Pepsi profit beats analysts’ estimates
Profit, excluding some items, was 69 cents a share, New York-based PepsiCo said yesterday. That exceeded the 67-cent average of 14 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Net income in the quarter fell 1.4% to $1.13bn, or 71 cents a share, from $1.14bn, or 71 cents, a year earlier.
Chief executive Indra Nooyi is increasing distribution of snacks and introducing new flavours in emerging markets. The company also is cutting 8,700 jobs and raising marketing spending by $600m this year to raise US beverage sales and regain market share from leader Coca-Cola Co.
First-quarter sales rose 4.1% to $12.4bn. Net revenue in the company’s Latin America Foods unit rose 11% after it boosted pricing by the same amount.
Pricing increased 5.5% globally, helping to recoup some of the $300 million in higher commodity costs.
PepsiCo also reiterated its forecast that earnings per share, excluding some costs and foreign-currency effects, would decline 5% this year and grow at a high-single digit percentage rate starting next year.
