The Coca-Cola Company (KO)

“We continue to have confidence that we will ultimately prevail.”

“As a result, we remain confident in our ability to deliver our updated 2026 guidance and our longer-term financial objectives.”

“I'm confident we are well positioned to deliver on our raised 2026 guidance.”

“And so that lands you in a range, which is what our long-term algorithm says, 4% to 6%. And the ambition clearly is to be at the higher end of that on a sustained basis.”

“That's something we are focused on and will continue to be in the second half of the year and for a long time to come.”

“So we continue to see our plan in line for the rest of the year.”

“We expect fourth quarter gross and operating margin to benefit from the refranchising of CCBA.”

“We expect concentrate shipments to lag unit case volume by 1 point during the third quarter and now expect concentrate shipments to slightly trail unit case volume for the full year.”

“All in, we now expect comparable earnings per share growth of 9% to 10% versus $3 in 2025.”

“Our underlying effective tax rate for 2026 is still expected to be 19.9%.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we now expect an approximate 1 point currency tailwind to comparable net revenues and continue to expect an approximate 3-point currency tailwind to comparable earnings per share for the full year 2026.”

“Divestitures are now expected to be a 2% to 3% headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 1% headwind to comparable earnings per share.”

“We continue to monitor commodity volatility. But based on what we know today, we continue to believe the overall impact of our cost basket to be manageable.”

“We now expect comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth, excluding acquisitions and divestitures of 7% to 8%.”

“Based on our year-to-date results and expectations for the balance of the year, including six fewer days in the fourth quarter, we expect to deliver at the high end of our prior revenue guidance with organic revenue growth of approximately 5%.”

“As previously discussed, we anticipate our Webster facility to continue ramping up capacity through the remainder of the year.”

“There was no impact to our second quarter results nor do we anticipate any material impact to our results in the second half.”

“We have talked in the past about that being six to twelve months out, and that's about the best I can offer at the moment.”

“We also expect concentrate shipments to like unit cases by a couple of points during the second quarter.”

“For the full year, our guidance -- and our guidance, we remain committed and we remain very much focused on delivering that balanced algorithm. And the outlook for the rest of the year, we're confident we can meet it. So 3, 2; 2.5, 2.5; 2, 3, we'll take any one of those.”

“We believe we had a great start of the year. We will continue to be balanced. We'll have confidence that we're going to deliver on the updated guidance to the year, and we'll continue to play on our RGM capabilities.”

“What we're going to see probably in the next 2 quarters, it varies around that balanced algorithm.”

“I'm confident we are well positioned to deliver on our updated 2026 guidance.”

“Over time, during the year, we're going to continue to dial up the campaigns, our local and global brands, which is a strength that we have also in the region to continue to engage with the consumer and to overcome the impact that we have on taxes in there.”

“So while we expect us to make progress in the course of the year on overall margin profile, it is a longer-term play, as Henrique said, with the priority #1 is getting the consumer base even more closer to us.”

“For '26, too, we can say for -- which is anomalous relative to other years FX will be a slight tailwind on the margin front, too.”

“So for the full -- I don't see it as being an area that's going backwards, the gross margin trends when I take out that inventory issue I mentioned we've got a lot of levers to work through and both as a company and as we alluded to earlier as a system.”

“But at the overall level, if I take a step back and look at the underlying drivers of gross margin for the full year, we don't see a big deviation from the playbook that we've had.”

“We have had commodity pressures in the tea and coffee space, and that's going to continue somewhat through the year.”

“We are excited that as planned, the Webster capacity is going to start to get align in the Q2, and we're going to ramp up through the year.”

“But at the end of the year, what you see is this balanced growth about volume and price mix playing a balance of whether it's going to be 3 to 2 like we have here in the quarter or it's going to be 2 to 3 a variable during the different quarters, we're going to see it.”

“Lastly, assuming the pending sale of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa closes during the second half of 2026, we see opportunity for more margin expansion in the latter half of this year.”

“All in, we now expect comparable earnings per share growth of 8% to 9% versus $3 in 2025, which is an increase from our prior estimate of 7% to 8% due to the lower effective tax rate.”

“Based on the latest analysis of our global operations, our underlying effective tax rate for 2026 is now expected to be 19.9%, which is a 1 point reduction versus our previous estimate.”

“We continue to expect an approximate 3-point currency tailwind to comparable earnings per share for full year 2026.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we now anticipate an approximate 1- to 2-point currency tailwind to comparable net revenues, up from an approximate 1 point currency tailwind in our previous estimate.”

“This assumes the pending sale of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, which is subject to regulatory approvals, closes during the second half of 2026.”

“Divestitures are expected to continue to be an approximate 4-point headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 1 point headwind to comparable earnings per share.”

“We now expect growth in comparable currency-neutral earnings per share, excluding acquisitions and divestitures of 6% to 7%.”

“We continue to expect organic revenue growth of 4% to 5%.”

“Excluding the impact from 6 extra days in the quarter and the timing of concentrate shipments, organic revenue growth is on track with our full year guidance.”

“Notwithstanding volatility in certain commodities like tea and coffee, we believe the overall impact on our cost basket is manageable at this time.”

