PepsiCo today reported growth in volume, net revenue, operating profit and earnings per share for the third quarter of 2011.
The company reported top-line gains across its worldwide snacks and beverage businesses and from the acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD), the leading dairy and juice company in Russia.
Worldwide snacks volume grew 8 percent in the quarter and 7 percent year to date, while worldwide beverage volume grew 4 percent in the quarter and 6 percent year to date.
Reported net revenue increased 13 percent to $17.6 billion, and net revenue increased 9 percent excluding the impact of the Wimm-Bill-Dann transaction. Reported EPS increased 5 percent to $1.25 and core EPS grew 7 percent to $1.31
"We had strong revenue growth across our product portfolio and across our key geographic markets,” said PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. “We were able to achieve pricing to partially offset commodity cost inflation and at the same time stimulate consumer demand for our products. The result in the quarter was well-balanced top-line and bottom-line growth."
Volume performance was led by growth in emerging markets, where organic volume increased 8 percent in snacks and 3 percent in beverages.
PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Its main businesses are Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola.
For 2011, the company is targeting high-single-digit earnings per share growth. The company's guidance reflects uncertainty regarding macroeconomic and consumer trends for 2011 and anticipates high global commodity cost inflation and ongoing support of strategic initiatives in emerging markets and brand building activities.
However, PepsiCo expects 2011 earnings to benefit from synergies from the bottler acquisitions and the acquisition of WBD.
