Coca-Cola sales beat as consumers drink more vitamin water, coffee

[February 16, 2018]    (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and sales on Friday as it sold more teas, coffees and vitamin water, sending its shares up 2.4 percent.

Bottles of Coca-Cola are seen at a Carrefour Hypermarket store in Montreuil, near Paris, France, February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Organic sales, which exclude the impact of the company's ongoing efforts to refranchise its bottling operations, rose 6 percent, helped by demand for products such as Georgia Coffee and Glaceau vitamin water.

Net operating revenue fell to $7.51 billion from $9.41 billion a year earlier, but beat the average analyst estimate of $7.36 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Global volume growth remained unchanged even as North America volumes increased 1 percent.

The Fanta and Diet Coke maker reported a net loss of $2.75 billion, or 65 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, mainly due to a $3.6 billion charge related to the new tax law. A year earlier the company had posted a profit of $550 million, or 13 cents per share. (http://bit.ly/2Eyyffi)

The company's margins improved by 3.15 percentage points, largely due to divestitures of lower-margin bottling businesses.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported earnings per share of 39 cents, beating analysts' average estimate of 38 cents.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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