PepsiCo posts 9% growth in Q4 sales
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Volume growth and currency translations helped lift PepsiCo Inc.'s earnings and revenue higher in the fourth quarter, the company said Thursday.
For the three months ended Dec. 25, Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo (PEP: news, chart, profile) said net income grew 8 percent to $985 million, or 58 cents a share, from $914 million, or 52 cents a share, in the same period last year.
Results included a tax gain of $83 million, or 5 cents a share, as well as pretax costs of $150 million, or 6 cents a share, for consolidating some manufacturing operations, the soft-drink and snack-food giant said.
Revenue for the latest quarter improved 9 percent to $8.8 billion from $8.07 billion a year earlier.
nalysts, on average, had expected earnings of 58 cents a share on $8.61 billion in revenue, according to Thomson First Call.
A 6 percent increase in volume, favorable exchange rates and a positive product mix drove the revenue increase, the company said. Currency befits contributed about two percentage points of the growth.
Beverage volume was up 2 percent in North America while snack volume grew 3 percent.
Non-carbonated beverages grew almost 8 percent with Gatorade, Tropicana juice drinks and Aquafina all performing well.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects to earn at least $2.55 a share for all of 2005, excluding the impact of a 53rd week. Factoring that extra week in, it expect to earn at least $2.59 a share.
The current Street view is for PepsiCo to earn $2.56 per share this year.
Shares added 19 cents to finish at $54.33 in Thursday trading.
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