Coca-Cola Co topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly sales and profit as more consumers bought its healthier soda options such as Zero Sugar and new flavours of Diet Coke sending its shares up 2.7%.
Coke and its smaller rival PepsiCo Inc have been focusing on healthier drinks to garner market share as health-conscious consumers shift away from sugary sodas.
The company has launched new flavours of Diet Coke in slimmer packaging and in the quarter introduced no-sugar beverages in smaller markets such as New Zealand.
"We're winning in the marketplace so far this year and our strategy's on track," Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said on a call with analysts.
Organic revenue, or sales from its core beverage business, rose 5% in the quarter, with Diet Coke, Coke Zero and sparkling water contributing the most.
Volumes, a key indicator of demand, grew 2% on strong performance of its trademark Coca-Cola brand, and Fuze Tea. Global volume grew 3%, its strongest in five years.
"We're getting strong first half overall revenue growth and volume growth with our Zero, Diet portfolio in the US, which is a part of our strategy to go forward. So good numbers, much better than before," Quincey said.
Statistics
Organic sales in Europe rose 7% after the company reformulated its recipe for a few sodas in response to UK's tax on sugar.
"We were impressed with Coca-cola's ability to deliver a strong and balanced topline," Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog wrote in a note.
Sales in North America - its biggest revenue generating region - rose 7% to $3.12 billion, but missed analysts' average estimate of $3.14 billion, mainly due to weaker demand for juices and plant
- based beverages.
Net income attributable to the company's shareholders rose 69% to $2.32 billion, in the second quarter ended June 29.
Excluding one-time items, Coca-Cola said it earned 61 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimate by a cent.
Revenue fell 8% to $8.93 billion, hurt by the divestiture of its low-margin bottling operations. Analysts had estimated sales of $8.54 billion.
Coca-Cola reaffirmed its 2018 profit outlook and said it expects full-year organic revenue to be at least 4%.
News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