“I'm confident we will deliver on our 2026 guidance and capture the vast opportunities available.”

“For 2026 in particular, the idea going into '26 is to have as much optionality as possible to manage some specific variables, one of which is the outcome of the tax case that we have had with the IRS for many years, which we expect to certainly have a have a significant milestone towards the end of this year, early next year.”

“We believe that we have good plans to continue the momentum that we have, and we expect North America in 2025 to continue the momentum that we built in 2025 -- in 2026 with the momentum we built in 2025.”

“It was a market that we continue to invest also ahead of the curve, and we believe that we can get back on track in 2026.”

“We believe that we have plans to continue to navigate well and the all-weather strategy should put us in a good shape to deliver against the LTGA.”

“So you might see a little more price at the beginning of the year and a little more balanced towards the end of the year, if that makes sense.”

“Similarly, China was a little weaker in the fourth quarter than it had been during the year, and we're looking to see that build back up through the year.”

“India is a long-term contributor to volume growth. That needs to build back, and we would expect that to ramp up during the year.”

“We believe we will get back to a balance, so call it 50-50.”

“And so I think that's what you kind of see for 2026, is a view that we still are going to be top line driven.”

“Lastly, assuming the pending sale of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa closes during the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, we expect the impact from acquisitions and divestitures to be back-half weighted.”

“Approximately 25% of our expected 2026 capital investments related to company-owned bottlers and the remaining capital investment is primarily growth oriented, which includes building capacity for our concentrate and finished goods businesses.”

“We also expect to generate approximately $12.2 billion of free cash flow in 2026 through approximately $14.4 billion in cash from operations, less approximately $2.2 billion in capital investments.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we anticipate an approximate 1 point currency tailwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 3-point currency tailwind to comparable earnings per share for full year 2026.”

“This assumes the pending sale of Coca-Cola Beverages closes subject to regulatory approvals during the second half of 2026, and includes the impact of divesting CHI, which was our juice and value-added dairy finished product operations in Nigeria.”

“Divestitures are expected to be an approximate 4-point headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 1 point headwind to comparable earnings per share.”

“We expect organic revenue growth of 4% to 5%, which is in line with our long-term growth algorithm.”

“We are confident in our ability to deliver on our 2025 guidance and create enduring value for our stakeholders.”

“As previously mentioned, we're confident we will deliver on our 2025 guidance.”

“In summary, we're confident we can navigate what comes at us, deliver on our 2025 guidance and create long-term value for our stakeholders.”

“With 1 quarter remaining in 2025, we're on track to deliver on our reiterated top line and bottom line guidance.”

“With these milestones, we have a clear line of sight to complete our re-franchising strategy allowing us to further focus on brand building and innovation complemented by integrated execution with our bottling partners.”

“As it relates to the Mexico tax, which I believe was passed like a couple of days ago, yes, it's a significant increase. Obviously, we're working with the bottling system to look at how we accommodate and adapt to these increases that will be January 1, 2026.”

“We certainly expect to lean into and invest for growth in the fourth quarter.”

“All in, based on what we know today, we continue to expect 2025 comparable earnings per share growth of approximately 3% versus $2.88 in 2024.”

“Our underlying effective tax rate for 2025 is now expected to be 20.7%.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we continue to expect a 1- to 2-point currency headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 5-point currency headwind to comparable earnings per share for full year 2025.”

“We continue to expect organic revenue growth of 5% to 6% and expect comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth of approximately 8%, both of which reflect delivery in line with our long-term growth algorithm.”

“It's going to be a growth area for sure in 2026.”

“As we continue to develop love brands, we expect our number of billion-dollar brands to grow.”

“As we go into '26, we should have a little bit of a tailwind and the objective will be to continue to have that expansion of margins in line with the algorithm.”

“We certainly are going to have the opportunity to significantly grow into 2026 and to move out of having the product on allocation to our retail partners, and that will take some time through 2026.”

“fairlife, look, the New York factory when at full capacity, will give us about 30% more capacity or volume potential for fairlife.”

“As much as I would love it to all be available on January 1, that will not be the case. And so we do see ourselves having a much more unconstrained ability to satisfy consumer demand over the course of 2026.”

“The capacity that we've talked about at the big factory in Upstate New York is on track. We expect to begin to produce on time and ramp up that capacity through the course of 2026.”

“As you look to the next couple of years, you can, I think, assume that the implied expansion that we expect from the core business will continue.”

“I think as we talked about on the previous call, if our long-term growth model calls for 4% to 6% on the top line and we look for balance, which kind of implies 2% to 3% on volume and 2% to 3% on price.”

“With respect to commodities, while we're experiencing cost inflation, we believe the overall impact is manageable.”

“As inflation moderates, we anticipate pricing to normalize and we lean into both affordability and premiumization, depending on what the market demands.”

“Additionally, this morning, Coca-Cola Hellenic announced its intention to acquire a controlling interest in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, which is expected to close next year, subject to regulatory approvals.”

“But it's too early to say that we're out of the woods here on getting Mexico really on a growth trajectory. What we see is that's going to take a little bit more time in there.”

