charges related to the supply of Brazilian orange juice.

Excluding items earnings totaled $0.63 per share in the just concluded quarter. On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net operating revenues slid 3 percent to $12.749 billion from $13.085 billion and comparable net revenues also fell 3 percent. Analysts expected revenues of $12.96 billion.

Total revenues reflected a 1 percent increase in concentrate sales, offset by a 2 percent impact from structural changes and a 2 percent currency headwind. Excluding the impact of structural changes, comparable currency neutral net revenues grew 2 percent from last year.

Worldwide volume growth was 1 percent for the quarter, below the expectations of the company. The lower-than-expected growth was due to slow economies in Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as historically wet and cold weather conditions across multiple regions that impacted consumer spending.

Coca-Cola Americas grew volume by 1 percent, with North America volume down 1 percent and Latin America volume up 2 percent in the quarter.

Coca-Cola International volume advanced 2 percent, as Eurasia and Africa volume were up 9 percent and Pacific volume rose 2 percent while Europe volume was down 4 percent.

Looking ahead, Kent said, ''Despite the headwinds in the quarter, we are committed to improving upon our results, with current dynamics leading us to believe that our performance will be better in the second half of the year.''

KO, which closed at $41.03, is losing 2.4 percent in pre-market trading.