In the fourth quarter of 2014, Coca-Cola reported profits of $770 million, 17 cents per share, down from $1,71 billion, 38 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier but higher than expected. Excluding exceptional items, earnings were 44 cents a share. Analysts were expecting profits of 42 cents a share on $10,76 billion in business. For 2015, Coca-Cola expects earnings per share to grow by around 5%, excluding currency fluctuations, which will account for 5 percentage points of revenue for the full year.
The stock, which gained 6,9% in the last year, gained 4% in the pre-market on Wall Street. As for sales volumes, in the fourth quarter Coca-Cola saw soft drinks rise (+1% globally), but the American giant anticipated that 2015 could be "a year of transition", marked by efforts to reduce costs (in October it presented a 3 billion plan) and the negative impact of currency fluctuations.
