Coca-Cola on Tuesday reported a 6% revenue growth to $10bn for the second quarter of 2019, driven by consumer-centric innovation, solid core brand performance and improved execution in the marketplace.
The company said it continued to gain global value share, which led to an update of its full year guidance for 2019 to 5% organic revenue growth.
Commenting on the results, the CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, James Quincey, said: “Our strategy to transform as a total beverage company has allowed us to continue to win in a growing and vibrant industry.
“Our progress is positioning the company to create more value for all of our stakeholders, including our shareowners,” he said.
Coke said that its trademark Coca-Cola saw a 4% volume and transaction growth, while Coca-Cola Zero sugar continued to perform well, with a seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit volume growth across the globe. As noted earlier, the quarter was also boosted by innovation, such as Coca-Cola Plus Coffee, and a modernized marketing strategy for today’s consumers.
The company launched its Costa Coffee ready-to-drink (RTD) in Great Britain in the quarter and plans to roll out the product in additional markets in the second-half of the year.
It also launched its trademark Coca-Cola Energy drink in select European markets during the quarter, with plans to roll it out to at least 20 countries in the second-half.
Coke said that Price/Mix in the Europe, Middle East & African region grew by 1% for the quarter, including a 2-point headwind from geographic mix due to strong growth across key African markets, including South Africa and Nigeria. Unit case volumes grew by 2% due to growth across the majority of the markets being offset by declines in Zimbabwe and the Middle East.
In Latin America, Price/Mix grew 5%, driven by strong performance in Mexico and Brazil, in addition to inflationary pricing in Argentina. Unit case volume grew 1% due to declines in Argentina offsetting growth in other markets.
North America saw 4% growth in Price/Mix driven by sparkling soft drinks and 1% volume decline due to the impact of pricing and packaging initiatives in the marketplace.
Price/Mix declined 3% in Asia Pacific region, driven by geographic mix caused by growth in emerging and developing markets outpacing developed markets. Unit case volume grew 7% due to broad-based growth across all markets, led by India, South East Asia and China.
The company announced during the quarter that it will maintain its majority stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) for the foreseeable future. As a result, CCBA is now presented within the company’s results from continuing operations and is included in the Bottling Investments operating segment.
The company reported net income of $2.61bn, from $2.3bn it earned in 2018
