The pandemic has been worse this winter than Coca-Cola Co. expected, but the beverage giant said it expects consumers to return to normal life in the second half of the year as Covid-19 vaccines roll out across many developed countries.
The company offered an outlook for 2021, saying the first half of the year would be challenging. Starting in December, “we saw more restrictions in place than we anticipated,” finance chief John Murphy said in an interview. But “we still think that with vaccine rollout building momentum in the coming weeks, the second half of the year will be very strong.”
“We also think there’s a pent-up demand on the part of people to get out and about,” he added. “There’s more light at the end of the tunnel this year.”
Coke expects high-single-digit percentage growth in organic revenue, which excludes currency swings and acquisitions or divestitures, in 2021. On that basis, Coke’s revenue fell 9% in 2020.
The company reported declines in both profit and revenue in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. Depressed sales from restaurants and bars more than offset gains from consumers drinking sodas at home. The company said world-wide volumes fell 3% in the fourth quarter.
