The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, US. Image courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) earned $43.6bn revenue in 2015. Image courtesy of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The headquarters of PepsiCo is in located in Purchase, New York, US. Image courtesy of Peter Bond.
Nestle is a nutrition, health and wellness company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. Image courtesy of Nestle.
Dutch brewing company Heineken has its headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Image courtesy of Heineken N.V.
Hero is a popular beer brand from SABMiller. Image courtesy of SABMiller.
Starbucks Corporation’s head office is located in Seattle, US. Image courtesy of SounderBruce.
Fomento Economico Mexicano (FEMSA) participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA. Image courtesy of Coca_Cola FEMSA.
Diageo, a wine and beer producing company, headquartered in Park Royal, London, earned $16.99bn revenue in 2015. Image courtesy of David Hawgood.
Asahi Breweries’ head office building in Tokyo Japan is popularly known for its “Asahi flame”. Image courtesy of Philippe Starck.

Coca-cola

The Coca-Cola Company – $44.29bn

The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) is a global giant specialising in non-alcoholic beverages. Besides Coca-Cola, the company also produces popular soft drinks Sprite and Fanta among others, while it boasts nearly500 brands for various goods and has interests in many bottling and canning operations.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the US, the Coca-Cola Company offers beverage concentrates and finished products. The former, also known as fountain syrups, are sold to wholesalers and retailers, while the latter are largely sold to distributors. These include sparkling (soft drinks) and still beverages (water, juice, tea, coffee, sports drinks).

Coca-Cola classifies its operations into seven divisions: Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Bottling Investments and Corporate.

Financial Performance

The company's reported revenue for 2015 was $44.29bn, a 3.7% decrease year-over-year. Operating margin was 19.7%, a slight decline from 21% in 2014. Net margin was 16.6%, a 1.2% increase from the previous year.

The North America business unit accounted for 49.2% of the company's net operating revenue, while Bottling Investments reported 15.1%, Asia Pacific 10.6%, Europe 10.3%, Latin America 9%, Eurasia and Africa 5.5%, and Corporate 0.3%.

The company sold 29.2billion beverage unit cases (73% sparkling) in 2015.

Key Competitors

Coca-Cola's key competitors include CCHBC Grouping, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Kraft Foods Group, Mondelez International, National Beverage, PepsiCo, Danone, Nestle and Unilever.

Latest Developments

In April 2016 Coca-Cola Beverages Florida announced it will acquire four production facilities in Hollywood, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa from The Coca-Cola Company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in 2017.

In the same month it was announced Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution, a subsidiary of Reyes Holdings, will acquire Coca-Cola's six production facilities in Alsip and Niles, Illinois, Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eagan, Minnesota, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The acquisitions are expected to be completed throughout 2016 and 2017.

In January 2016 the company made an initial 40% equity investment in Nigeria-based Chi Limited, a producer and distributor of dairy and juice products. In three years Coca-Cola plans to acquire 100% in the company.

In October 2015 the Coca-Cola Company announced that it will raise $1.75bn by issuing senior fixed-rate notes due 2025, $1.5bn in fixed-rate notes due 2020 and $750m due 2017.

UK-based Coca-Cola Enterprises announced in August 2015 that it will merge with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetranke AG in a deal worth $27bn. Coca-Cola Iberian Partners is a producer, marketer and distributor of Coca-Cola Company products and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetranke is a German producer, bottler and distributor.