“I think in my script, I mentioned we -- right now, based on everything that we know, there will be a slight tailwind for 2026. And assuming that, that actually materializes, yes, I think we would see a slight benefit to the -- on the margin front.”

“So we, you know, our guidance for the full year reflects a confidence that we will have positive volume growth in the second half of the year.”

“But we're confident we're investing in the right programs for the second half, marketing, innovation, RGM, execution, to make sure that as we drive our top-line algorithm, for the second half, that will come with a better volume component.”

“So we're confident, not just in the long term, but also in our ability to get back to growth as we come into Q2 and get out of some of the colder weather and the hurricane that was true in June.”

“So I think the narrowing of the corridor is really the second half maybe the first few months of next year, but we're basically gonna get through that.”

“Thanks to the proven strength of our system, we have great confidence we will deliver on our updated 2025 guidance and create enduring value for our stakeholders.”

“After the first half of this year, we're on track to deliver on both our top-line and updated bottom-line guidance.”

“We have the opportunity on the back of a stronger than expected first half on the profit front to have more optionality on how we continue to invest some of our efficiencies. Which we plan to do. So we've got a robust second half on the investment front.”

“We continue to expect to deliver the second half of the year, albeit at a slightly lower rate than we had previously flagged.”

“Yes. I can confirm the moderation we're expecting is the law of big numbers and the capacity constraint rather than a weakening of the proposition relative to the competition.”

“We're gonna continue to invest into that to drive momentum and assure momentum in the second half but also set ourselves up for a good 2026.”

“We still expect to get volume growth in the second half, again, although moderating, as we wait for the capacity to come online.”

“Given the strong margin expansion that came through earlier in the year, we no longer expect margins to be back-half weighted in 2025.”

“Our underlying effective tax rate for 2025 is still expected to be 20.8%, which is more than a two-point increase versus the prior year.”

“We continue to expect organic revenue growth of 5% to 6%, but now expect comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth of approximately 8%, both of which reflect delivery in line with our long-term growth algorithm.”

“That will ramp up over 2026, but it will steadily debottleneck our constraints on capacity across all the different Fairlife variants and package sizes.”

“Based on what we know today, we continue to believe the impact of global trade dynamics on our cost structure will be manageable.”

“But again, let me underline what we said -- both said earlier, which is, we believe it's manageable given our business system, our strategy, and our ability to adapt as we go through the quarter and the year.”

“But we're confident that we have a sufficient ammunition to be able to do that for the next number of quarters and embedded in that assumption that we'll probably have to pivot again in some parts of the world or other.”

“So, as it comes to the U.S., given all the things I talked about, both we in the bits where we operate directly and the bottlers locally, we're sticking to our current pricing plans for the year and knowing what we know today.”

“I think that it will come back. As John said, each quarter will have its own personality. I'm not sure what Q2 will end up with, but choppy would be a good start. We're confident in our guidance because we're confident in our strategy and the system's execution of that all-weather strategy. And so, I think we'll come back in Mexico and we'll pull it back.”

“We are not expecting to see supply-chain disruptions for our business in Q2 in the U.S.”

“The only thing that I would add relative to our previous commentary on Q2 is clearly there's -- and which is referenced as my choppy comment, there's clearly some short-term disruption in supply chains likely in the U.S.”

“We have -- as you know, we have made a lot of progress over the last five years or six years to get to where we are north of 30, 31 as we go into the rest of this year, and we expect to be able to do that with the levers we have.”

“Turning back to the tariff dynamic, as we called out in our release, we see it as manageable.”

“We have had a number of actions to address some of the challenges we've seen in the first quarter, and we expect those actions to have an impact, but it will not be immediate.”

“We continue to expect the productivity benefits that I discussed in February to be weighted towards the latter half of 2025.”

“During the second quarter, we are cycling a tougher volume comparison from the prior year, while we're taking action to address consumer dynamics across some key markets and are seeing encouraging signs, we expect recovery to take some time.”

“All-in, based on what we know today, we continue to expect 2025 comparable earnings per share growth of 2% to 3% versus $2.88 in 2024.”

“Our underlying effective tax rate for 2025 is still expected to be 20.8%, which is over a 2 point increase versus prior year.”

“Bottle refranchising is still expected to be a slight headwind to comparable net revenues and comparable earnings per share.”

“We continue to expect organic revenue growth of 5% to 6%, but now expect comparable currency neutral earnings per share growth of 7% to 9%, both of which reflect delivery in line with our long-term growth algorithm.”

“We're expecting fairlife's growth to moderate during the remainder of 2025 in advance of bringing additional capacity online.”

“Based on what we know today, we believe we can achieve our 2025 guidance.”

“Look, I think we're in danger of exaggerating the impact of the 25% increase in the aluminum price relative to the total system. It's not insignificant, but it's not going to radically change a multibillion dollar U.S. business.”

“we will continue. If it doesn't moderate, if there's other countries that fall into this category, because its input costs go up, we will pass those through in price.”

“Bill, yes, absolutely not taking the foot off the pedal in terms of passing through where we have a lot of input costs coming in. So it's not that we are not going to be passing through the input costs in those marketplaces.”

