Pepsi rules out selling Tropicana and Quaker
But the company – which owns a range of brands including Quaker porridge oats and Tropicana orange juice – ruled out breaking up the business, quashing recent Wall Street speculation.
Chief financial officer Hugh Johnston said: “I’ve looked at every single scenario you could probably come up with in terms of how Pepsi’s portfolio is constructed.
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Hide Ad“Taking it apart, I know, would be very, very costly and I really don’t see the benefit in doing it.”
He said that the company benefited in areas such as back-office operations, research and development and procurement from having both a snacks and drinks business, even if the snacks and drinks are not being delivered in the same lorries in all markets.
His comments came as Pepsi – which is bottled under licence in the UK by London-listed Britvic – posted a better-than-expected 4 per cent rise in third-quarter profits to $2 billion (£1.3bn).
Johnston said that weak consumer spending and higher corn, wheat and other commodity prices during the third-quarter had been off-set by lower tax rates and cost-savings from acquisitions.
He added that price rises during the past three months did not hurt demand as much as expected in its snacks business.
Revenues rose to $17.6bn from $15.5bn a year ago, compared with analysts’ estimates of $17.2bn. The firm expects single-digit profits growth for the full-year.
Other brands owned by the company include Doritos tortilla chips, Lipton iced tea, 7-Up lemonade and Lay’s crisps, which are marketed as Walkers in the UK.