PepsiCo: Delivers Solid Third Quarter 2011 Results

Purchase / NY. (pci) PepsiCo Inc. reported growth in volume, net revenue, operating profit and earnings per share for the third quarter of 2011 driven by 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.

«We are focused on growing our business by providing consumers around the globe with great tasting products they love at a good value, and we believe this quarter´s performance is a good indication that our efforts are working», said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. «We had strong revenue growth across our product portfolio and across our key geographic markets. 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». Highlights:

• Worldwide snacks volume grew eight percent in the quarter and seven percent year to date
• Worldwide beverage volume grew four percent in the quarter and six percent year to date
• Reported net revenue increased 13 percent to 17,6 billion USD
• Net revenue increased nine percent excluding the impact of the Wimm-Bill-Dann transaction
• Reported net income increased four percent and core net income increased six percent
• Reported EPS increased five percent to 1,25 USD and core EPS grew seven percent to 1,31 USD
• Company reaffirms 2011 target of high-single-digit EPS growth on a core, 52-week basis

Worldwide snacks volume increased eight percent reflecting broad-based gains in the snacks portfolio and the impact of the WBD acquisition. Excluding the impact of the WBD acquisition, snacks volume grew three percent. Worldwide beverage volume increased four percent, including a three-percentage-point impact from the WBD acquisition. Volume performance was led by growth in emerging markets, where organic volume increased eight percent in snacks and three percent in beverages.

Reported net revenue increased 13 percent reflecting the benefits of volume growth, effective net pricing and favourable foreign exchange. Reported net revenue grew 33 percent in emerging markets. Excluding the WBD acquisition, net revenue grew nine percent worldwide and 18 percent in emerging markets.

Total operating profit increased four percent on a reported basis, reflecting higher corporate unallocated costs in 2011 that were driven by a post-retirement gain in the prior year. Total division operating profit increased seven percent. Reported net income increased four percent and reported EPS increased five percent to 1,25 USD.

Core division operating profit increased six percent, reflecting the benefits of net revenue gains, synergies from the anchor bottler acquisitions, productivity, favourable foreign exchange and the impact of the WBD acquisition, somewhat offset by inflation in commodity and other operating costs. Core EPS of 1,31 USD increased seven percent, driven by operating profit growth and a lower year-over-year core income tax rate.

Info: The complete statement «PepsiCo Delivers Solid Third Quarter 2011 Results» is available on the company´s web site.