“we control enough variables that we can adapt and mitigate our way through what is happening because it's a combination of hedging, which we use on the key materials.”

“as we just talked about in our guidance, we will continue to support the dividend.”

“we see a normalization of both the industry growth and our growth rate with us being the long-term winner in the industry with ongoing robust industry growth.”

“I think you've got what I said to Dara correctly. Yes, I mean, if you just take 2024, we did 2% in the fourth quarter. We did 1% overall for the year. So yes, I mean, what I was saying is implying we're at [ 2, 1 2 ] kind of floating around that sort of range with a compensating factor on the pricing side.”

“we commented just on the peso we did call out FX headwinds in 2025, but they have taken on a different nature that we're not expecting large impacts to come from the intense inflation countries we're expecting the house headwinds that come from some of the more normal, let's say, emerging markets like Mexico”

“We'll continue to grow fairlife in 2025, but we are -- given the runaway success of the products, we are reaching the need to get the New York factory that we've been building up and running in order to continue unconstrained growth. So we will see some moderation of the fairlife growth in '25, which will obviously then moderate the mix.”

“about half of the North American pricing that you see in Q4 is mix. And therefore, you can basically kind of park that relative to 2025.”

“I don't foresee a substantial change in our focus to support the underlying business and the momentum that, that has.”

“Net-net, as John just mentioned, we have -- we are expecting more variation in agricultural than industrials, notwithstanding recent actions, we will manage through it.”

“for guidance purposes, you can assume modest expansion at the gross margin line.”

“Commodities will be in the low singles range overall, some pressures on the agricultural particularly juice and coffee that are a big part of our base.”

“On the pricing front, some inflation in -- from the more intense markets in Q1, which we expect to moderate throughout the year.”

“you're going to see that continue to moderate as inflation has moderated down to a kind of a slightly lower number in 2025 and largely the dropout of these high-inflation countries in 2025”

“Our long-term algorithm we called out, we want to be at the top end, so 5 to 6 and expect in the long term a balance between volume and price, so I'd say 2 to 3 of each.”

“We expect the productivity benefits that I previously discussed to have a larger impact during the latter half of 2025.”

“we expect that part of the timing of working capital initiatives that benefited 2024 free cash flow will reverse and impact 2025 free cash flow.”

“we expect expense to be elevated versus prior year. We believe the step-up is manageable, and we're not expecting significant leverage or deleverage below the line.”

“Our refranchise is expected to be a slight headwind to comparable net revenues and comparable earnings per share as we cycle the impact of bottler refranchising in 2024.”

“We continue to focus on driving balanced volume and price/mix and anticipate intense inflationary pricing will play a smaller role in 2025 and will moderate throughout the year.”

“from a volume perspective, I think I like to think it's going to be a little better than '24 overall, but it's in that sort of ballpark.”

“I think we're looking at -- there's a Q2, I think, is probably the more challenging uphill of the quarters ahead.”

“I largely believe that it's within our control to return to growth.”

“Thanks to the power of our portfolio, our system's unique capabilities and the unwavering dedication of our system employees, we're confident we will be able to deliver on our 2024 guidance and longer-term priorities.”

“So I think there will be some stabilization in that kind of relationship such that next year is going to look more like essentially what this year looked like, which is where you've got some volume growth, a more normal level of volume growth, a more normal level of pricing, with a kind of a top-up of what will still be a residue amount of high-inflationary countries.”

“There is a certain mechanical effect to price/mix and volume. In other words, I'm expecting 2025 to be the inverse of the third quarter. In other words, I would expect the emerging markets to retake their more traditional position of growing faster than the developed economies, which will obviously contribute to volume growth, but instead of -- but it won't contribute to a positive price/mix.”

“If you take the impact of high inflation, it's clearly been slowing down or lesser impact as we've gone through the year. And so you're going to see potentially less impact in the fourth quarter from that.”

“First of all, it's a huge area of focus and has been. We're currently tracking to have our highest gross margin level since pre-COVID and expect that underlying expansion to continue, notwithstanding, the offsets that you just mentioned.”

“Certainly, we would look for continued growth in the North American business.”

“So again, we see us heading towards a more normalized level of pricing going into next year and kind of landing in a more normal zone as kind of -- some of that tracks down at kind of similar rates to CPI.”

“And of course, we're expecting, as we go through the fourth quarter into next year, to go to a more normal construct where we'll see decent results in the developed economies and faster growth in the emerging markets, and that will then have a normal shape -- more normal shape to its volume and a more normal shape to its price mix.”

“That we can get back to growth, which is very much implicit in our algorithm and our expectations going forward through the fourth quarter into 2025.”

“We expect elevated net interest expense resulting from the deposit made related to the ongoing IRS tax dispute and upcoming fairlife contingent consideration payment.”

“We expect pricing from intense inflationary markets to moderate in 2025 and recycling the impact of currency devaluations from these markets in 2024.”

“We continue to expect comparable earnings per share growth of 5% to 6% versus $2.69 in 2023.”

“We now anticipate an approximate 5-point currency headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 9-point currency headwind to comparable earnings per share for full year 2024.”

“Certainly, when one looks at what's in the media so far in terms of the states that have been affected, I would say, at this stage, it's not going to be a large, significant impact the business.”

