“So we have a set of guidance out there that sees both input costs, our own costs and pricing moderating through the year, but there's still a long way to go.”

In context

“t was certainly within the bounds of our expectations and our plans. We talk very much in February about how we expected to be able to focus on having volume growth continuing to build the franchise of our beverages across the whole year, but expecting to see pricing moderate from what was similar levels to Q4, which is what we see in Q1, back down to some more normal levels by the end of the year. And so good, strong start. And we're maintaining guidance, we still feel confident in our guidance, and we're well equipped. The outlook has a degree of uncertainty in it that's, I think, more elevated than pre-COVID, obviously not COVID-driven. But there's plenty of uncertainty out there in terms of the direction of travel, of inflation, both the consumers' reaction to it and the input side. So we have a set of guidance out there that sees both input costs, our own costs and pricing moderating through the year, but there's still a long way to go. So I think take it as we feel good about our guidance. There's a lot left to manage. We have a good strategy, and we're certainly focused on this kind of all-weather results as we go into the rest of the year. Operator: Our next question comes from Lauren Lieberman from Barclays. Lauren Lieberman: One of the things that stood out to me this quarter was the profitability in North America. So I was just curious if you could comment on that. It looked like margins kind of reached toward a new high watermark. And I was just curious how much of that -- if there was anything onetime or if it has to do with portfolio mix and realization of pricing? James Quincey: Sure. Do you want to do it, John? John Murphy: Sure. Thanks, Lauren. Yes, on the back of what James just said, a strong start to t”