Coca-Cola Co reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue today, hurt by a decline in North American sales volume, sending shares down nearly 1 per cent in premarket trading.
The world's largest soft drink maker said first-quarter net income was $1.61 billion, or 69 cents per share, compared with $1.35 billion, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items such as restructuring charges and the impact of the Venezuela currency devaluation, earnings were 80 cents per share.
Revenue rose 5 per cent to $7.53 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 75 cents per share on revenue of $7.72 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales by volume - an important measure reflecting the amount of beverage concentrate sold - rose 3 per cent, after increasing a stronger-than-expected 5 per cent in the fourth quarter.
Volume rose 4 per cent in Latin America, 5 per cent in the Pacific region and 11 per cent in the Eurasia and Africa division. In the closely watched North American market, volume fell 2 per cent, after falling 1 per cent in the fourth quarter and 4 per cent in the third quarter.
Coca-Cola is preparing to acquire the North American operations of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc, in a move it expects to cut costs and give it more flexibility in distributing its drinks. PepsiCo Inc recently closed a similar deal.
Atlanta-based Coke's shares fell 52 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $54.80 in premarket trading, from yesterday's closing price of $55.32.
Reuters