Coca-Cola profits take 8pc hit
Coca-Cola has announced a fall in profits of eight per cent for the first quarter of 2014 after volumes in Europe waned and the company sold its bottling operations in Brazil.
The world's biggest soft drink maker saw revenue fall by four per cent to $10.5bn (£6.2bn) from $11.03bn during the same period the previous year.
"We are making meaningful progress across our five strategic priorities to restore our momentum, we are firmly committed to further advancing our growth trajectory through 2014 as we are accelerating marketing investments in our brands and focusing relentlessly on marketplace execution in partnership with our bottling partners around the world," said CEO and chairman Muhtar Kent.
However, global sales did rise two per cent over the period, while European volumes declined by four per cent. The North American market also suffered a dip in volumes of one per cent.
The company's net income attributable to shareholders dropped to $1.6bn from $1.7bn the previous year. Coca-Cola said it was on track to invest an incremental $400m in 2014 media initiatives to accelerate top-line growth.