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Coca-Cola’s sales volumes have plunged 25 percent this month as the coronavirus crisis sucks up commercial demand for soft drinks, the company said Tuesday. Almost all of that global decline has come from places such as restaurants, bars and movie theaters, which have been closed across the world to contain the bug, the beverage maker …
Coca-Cola’s sales volumes have plunged 25 percent this month as the coronavirus crisis sucks up commercial demand for soft drinks, the company said Tuesday.
Almost all of that global decline has come from places such as restaurants, bars and movie theaters, which have been closed across the world to contain the bug, the beverage maker said as it reported its first-quarter earnings.
Coca-Cola expects to take a financial hit from the drop in the second quarter of this year given that those channels make up roughly half of its revenues. But the ultimate impact is “unknown at this time, as it will depend heavily on the duration of social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates, as well as the substance and pace of macroeconomic recovery,” the Atlanta-based company said.
Coke said its sales had been strong before the coronavirus upended the global economy. Volume — or the number of cases of drinks sold by Coke and its bottling partners — was growing 3 percent outside China in February before consumers started stockpiling beverages for at-home consumption in March, according to the company.
Overall, volume fell 1 percent in the first three months of the year as a 7 percent drop in the Asia Pacific region — where the virus slammed markets in February and March — offset a 3 percent jump in North America, Coke said.
Coca-Cola’s earnings per share climbed 65 percent to 64 cents in the first quarter despite net revenues falling 1 percent to $8.6 billion. The company said it could not estimate its financial performance for the year because of uncertainty about the coronavirus.
Coca-Cola shares climbed 0.3 percent in premarket trading to $46.68 as of 7:28 a.m.
