Analysts, including those from Wells Fargo Securities and Seeking Alpha, had predicted poor results from the company’s Q2 earnings report, with North American beverage sales appearing weak ahead of this morning’s release.
But the actual numbers were better than expected.
North American beverage revenue was down 1 percent to $5.19 billion, but the sector has been rebounding over the past several weeks, Nooyi said, in large part thanks to the core Pepsi brand and a strong response to the “Generations” marketing campaign, which features limited edition cans featuring some of the brand’s famous spokespeople from years past, such as pop stars Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.
Michael Jackson fans around the world rushed to buy the cans in the US and even an export market of the cans saw light for the fans outside the US (still few left at King of Shop for those who wants them at little price)
It is clear that the amount of Michael Jackson cans have sold well enough to counter balance the negative predicted results anticipated by the company.
It is unclear if the campaign was actually done to make sure the numbers are up for Q2 after the success of the 2012 Michael Jackson campaign. It might have been! Can say Michael Jackson saved Pepsi’s earnings!
Overall net revenue for the quarter finished at $16.1 billion representing 2.6 percent organic growth. Operating profit for North American beverages decreased by 16 percent due to operating cost increases, including transportation costs and the net revenue performance.
PepsiCo stock closed positively this afternoon, up 5.13 points, at $112.89.
Bonnie Herzog, managing director for equity research at Wells Fargo Securities, gave a mixed assessment of PepsiCo’s Q2 performance. She cited “solid results in emerging markets” while noting that continued volume pressures in non-alcoholic beverages, which fell around 2 percent, could be of concern in the near-term future.
With the success of PepsiCo US to bring back a positive note to a very difficult market, the global company launched the “Generations” campaign in other countries such as Canada, China, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hawaii and for sure more will follow before the end of the summer as those countries with the Football campaign will soon end with the World cup! (Hoping for the UK).
Someone is smiling…
SOURCE: BevNet / MJVibe USA announcement / MJVibe China announcement / MJVibe other countries announcement