“we think we've got a strong strategy that's playing out and is winning. And we're confident that we can drive that to get the balanced algorithm of growth, through the rest of this year, for our guidance and into the future.”

“we are confident we will deliver on our updated 2024 guidance and longer-term commitments.”

“we'll expect over the couple of years to have the both of the refranchising, John, if not all of us.”

“we've talked in the past, it remains true today that the central long-term growth algorithm, we're looking for a revenue of 4% to 6%, and we've set ourselves the ambition of staying in the 5% to 6% range, with a balance of volume and price mix.”

“I think the mixed piece will start to train down over time and in part it does so, because it starts cycling itself.”

“Clearly, some of the inflationary effects and some of the mix effects, are likely to become more subdued as we go into the back half of the years.”

“overall direction of travel on both the gross and operating line is our margin profile to be strengthening and to be pretty much in line with some of the previous conversations we've had on this topic.”

“We have had more benefit on the underlying margin in the first half of the year than on structural. And then the second half of the year, I expect it to be more even.”

“for the second half of the year, typically, the margin profile in the second half of the year is slightly lower than the first half. But I would say the overall trends in the second half of the year will be similar, to what we've seen in the first half.”

“We expect to see them making an impact in the years to go.”

“Our guidance assumes a more normal second half of the year.”

“But in the end, our strategy remains yes, there'll be cost inflation, yes, we'll look to put it through. Yes, we'll work on productivity.”

“We still have input costs that are going up, typically, the agricultural ones rather than the metal, or commodity-based ones.”

“We expect unit cases and concentrate shipments to be relatively in line with each other for the full year 2024.”

“Bottler refranchising is still expected to be a four to five-point headwind, to comparable net revenues. And we now expect a one to two-point headwind, to comparable earnings per share.”

“it would not surprise me, as we go through the rest of the year that that remains true, that we see slightly less volume than the kind of standard algorithm, and slightly more price - as pricing tends towards, inflation tends towards the landing zone.”

“Yes. So the simple answer is yes. We believe the businesses can continue to grow in Latin America, both in volume and revenue terms.”

“We're confident we can create value for our stakeholders and deliver on our guidance for the year.”

“We have confidence we will achieve our guidance for the year.”

“And I think we talked last quarter that in the current circumstances, that's likely to be slightly less volume and slightly more prices, as price inflation normalizes.”

“And so implicitly, looking for 2% to 3% on volume.”

“I mean, clearly, in the case of the U.S., we've commented in previous calls, that our expectation would be modest, flat to modest growth in volume on a long-term basis in North America with good pricing.”

“And so we expect to see India continue to have a strong year this year.”

“And we expect to see 2024 end up with a much more balanced growth equation over the rest of the year.”

“As it relates to pricing, of the 7 points in the first quarter, approximately 2 of those are mix or timing related, the rest is pricing, and we expect that to moderate as the year goes on.”

“Currency will continue to be a headwind, and you can kind of extrapolate that out for the year.”

“So as we think about the full year, we're going to continue to have a tailwind from the refranchising work that we have discussed. And so I think that's going to flow through throughout the year.”

“The cadence of structural impact will be larger in the second and third quarters due to the timing of transaction closing during the first quarter and the seasonality of the businesses we refranchised.”

“All in, we continue to expect comparable earnings per share growth of 4% to 5% versus $2.69 in 2023.”

“Our underlying effective tax rate for 2024 is now expected to be 19%.”

“Bottler refranchising is still expected to be a 4- to 5-point headwind to comparable net revenues and a 2-point headwind to comparable earnings per share, but will have a positive impact on both our margins and the return profile of our business.”

“The momentum of the business has been very strong. And actually, I think it's going to continue. And if anything, there may be some more upside.”

“So plans in place across the product innovation, the marketing and the execution, and we think this will come to fruition over the course of the year.”

“Today, we are leveraging our scale globally and winning locally, which gives us confidence that we can deliver on our 2024 guidance.”

“In aggregate, we would expect to get more from price relative to volume for the U.S. business.”

“So yes, there's a little weakness in the economic system. But we expect things to get -- we get [tends] (ph) directionally to get better through the year and we're going to keep investing behind not just keep key moments in the year like Chinese New Year but restoring more momentum to sparkling and really focusing on RGM and execution opportunities.”

“So that's a roundabout way of saying, we're not expecting big mix effects from channel in 2024.”

“We've taken up our CapEx for 2024 because it's the right thing to do to continue to build the growth foundations that we need.”

“So on a -- in a normal world, clearly, as John said, we will continue to increase our dividend and we would have substantive additional cash to continue to invest in the business and consider potential share repurchases.”

“In normal years the multiplier is 1.5 times to 2 times, we would continue to assume that will be the case going forward.”

“First of all, I think it's important to highlight the 2024 guidance that we've given. It would be close to flat if we were to exclude those few hyperinflationary markets.”

“Our aim is for the net of the two to be in that top end of the long-term growth algorithm for revenue growth.”

“A significant portion of our expected capital investment increase is to build capacity for fairlife and for our India business, both of which experienced robust growth in 2023.”

