The consumers have not punished Coca-Cola for raising its prices by another 10 % last quarter. The soft drink producer is therefore optimistic for the second half of the year.
Margins safeguarded
Even in times of a cost-of-living crisis, consumers remain loyal to strong brands: while saving on non-essential expenses, they do not seem inclined to trade in their Coca-Cola or Fanta for cheaper private labels. This is evident from the excellent quarterly results just published by Coca-Cola: sales rose by 6 % and net profit even by 34 %, while volumes barely fell.
The soft-drink producer thus succeeded in preserving its profit margins by passing on higher costs for raw materials and energy to consumers. The company is therefore raising its full-year outlook: organic sales growth will be 8 to 9 %, slightly higher than the 7 to 8 % that was forecast earlier.
Earlier this week, fellow brand manufacturers Unilever and Danone had already reported a nice increase in profits, as they too were able to sharply raise prices while volumes fell only slightly.
