Coca-Cola reported a 15-per cent jump in second-quarter net earnings and revenue due in part to the rollout of new soft drinks in North America and a strong performance in its Asian market.
Coke said unit case volume, a key measure of financial health in the beverage industry, grew 5 per cent overall and by 4 per cent in North America, its largest and most important market.
Coca-Cola added that it remained comfortable with the range of analysts' earnings estimates for 2002 and kept its outlook for full-year volume growth of 5 per cent to 6 per cent unchanged.
Coca-Cola noted that currency weakness in Japan, Argentina and other Latin American markets had helped cut 2 cents per share from its profit in the quarter, though the impact was partially offset by a stronger euro.
Coca-Cola's Asian markets, led by Japan, China, India and the Philippines, helped offset continuing weakness in Latin America, where the company's business has been hard hit by an economic downturn.
Volumes in Asia surged 14 percent, but rose by only 1 percent in Latin America.
The Second-quarter results were unaffected by the soft drink maker's decision on Sunday to begin to expense the cost of its stock options.
The accounting change, which becomes effective in the fourth quarter, will cut about a penny per share from Coke's earnings in 2002 and about 3 cents per share in 2003.
Shares of Coca-Cola, which closed at $50.37 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, rose 7 per cent during the second quarter - outperforming a 6.4 per cent drop in shares of its main rival PepsiCo.
