• Coca-Cola reaffirms annual revenue, profit forecasts
• Company says local operations mitigate global trade impact
• Average selling prices increase 5% in first quarter

April 29 (Reuters) - Coca-Cola (KO.N) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported better-than-expected revenue and profit for the first quarter, as the beverage giant benefits from price hikes and enjoys strong demand for its sodas, juices and milk offering Fairlife.

The Sprite and Fanta maker also maintained its full-year organic revenue and comparable profit forecasts, unlike PepsiCo (PEP.O) , opens new tab and Procter & Gamble (PG.N) , opens new tab that lowered their annual expectations as the global trade war triggered by steep U.S. tariffs threatened to push up costs for American companies.

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"(Coca-Cola's) operations are primarily local, however, it is subject to global trade dynamics which may impact certain components of the company's cost structure across its markets," it said in a statement.

"At this time, the company expects the impact to be manageable."

In the last quarter, Coca-Cola had underlined strategies to offer affordable packaging options and plans to use plastic bottles to mitigate the impact from 25% tariffs on aluminum imports.

"This morning's print reaffirms our confidence in KO's fundamentals despite a difficult macroeconomic backdrop," RBC Capital analyst Nik Modi said.

"KO reiterated top- and bottom-line guidance, which should be viewed as favorable in this environment," he said.

Shares of Coca-Cola rose 1.2% in premarket trading.

Rival PepsiCo (PEP.O) , opens new tab last week called out subdued consumer spending, but demand for Coca-Cola's slightly pricey products has so far remained stable, helping boost sales growth despite price hikes in highly inflationary markets such as Argentina and Latin America.

Its first-quarter overall average selling prices rose 5%, while unit case volumes increased 2%.

Still, volumes in its North America market fell 3%, mostly due to a slowdown in demand for its legacy brands such as Coca-Cola and Sprite, as well as coffee.

In an attempt to boost demand in the region, the company has been betting on its portfolio of energy drinks and prebiotic sodas by launching new items such as Simply Pop.

Its quarterly revenue fell marginally to $11.22 billion, compared with expectations of a 0.84% fall to $11.14 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Excluding items, the company earned 73 cents per share, compared with estimates of 71 cents.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/coca-cola-posts-smaller-than-expected-drop-quarterly-revenue-2025-04-29/