Pepsi products are displayed at a store in Pittsburgh in this file photo.Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press
PepsiCo Inc. reported a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by increases in sales volume and prices, and gave a 2013 forecast consistent with its ongoing turnaround plan.
The maker of Gatorade sports drinks and Quaker oatmeal forecast 2013 earnings, excluding any impact from currency, to grow 7 per cent from the $4.10 per share it earned in 2012, a "transition year" in which profit fell 5 per cent.
In the just-ended fourth quarter, net income was $1.66-billion, or $1.06 per share, up from $1.42-billion, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, earnings were $1.09 per share. Analysts on average were expecting $1.05 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net revenue fell 1 per cent to $19.95-billion. Excluding the effect of items including selling some businesses, an extra selling week in 2011 and currency exchange rates, revenue increased 5 per cent.