Coca-Cola sales up 12% in first half

Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected second-quarter results on Tuesday, driven by growing demand for its soft drinks, juices and fresh coffees despite price hikes, and raised its full-year guidance. The company’s revenue climbed 12% over the period to $11.3 billion.

In volume, sales rose 8%, thanks in part to the continued rebound in sales at restaurants, cinemas and gas stations, which had fallen during the pandemic. And the rise in the price of drinks has inflated the turnover a little more.

The group’s net profit for its part fell by 28% to 1.9 billion dollars. Reported per share and excluding exceptional items, it stood at 70 cents, above analysts’ expectations.

Coca-Cola’s margins suffered from higher costs, from raw materials to transportation, higher marketing expenses and currency effects.

Towards organic growth

Coca-Cola also indicated that the impact of the suspension of its operations in Russia, announced on March 8 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, would be a little less than initially expected: it estimated that its earnings per share would be trimmed by 3 cents for the full year, compared to 4 cents previously.

The group also noted several forecasts for 2022.

In particular, he expects organic growth (excluding mergers and acquisitions and currency effects) between 12% and 13% (against +7% and +8% at the end of the first quarter).

Coca-Cola also expects currency effects to affect its sales by 6% compared to 2% to 3% previously.

On Wall Street, Coca-Cola shares rose 1.2% in electronic trading before the opening.

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