Coca-Cola eyes more price hikes in emerging markets

Coca-Cola lifted its full-year earnings targets Wednesday after second-quarter results topped estimates as it described plans to limit additional price hikes to emerging markets with the most intense inflation.

The soda giant reported profits of $2.5 billion, up 34 percent from the year-ago period on a six percent increase in revenues to $12 billion.

While volumes were flat, revenues were bolstered by a 10 percent jump in Coca-Cola’s “price/mix” benchmark, reflecting retail price increases as well as the composition of sales by venue and pack mix.

Inflation in developed markets like North America and Western Europe “is beginning to moderate,” said James Quincey, chief executive of Coca-Cola, which has undertaken a series of price hikes over the last 18 months.

In contrast, in many emerging markets “consumers are more accustomed to persistent inflation,” Quincey said on a conference call, noting that five of the soda giant’s top 40 markets have inflation above 20 percent.

“In the developed markets, we’ve got through the pricing that needed to be taken in 2023,” Quincey said.

“In developing and emerging markets, we aim to take price with local market inflation,” said Quincey, who included Turkey and Pakistan among the “hyperinflationary” countries.

Coca-Cola lifted several 2023 financial targets and now sees earnings per share growth of nine to 11 percent excluding currency effects, up from the prior range of seven to nine percent growth.

Shares of Coca-Cola rose 1.1 percent to $62.96 in afternoon trading.