Coca-Cola's profit plunges 20% on bottling refranchising costs

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Coca-Cola Co reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit due to higher costs related to refranchising its North America bottling operations.

The company is offloading much of its low-margin bottling business to cut costs amid falling demand for carbonated beverages in North America.

Coca-Cola had warned in February that the refranchising was turning out to be costlier than previously anticipated.

Global soda sales fell one  per cent in the first quarter ended March 31, the company said on Tuesday.

Net income attributable to the company's shareholders fell to $1.18 billion, or 27 cents per share, from $1.48 billion, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 43 cents per share.

Revenue fell 11.3 per cent to $9.12 billion, declining for the eighth straight quarter.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 44 cents per share and revenue of $8.87 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.