Coca-Cola says its diet sodas are selling better after undergoing some image changes
The Atlanta company said Wednesday it sold more Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in North America during the second quarter, following a name change to make clearer the drink doesn't contain any sugar. Before, the drink was just called Coke Zero, and the company said not everyone knew what that meant.
Diet Coke, which has been struggling for years, is also showing improvement, the company said. The familiar silver cans were recently revamped to be taller and slimmer, and the drink was offered in different flavors. Although sales volume for Diet Coke dipped 1 percent in the quarter, the company said pricing lifted revenue from the brand.
The improvement comes as Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo try to adapt to an increasingly competitive marketplace by relying on a wider array of drinks. But the companies are also still trying to maintain the popularity of their namesake brands, including their diet sodas.
In North America, Coca-Cola said sparkling soft drink volume edged up 1 percent on double-digit growth in Coca-Cola Zero Sugar during the second quarter. Water, enhanced water and sports drinks climbed 5 percent, helped by strong growth in Powerade. Juice volume fell, mostly on package downsizing across the portfolio and deprioritizing lower-margin juice drink brands.
Globally, it said sales volume rose, boosted by strong results in Asia.
For the three months ended June 29, Coca-Cola earned $2.32 billion, or 54 cents per share. A year earlier the Atlanta company earned $1.37 billion, or 32 cents per share.
Coca-Cola got a boost from a $42 million gain related to discontinued operations. Removing one-time gains or losses, earnings were 61 cents per share. That's a penny better than what analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.
Total revenue for the quarter slipped to $8.93 billion as the company refranchised bottling operations, but still beat forecasts for $8.54 billion.
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