Coca-Cola released its third quarter earnings report and it said that its revenue was below the expectations made by Wall Street. It was the result of the declines in Europe and Asia, where it sold more lower-priced drinks due to economic uncertainties that the company expects to continue until 2013.
The world’s biggest soft drink maker owns the brands Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid. It said that its profit and revenue were hurt by the stronger dollar that decreased the value of its overseas sales. Its earnings went up 4 percent, which was in line with analysts’ expectations.
Coca-Cola gets majority of its sales from outside the United States and it is affected by the currency market. In the third quarter, the strong dollar reduced five percentage points of growth from the company’s net revenue and seven points from operating income.
European consumers were suffering from the debt crisis. In the third quarter, consumers in the region were buying bottled soft drinks to take home, which is less profitable for the company compared to drinks sold in restaurants.
Coca-Cola announced that it got $2.31 billion in the third quarter or 50 cents a share. It was up from $2.22 billion or 48 cents per share from the previous year. Excluding the one one-time items, the beverage giant earned 51 cents per share which is in line with the average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Its revenue increased 1 percent to $12.34 billion.
