Dive Brief:
- While Coca-Cola Co. has been struggling against the number of consumers leaving soda behind for other drinks they deem healthier, the company announced a better than estimated Q2 report, with volumes increasing by 1% globally, driven by Coca-Cola's 1% growth, Coca-Cola Zero's 6% growth, and Sprite's 3% growth.
- Still beverages was an area of growth for Coca-Cola with total volume growth of 5%, due in large part to ready-to-drink tea with 7% growth, packaged water with 8% growth, and value-added dairy with double-digit growth.
- Though Coca-Cola saw a 1% growth in net revenue last quarter, the company reported a 3.3% decline in net revenue this quarter. Organic revenue, which does not include the foreign currency impacts that hurt Coca-Cola's earnings numbers, was up 4%, but that didn't match last quarter's increase of 8%.
Dive Insight:
Though soda volumes were up for Coca-Cola on the quarter for several of its brands, Diet Coke still saw a 7% decrease in volume, following a 6% drop in volume last quarter, which serves to confirm consumers' retreat from diet soda. Coca-Cola may have found ways to, at least temporarily, fix some of its soda sales issues, such as by raising prices in the U.S.
Coca-Cola also saw benefit from the completion of its deal acquiring a minority stake in Monster Beverage Corp., which bumped up the company's bottom line for the quarter. In that deal, Coca-Cola traded its energy business, including brands like Full Throttle, for Monster's non-energy business, including brands like Hansen’s Natural Sodas, Peace Tea, Hubert’s Lemonade, and Hansen’s Juice Products.
"We are executing against our strategic initiatives and remain focused on driving efficiencies through productivity and making disciplined investment decisions to accelerate growth. While there is more work to do, we remain confident that we have the right plans in place and are committed to leveraging our superior brand portfolio together with our unparalleled global distribution system to continue creating long-term shareowner value," Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola chairman and CEO said in a statement.