PepsiCo's third quarter profits beat expectations
- Published
PepsiCo has reported better than expected quarterly profits after seeing rising demand for its drinks and snacks in North America.
Falling commodity costs, including sugar, also helped the company to a third quarter profits of $533m (£350m).
However, that was down from last year's profit of $2.01bn, after the firm took a $1.4bn charge related to its Venezuelan operations.
PepsiCo also raised its earnings growth target for 2015 to 9% from 8%.
In a statement, PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi said she was "pleased" with the company's performance.
The company's snack and drinks offerings have helped increase revenue by 2% and 5% respectively.
Gatorade and Aquafina
This year, PepsiCo has increased the amount of snacks being sold by 0.5% every quarter. An additional strategy has been to vary portion sizes of its Frito-Lay crisps, for example, to cater for smaller US households. The move also means that retailers benefit from improved margins.
Another aspect of PepsiCo's performance has been its drinks unit, in North America, which includes Gatorade and Aquafina. Its 5% increase in revenue has been down to both higher pricing and a 3% increase in volume of the non-carbonated drinks.
Its drinks unit in North America showed a significant rise in the volume of non-carbonated drinks, which have risen by nearly 10%, in contrast to fizzy drinks which saw a 1.9% decline.
'Volatility'
The beverages industry is focusing more on non-carbonated drinks - a trend from which PepsiCo says the company stands to benefit.
Ms Nooyi added that "despite ongoing volatility in many of our key international markets", PepsiCo had delivered "strong organic revenue growth".
PepsiCo said that, beginning with its fourth quarter results for 2015, it would no longer include the results of its local Venezuelan subsidiaries and joint venture in its financial statements.
Many companies' operations in Venezuela have been struggling, with the economy plagued by hyperinflation.
PepsiCo's rival Coca-Cola will announce its results on October 21.