Coca-Cola reports eleven per cent drop in earnings
Atlanta: The Coca-Cola Co, the world's largest beverage maker, has reported an eleven per cent drop in first-quarter profit despite a solid increase in sales, thereby beating Wall Street expectations.

For the three months ending March 31, the Atlanta-based company said it earned $1 billion, or 42 cents a share, compared to a profit of $1.13 billion, or 46 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Coke said it earned $1.12 billion, or 47 cents a share. On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of 43 cents a share.

Revenue in the January-March period went up four per cent to $5.27 billion, compared to $5.1 billion recorded a year ago. Worldwide unit case volume increased three per cent in the quarter. There was a one per cent decline in unit case volume in the quarter in Coke's Europe, Eurasia and Middle East division, sparked in part by a twelve per cent decline in Germany.

In Japan, unit case volume increased 2 per cent in the quarter, while in China unit case volume grew 21 per cent. In Latin America, Coke's unit case volume increased 6 per cent in the quarter.
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