Coke fails to fizz after earnings take a tumble

Soft drinks giant Coca-cola slumped to a $2.75 billion (£1.96bn) loss in the final quarter of 2017, mainly due to a $3.6bn charge related to the new tax law in the US.

It compared with a profit of $550m a year earlier. Cocacola said net revenues fell to $7.51bn from $9.41bn in the same quarter of 2016 due to continuing efforts to refranchise its bottling operations.

The results still exceeded market consensus forecasts, as the Fanta and Diet Coke maker said that it had sold more teas, coffees and vitamin water to offset sluggish sales of fizzy drinks.

Coke and rival Pepsico have been struggling with lower sales of their sugary sodas as consumers shift to healthier drinks. Earlier this week, Pepsi also reported weak quarterly sales.

Coke said that it expected revenues to grow by 4 per cent in 2018 and forecast adjusted earnings per share to expand between 8 and 10 per cent.