Coca-Cola Co reports $5.77 billion net income in Q4 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net - Coca-Cola Co reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales, helped by its third straight quarter of sales growth in North America.

Shares of the world's largest soft drink maker rose 1.6 percent on February 9 in premarket trading after reporting its first quarterly results that include its North American bottling operations.

Both Coke and rival PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) acquired their North American bottlers last year as a way to improve performance by cutting costs, speeding innovation and giving them more control over distribution.

Coke said net income was $5.77 billion, or $2.46 per share, in the fourth quarter, up from $1.54 billion, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings were 72 cents per share, meeting analysts' average estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net revenue rose 40 percent to $10.5 billion, topping analysts' estimate of $10 billion, with 37 percent of the gain related to the October bottler acquisition.

Price increases, and selling a larger proportion of higher-priced drinks, contributed 2 percentage points of growth, and more than offset the fact that Coke sells most of its drinks in international markets where they often cost less than in the United States.

Coca-Cola does not give quarterly forecasts, but analysts will be keen to know how the company will manage the impact of rising costs for commodities, such as corn, the basis of a widely used sweetener, Reuters reports.

The net profit increased by 73% over the 2010 to total $11,8 billion.