Pepsi Bottling Group captures full year sales growth

Operating profit for the period was up by five per cent on a reported basis to $1.07bn, due to improvements in the group's sales volumes and operational efficiency improvements in key European markets like Russia, the company said. PBG president Eric Foss said the company expected sales growth to continue into 2008, with a predicted increase of about six to seven per cent during the year. "​With a clear plan for delivering profitable top-line growth in the US and Canada, a focus on fully leveraging the growth potential in Europe and particularly Russia, and a commitment to achieving sustainable profitability improvements in Mexico, we will be able to optimize our performance in 2008 and beyond," he stated.​​ However, operating margins for the period were down marginally on an overall basis though, declining by 0.1 percentage point to 7.8 per cent for the 52 week period ending 29 December. PBG, which is the world's largest bottler of Pepsi-branded soft drinks, attributed the strong performances of its brands throughout the US Canada and Europe, to the improvement in its worldwide operating income. The company said it had had experienced trouble in its Mexican operations though, on the back of declining sales volumes and higher costs for delivery and distribution. Although worldwide case volume remained on par with the previous full-year, PBG said that it had posted a four per increase in its European operations. The company said that this was mainly the result of a 17 per cent improvement within its Russian market. However, case volumes within the US market were unchanged over the whole year, with the figure declining by to per cent in the group's Mexican operations on a constant basis. Gross profit per case was up six per cent though over the period, with half a percentage points worth of growth coming from the company's Russian operations alone, PBG stated.