ATLANTA — The Coca-Cola Co. ended the fiscal year with fourth-quarter top- and bottom-line growth within expectations, said Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer.
Net income attributable to shareowners of The Coca-Cola Co. in the year ended Dec. 31, 2016, was $6,527 million, equal to $1.49 per share on the common stock, which was down 11% from $7,351 million, or $1.67 per share, in fiscal year 2015. Net operating revenues were $41,863 million, down 5% from $44,294 million the year before.
Fourth-quarter net income was $550 million, equal to 13c per share, down 56% from $1,237 million, or 28c per share, in the year-ago period. Net operating revenues were $3,794 million, down 6% from $4,054 million.
Results included the unfavorable impacts of foreign currency and structural changes. Excluding these factors, organic revenues grew 6% for the quarter and 3% for the full year, the company said.
In North America, net revenues grew 8% for the quarter and 4% for the year, outperforming total retail value growth for both the North America non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage industry and U.S. consumer packaged goods companies, Coca-Cola said.
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| James Quincey, president and incoming c.e.o. of Coca-Cola |
“Within our sparkling soft drink portfolio we are reshaping our growth equations to continue to drive revenue growth building on the revenue growth we delivered in 2016,” said James Quincey, president and incoming c.e.o., during a Feb. 9 earnings call with financial analysts. Mr. Quincey will succeed Mr. Kent in May.
“We will do this through a continued mix of great marketing, great execution, combined with helping reduce overall over-consumption of added sugar,” he said. “This includes the reformulated products to reduce content, leveraging our one brand strategy to expand the zero-sugar products, and driving the availability of small packs. All of this we are approaching with a mindset of test and learn, knowing that not only every strategy will work in every market, but the speed, flexibility, and adaptation are paramount to success.”
During the year, Coca-Cola made significant progress in its global refranchising initiative and remains on track to complete the effort by the end of 2017.
“In total, half of our global system revenue has been in motion through our recent actions to strengthen the system,” Mr. Kent said. “The progress demonstrated by these actions is foundational in positioning our system for prosperity long into the future.”
