PURCHASE, N.Y. — Higher prices are paying for PepsiCo, Inc., which reported organic revenue growth of 5.1% in the second quarter. The company has raised its outlook for full-year earnings per share in constant currencies on strong year-to-date performance.
“In the second quarter, PepsiCo was once again the largest contributor to U.S. retail sales growth among all food and beverage manufacturers with over $400 million of retail sales growth in all major channels,” said Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief executive officer, during a July 9 earnings call with financial analysts. “This was more than two times the next largest contributor to growth and represented more growth than the next 14 largest manufacturers combined.”
For the quarter ended June 13, the company reported net income of $1,994 million, equal to $1.33 per share on the common stock, up slightly from $1,987 million, or $1.29 per share, in the prior-year period. Net revenue for the quarter totaled $15,923 million, down 6% from $16,894 million the year before, reflecting the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange translation.
Total operating profit equaled $2,900 million, up from $2,896 million in the comparable quarter.
“In Q2, we grew retail sales in major channels in the U.S. for regular colas and Mountain Dew within (carbonated soft drinks), for Gatorade, Lipton Tea and Naked Juice within our non-carb portfolio,” Ms. Nooyi said. “And at Frito-Lay, we held value share in savory snacks, and in Quaker Foods we gained value share in key categories, hot and ready-to-eat cereals while expanding gross margin and stepping up advertising and marketing at the same time.”
Recent price increases and changes in global sourcing are contributing to top- and bottom-line growth, Ms. Nooyi said.
Operating profit for the Frito-Lay North America segment advanced 7% to $1,007 million for the quarter, driven by productivity gains and lower commodity costs that were partially offset by operating cost inflation and increased marketing expense. Net revenue for the segment increased 2% to $3,452 million.
Quaker Foods North America posted a 5% decline in operating profit to $132 million for the quarter, reflecting the unfavorable impact of increased advertising and marketing expense that was partially offset by favorable product mix. Net revenue declined 3% to $546 million.
Latin America Foods had quarterly operating profit of $285 million, marking a 12% decrease from the year before, and net revenue of $2,000 million, which was down 6% from the year-ago period.
For the PepsiCo Americas Beverages segment, operating profit grew 4% to $903 million for the quarter, driven by productivity gains, lower commodity costs and certain insurance adjustments that were partially offset by operating cost inflation. Segment revenue climbed 1% to $5,337 million.
PepsiCo Europe posted a 26% drop in operating profit to $334 million and a 24% decline in revenue to $2,788 million, reflecting cost inflation.
PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa had operating profit of $389 million, which was up 2% from the prior year, and net revenue of $1,800 million, down 4% from the year-ago quarter. The segment was positively affected by productivity gains and lower commodity costs.
Beginning in the third quarter, PepsiCo will realign its segments to merge its Latin America beverage and food businesses.
The company has raised its core constant currency earnings per share growth target to 8% from 7% over core earnings per share of $4.63 in fiscal 2014. Management continues to expect mid-single-digit organic revenue growth. Based on the current foreign exchange market consensus, PepsiCo predicts foreign exchange translation to have a negative impact of about 9 percentage points on full-year net revenue growth and about 11 percentage points on full-year core earnings per share performance for the year.
For the first six months of the year, net income was $3,201 million, or $2.14 per share, up slightly from $3,194 million, or $2.08 per share, for the comparable period. Year-to-date net revenue was $28,140 million, down 5% from $29,517 million for the same period of the previous year.
“We are pleased with our financial performance in the first half of 2015 and with the progress we’ve made across our value-driving initiatives,” Ms. Nooyi said. “Clearly there are a number of macro challenges around the world, but we believe we have the right strategies and programs in place to enable us to continue to navigate successfully through the current environment.”