“We expect to generate approximately $9.2 billion of free cash flow in 2024 through approximately $11.4 billion in cash from operations, less approximately $2.2 billion in capital investments.”

“We anticipate hyperinflationary pricing will continue to play a role in 2024, but it will moderate throughout the year.”

“This year, we won't know the result for another few weeks net-net. But we're kind of expecting it to be a little slower in the first quarter, especially given what we are cycling from last year. And then for the year to improve, but not too hot or not too cold, if I can use that analogy.”

“Over the past few years, we've delivered U.S. dollar EPS growth and we have many levers to continue to do so.”

“In these markets, we've demonstrated that we can manage currency pressures by taking price with local market inflation and we will continue to follow this approach.”

“All in, we are updating comparable earnings per share growth of 7% to 8% versus $2.48 in 2022.”

“And given our year-to-date performance, we are raising both our top line and bottom line guidance.”

“And I expect 2024 to be a similar type of year.”

“It's -- we're making great progress on that at the moment. And without giving specifics, as you know from history and it will have a revenue headwind and a margin tailwind.”

“This guidance does not include any payments related to our U.S. income tax dispute with the IRS which are unlikely to occur in 2023.”

“That's approximately $1.9 billion in capital investments.”

“We continue to expect to generate approximately $9.5 billion of free cash flow in 2023 through approximately $11.4 billion in cash from operations.”

“We now expect our underlying effective tax rate for 2023 to be 19%.”

“Based on current rates and hedge positions, we continue to expect per-case commodity price inflation in the range of a mid-single-digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2023.”

“We now expect comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth of 13% to 14%.”

“We do expect pricing in developed markets to moderate in the fourth quarter as we cycle pricing initiatives from the prior year.”

“I think as a model to the extent that we can continue to push that through the end of this year and into next year, we would certainly be happy to do so.”

“But we think this is going to be a well set up run through in the second half.”

“This is comprised of organic revenue growth of 8% to 9%, which includes positive volume growth while continuing to be led by price mix.”

“Our all-weather strategy, coupled with the great plans that we have in place to continue to create quality leadership across our portfolio give us good visibility to deliver on our raised 2023 guidance.”

“In India, business was unfavourably impacted by unseasonable rain and cooler temperatures in the quarter. However, the growth outlook remains intact.”

“Given our strong first half results and the resilience of our business, we are raising both our top line and bottom line guidance today.”

“I don't think it's kind of recessionary or inflationary or that. I think it's just been -- we've kind of seen a renormalization of the channel mix... we don't expect channel mix to be a major feature of the discussion in quarters and years to come.”

“On some of the specifics... we are -- it was even though -- so on EMEA, we're expecting EMEA to be positive in the second half.”

“And for the second half of the year, I don't expect either of those two to be as strong. So I do think we'll have a little bit of deleverage in the second half of the year but modest, not a significant variable for your consideration in the second half of the year.”

“So what you're seeing in the back half of the year, which I think is important to note, is we're expecting volume to be consistent in the second half with the way it was in the first half, which in the end is running on a trend, if you like, a CAGR versus 2019, similar to what we did last year.”

“We continue to expect to generate approximately $9.5 billion of free cash flow in 2023 through approximately $11.4 billion in cash from operations less approximately $1.9 billion in capital investments.”

“Based on current rates and hedge positions, we continue to expect per case commodity price inflation in the range of a mid-single digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2023.”

“That said, several commodities that are prevalent in our basket like sugar and juice remain elevated and we have some hedges that we will be rolling off to less favorable rates.”

“In developing and emerging markets, we aim to take price with local market inflation.”

“We expect pricing in developed markets to moderate through the year as we cycle pricing initiatives from the prior year.”

“In these markets, our pricing is largely in place and is expected to moderate as we cycle pricing initiatives from the prior year.”

“Our first quarter results give us increased visibility to deliver on our full year 2023 guidance.”

“Keep in mind that in the second quarter, we will have the transition tax payments going out. And so for this year, I would expect free cash flow as a result of what's happened in Q1 and what I expect in Q2 to be back weighted towards the second half of the year.”

“And then thirdly, as we go into the rest of the year, as we've alluded to in some of the other questions, we do see some further moderation on the overall cost front. But we do have, as a net of all of that, continued view that we'll have a mid-single-digit increase for the year 2023.”

“And we look to the rest of the year in line with what James is saying to moderate as we get into the back half of the year on the pricing front and to continue to be laser-focused using our RGM work to stay with the consumer.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Given the ongoing backdrop of rising interest rates, we expect to see higher net interest expense given our effective exposure to floating rate debt.”

“The discrete gross margin benefits related to the phasing of inventory costs and cycling the timing of M&A integration expenses this quarter are unlikely to repeat.”

“We expect price/mix to moderate through the year as we cycle our pricing initiatives from the prior year.”

“Overall, we don't expect the tax dispute to have a bearing on our ability to deliver on our capital allocation agenda and drive long-term business growth.”

“We expect to generate approximately $9.5 billion of free cash flow in 2023 through approximately $11.4 billion in cash from operations, less approximately $1.9 billion in capital investments.”

