(Reuters) – Coca-Cola Co raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday, as the reopening of theaters and restaurants in the United States drove demand for its sodas, sending its shares up 2% in premarket trading.
Revenue from Coca-Cola’s North America business rose 13% in the third quarter, helped by the vaccine-aided reopening of public venues across the United States.
The company also raised prices to counter some of the impact from surging commodity and freight costs.
Coca-Cola expects its annual adjusted earnings per share to rise 15% to 17%, compared with a prior forecast of a 13% to 15% increase.
Its adjusted net operating revenue rose to $10.04 billion in the third quarter ended Oct. 1 from $8.65 billion a year earlier, compared with estimates of $9.75 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
