adminCOCA-Cola Company forecast a drop in full-year adjusted profit, hurt by higher costs for refranchising its bottling operations in North America.
The world’s largest beverage maker’s shares were down two percent at $41.12 in premarket trading on Thursday.
Coca-Cola has been offloading much of its bottling business to cope with falling demand for carbonated beverages in North America.
The company said on Thursday it was on track to complete refranchising of its US bottling operations by the end of this year.
Charges related to the refranchising of its US bottling operations look to be a more meaningful drag on the company’s full-year profit than analysts were expecting, brokerage Cowen and Co said in a note to clients on Thursday.
The company forecast 2017 adjusted earnings to fall 1-4 percent from $1.91 per share in 2016. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $1.97, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S..
— Reuters.
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