Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drinks maker, today said it gained market share and recorded robust growth in India during the first quarter on the back of continued investment in marketing and quality improvement. | |
| In India, its unit case volume increased by mid-single digits in the quarter against a decline of 10 per cent in the prior year quarter (first quarter of 2006), the company said. Coca-Cola follows a January to December financial calender. |
| |
| The US-based company recorded a 14 per cent jump in its worldwide first quarter net profit driven by higher sales in Asia and Europe, it said in a statement. |
| |
| "Continued investment in marketing initiatives on the quality and safety of our products and focus on improved execution by the consolidated bottling operations resulted in solid growth and share gains in sparkling and still beverages," Coca-Cola said. |
| |
| The Eurasia unit case volume rose 16 per cent in the quarter, cycling 15 per cent growth a year ago, primarily driven by good results in Russia, Eastern Europe and Southern Eurasia along with solid performance in India, it added. |
| |
| Atlanta-based Coca-Cola's worldwide net income increased to $1.26 billion from $1.11 billion a year ago. |
| |
| Sales jumped 17 per cent to $6.1 billion on worldwide unit case volume growth of 6 per cent, which marked the highest quarterly volume growth rate since 2002. |
| |
| Chairman and CEO Neville Isdell said, "This is a strong quarter and a strong start to 2007. You can track our progress bottle by bottle around the globe. We grew both sparkling and still beverages while efficiently allocating our resources." |
| |
| The company President and Chief Operating Officer Muhtar Kent said, "The strength of our international business is evident, delivering 9 per cent unit case volume growth, which more than offset the volume decline in North America." |
| |
|
| |
