Coca-Cola has reported a 16 per cent jump in quarterly net profit amid a weak US dollar and strong North American sales of diet Coke and noncarbonated drinks.
But the world's largest soft drink maker, led by new CEO Neville Isdell and a restructured management team, had its sails trimmed by poor results in Germany, Mexico and the Philippines.
Coca-Cola, which grew its worldwide sales by only 1 per cent in the three months ended June 30th, 2004, said it expected the environment in these three key markets to remain difficult for the remainder of the year.
Shares of Coca-Cola climbed in after hours to $49.29 on INET from a close of $48.97.
In the second quarter, Coca-Cola earned $1.58 billion, or 65 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.36 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenue rose to $5.97 billion from $5.70 billion.
The company got a bounce from continued weakness in the US dollar and other currency fluctuations, which added 6 per cent to the company's operating income in the period. A falling dollar improves financial results when overseas earnings are converted into dollars.