Coca-Cola beats forecasts on growth

What has been described as rapid sales growth in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia has led to Coca-Cola reporting strong second-quarter profits that beat market expectations.

Total profits were up 16% from a year ago to $2.37-billion – just above forecasts of $2.3bn.

The BBC reported revenues were up 4.8% to $8.67bn. Among the best of the growth markets were Brazil, where sales volumes were up 13%, and India, up 22%.

The producer of Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Vitamin Water also reported a slow pick-up in growth – 2% – in its North American home market. In Europe, however, sales were down 1%.