Global food and beverage corporation, PepsiCo, reported on Tuesday that its Indian division experienced “double-digit organic revenue growth” during the first quarter of 2023. According to PepsiCo’s global earnings statement, the beverage unit volume in the Indian market saw double-digit growth.
The convenient foods unit, on the other hand, witnessed a low-single-digit decline in volume in the Indian market during the quarter that concluded on March 25, 2023.
PepsiCo’s first quarter, which lasted for 12 weeks, came to an end on March 25, 2023.
The year-on-year comparison pertains to the 12-week period that ended on March 25, 2023, in contrast to the 12-week period that concluded on March 19, 2022.
PepsiCo’s net revenue in the Africa, Middle East, South Asia (AMESA) division, which includes India, increased by 1.49% to USD 1.01 billion, as compared to USD 1 billion. The rise was primarily due to effective net pricing, but was partially offset by a decline in organic volume.
Despite this, PepsiCo’s gross profit for the March quarter declined by 6.6% to USD 168 million due to the effects of increased commodity costs, particularly for cooking oil and packaging materials, as well as certain operating cost hikes and higher advertising and marketing expenses.
“Each of our international divisions reported a strong organic revenue growth, led by AMESA, which delivered double-digit organic revenue growth in both beverages and convenient foods during the quarter with India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan each delivering double-digit organic revenue growth and South Africa delivering high-single-digit organic revenue growth,” it said.
PepsiCo possesses well-known brands like Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Quaker.
During the (March) quarter, in AMESA zone, PepsiCo “beverage unit volume grew 15 per cent, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India, partially offset by a low-single-digit decline in Nigeria,” it said.
The volume of the Convenient Foods unit in the AMESA region decreased by 8%, due to a double-digit decline in South Africa, which was partly offset by double-digit growth in the Middle East.
“Additionally, India and Pakistan each experienced a low-single-digit decline,” it said.
In the first quarter, PepsiCo’s net revenue increased by 10.2% to reach USD 17.85 billion.
Ramon Laguarta, the Chairman and CEO of the company, expressed his satisfaction with the first-quarter results, as the business achieved a 14.3% organic revenue growth and an 18% core constant currency earnings per share growth.
PepsiCo has revised its 2023 projections upward.
“Given the strength of our business performance, we now expect our full-year 2023 organic revenue to increase 8 per cent (previously 6 per cent) and our core constant currency earnings per share to increase 9 per cent (previously 8 per cent),” it said.