“All in, we are reiterating comparable earnings per share growth of 4% to 5% versus $2.48 in 2022.”

“Despite the increase in the first quarter effective tax rate, we continue to expect our underlying effective tax rate to be 19.5% for 2023.”

“Additionally, we expect wages and inflation in media will continue to remain elevated.”

“Based on current rates and hedge positions, we continue to expect per case commodity price inflation in the range of a mid-single-digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2023.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we are reiterating our currency outlook of an approximate 2- to 3-point headwind to comparable net revenues and an approximate 3- to 4-point currency headwind to comparable earnings per share for full year 2023.”

“comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth of 7% to 9%.”

“This guidance is comprised of organic revenue growth of 7% to 8%, primarily led by price/mix amidst the ongoing inflationary environment, comparable currency-neutral earnings per share growth of 7% to 9%.”

“We may, as we go forward, see slightly more promotions as we look for those consumers who are under pressure to offer them slightly better affordability options.”

“There will be some missing package formats going into the marketplace in Q2 with multi-serve multipack versions of BODYARMOR. And so we think we can do well as we've talked about before with BODYARMOR and POWERADE. It's early days, but we see some promising signs to reverting the trend by the end of the year.”

“But we have a good plan going forward in 2023 that will kind of reset BODYARMOR on a good path and in a complementary way to Powerade.”

“I think predominantly, what you're going to see in 2023 is the ongoing moderation of rate pricing, both as we cycle rate increases or price increases from 2022 and as inflation in general and inflation specifically to us, whether it be in SG&A, or in commodities begins to moderate.”

“Yes, that's going to increase in 2023 because we're growing the business in the same way, as John mentioned, we're going to increase our CapEx to support the bits of the business where CapEx needs to flow.”

“Our central view is we will continue to see unit case growth in the second half, combined with price/mix moderating, as I talked about, as the organic -- overall organic trend.”

“That then logically, the organic growth rate moderates as we get towards the end of the year, looking to close out on a more normalized level of revenue growth.”

“What we're likely to see is the beginning of the Q1, we're likely to see revenue growth more close to what -- the sort of levels we were achieving coming out of last year.”

“And given the ongoing backdrop of rising interest rates, we expect to see higher net interest expense given our effective exposure to floating rate debt.”

“While the inflationary environment appears to be cooling, we are still expecting to see elevated inflation, across our operating costs.”

“We expect price mix to moderate through the year as we cycle our pricing initiatives from the prior year.”

“We continue to expect our underlying effective tax rate to be 19.5% for 2023.”

“Based on current rates and hedge positions, we expect per-case commodity price inflation in the range of a mid-single-digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2023.”

“Given our strong results year-to-date, and increased visibility into the rest of the year, we are raising our top line and bottom line guidance, while continuing to invest strategically.”

“we expect innovation to be slightly heavier on the packaging side, particularly to drive affordability.”

“I think the way to think about the year ahead is I think it's going to be another year out of our typical algorithm.”

“And so that kind of tailwind won't be there last -- next year.”

“Yes, Chris, I think, yes, clearly, it's likely that next year price/mix will run ahead of volume in a similar way it has this year.”

“And so we're likely to have to lean heavier on RGM in Europe in the next 12 months, backed up by the marketing, innovation and execution.”

“It may, as John said, end up with above algorithm pricing and some pressure on volume, but we believe our top line can go forward.”

“We benefited from hedges in our commodity exposure this year. And even though some of the commodities have started to come off their highs, we expect another year of elevated inflation on a per case basis next year.”

“Lastly, given the backdrop of rising interest rates, we expect to see an impact on our interest expense given our effective exposure to floating rate debt.”

“There is an additional day in the fourth quarter, however, we expect concentrate sales to end the year in line with unit case sales.”

“We continue to expect to generate approximately $10.5 billion of free cash flow for 2022, through approximately $12 billion in cash from operations, less about $1.5 billion in capital investments.”

“We now expect an underlying effective tax rate of 19% in 2022.”

“We now expect to deliver organic revenue growth of 14% to 15% and comparable currency-neutral EPS growth of 15% to 16%.”

“We expect inflationary pressures to continue, so we are leveraging all the levers of RGM at our disposal, including price, promotional intelligence and proactive mix management.”

“We also recognize that the dollar strength is impacting our translated earnings, and we remain committed to delivering U.S. dollar growth.”

“Our first half 2022 results and the resiliency of our business give us confidence to raise our top line guidance.”

“We anticipate more cost increases will come through on a broad-based set of inputs.”

“And what that's likely to look like in terms of rate is we'll kind of be at inflation or slightly behind headline inflation as it goes up with the layover of price/mix.”

“We clearly are expecting to get both volume growth and price/mix growth going into the downhill.”

“And lastly, given the backdrop of rising interest rates, we expect to see an impact on our interest expense given our exposure to floating rate debt.”

“Other costs, including wages, transportation, media and operating expenses, are also increasing and adding incremental pressures.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we now expect commodity price inflation to move to a high single-digit impact from mid-single digits on comparable cost-of-goods sold in 2022.”

“We now expect that the direct impact of the Ukraine conflict and the resulting suspensions of business in Russia, will be approximately $0.03 to comparable EPS.”

“While our shipments are currently behind unit cases, we expect these to run in line for the full year with the catch-up expected in the fourth quarter.”

“And we continue to expect to generate approximately $10.5 billion of free cash flow for 2022 through approximately $12 billion in cash from operations, less approximately $1.5 billion in capital investments.”

“And all in, we continue to expect comparable earnings per share growth of 5% to 6% versus 2021.”

“We continue to expect an effective tax rate of 19.5% in 2022.”

“We expect the consumer environment to be more challenging, and we are preparing accordingly, stepping up our investments, sharpening our resource allocation capabilities and tapping into data to better reach our consumers.”

“No, specifically, I don't expect Coke Zero to overtake Coke Classic in North America in the short term.”

“if the choice comes down to, we think the elasticity is going up or we're going to have to not pass through some cost, we're going to err towards taking the price increase rather than not taking the price increase.”

“We remain confident in our ability to deliver on our cash flow goals for the full year.”

“expect to see kind of more focus and more investment behind keeping that up and working with retailers to make it simple for the consumers to get the credits when they return these reusable bottles.”

“there are going to be more price increases depending on where you are in. I mean there are countries with inflation well into double digits.”

“I do not expect elasticities to be inelastic going forward.”

“Further actions on pricing will depend on the consumer and inflationary environment as the year progresses, but we will continue to rely on a mix of price, package differentiation and ever-sharper promotional strategies.”

“For 2022, we announced a dividend increase of 5%, a higher rate than in recent years; and we also announced the resumption of share repurchases with approximately $500 million in net share repurchases expected this year.”

“The consolidation of the BODYARMOR finished goods business will continue to have a mechanical effect on margins.”

“Additionally, we see incremental cost pressure coming from areas like wages and transportation.”

“based on current rates and hedge positions, we expect the commodity price inflation to remain in the range of mid-single digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2022.”

“approximately $1.5 billion in capital investments.”

“approximately $12 billion in cash from operations”

“we continue to expect to generate approximately $10.5 billion of free cash flow for 2022 through approximately $12 billion in cash from operations, less approximately $1.5 billion in capital investments.”

“All in, we continue to expect comparable earnings per share growth of 5% to 6% versus 2021.”

“Based on current rates and our hedge positions, we are reiterating our currency outlook of a 2- to 3-point currency headwinds to comparable net revenues and a 3- to 4-point currency headwinds to comparable earnings per share for full year 2022.”

“We continue to expect organic revenue growth of approximately 7% to 8% and comparable currency-neutral earnings per share guidance of 8% to 10% growth versus 2021.”

“I feel confident that we have some flex from the gross margin line down in the currency neutral basis.”

“We have confidence in our ability to deliver another year of strong performance in 2022 and over the long term.”

“We remain well hedged in 2022, but at higher levels.”

“My take is the impact in 2021 was minimal, and the impact in 2022 is going to be negligible.”

“We’re going to invest for growth.”

“Clearly, as we talked about on the last question, we are expecting some extra improvement in the away-from-home going into 2022.”

“And below the operating line are actually our net interest expense, given the tremendous work we’ve done to completely restructure our debt portfolio, is actually a net benefit for us in 2022.”

“Anyway, the answer is basically the same, which is we are assuming an improvement in mobility, but we’re not assuming a return yet to the full 2019 levels.”

“It’s not going to be back to 2019 fully in 2022.”

“And we are -- in terms of consumer business, we are assuming a greater degree of reopening.”

“The net of all that is likely to mean that we see a balance between volume and price/mix within the overall revenue guidance that we’ve given you.”

“So, we think there are additional tailwinds in 2022 from a reopening perspective that will support the volume side.”

“As a reminder, for your modeling, the consolidation of the recently acquired fast-growing BODYARMOR finished goods business will have a mechanical effect on margins.”

“However, we are taking actions in the marketplace using multiple levers, including RGM in its many forms, along with our productivity initiatives, to help offset much of the impact.”

“Based on current rates and hedge positions, we continue to expect commodity price inflation to have a mid-single-digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2022.”

“This implies the fourth consecutive year of free cash flow conversion above our long-term range of 90% to 95%.”

“October has started strong and in line with expectations so we feel good.”

“While there are puts and takes to consider from the pandemic looking into next year, we're confident in the underlying top line trajectory supported by our transformation work, our innovation agenda, and a more efficient and effective approach to marketing.”

“I think we've got a big piece of it, let's say half of it back, of the mix, and there's another half to come, but it won't come overnight, it will come over time.”

“Moving to marketing dollars, we'll continue to invest purposefully in our brands and markets to support top-line growth, with spend more heavily weighted towards consumer-facing activities.”

“We've been proactively accelerating our revenue growth management, and productivity levers to offset some of this pressure as we look out to next year.”

“Based on current rates and hedge position, we'd expect commodity inflation having mid-single-digit impact on our cost of goods sold in 2022.”

“4, our currency outlook continues to contemplate a tailwind of 1% to 2% to the top line, and approximately 2% to 3% to comparable EPS in 2021 based on current spot rates and our hedge positions.”