可口可乐公司 (KO) - 2023 年第二季度收益报告

在本文中

KO-2023Q2-Earnings-20230726-2.mp3: 音频由 Sonix 自动转录

KO-2023Q2-Earnings-20230726-2.mp3: 此 mp3 音频文件是由 Sonix 自动转录与最佳语音到文本算法。本记录本可能含有错误。

操作员
At this time, I’d like to welcome everyone to The Coca-Cola Company’s Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Results Conference Call. Today’s call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that the purpose of this conference is to talk with investors, and therefore, questions from the media will not be addressed. Media participants should contact Coca-Cola’s Media Relations department if they have any questions.

现在我想向大家介绍罗宾-哈尔彭女士，她是公司副总裁兼投资者关系部主管。哈尔彭女士，您现在可以开始了。

罗宾-哈尔彭
Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I’m here with James Quincey, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and John Murphy, our President and Chief Financial Officer. We’ve posted schedules under financial information in the Investors section of our company website at coca-colacompany.com. These schedules reconcile certain non-GAAP financial measures, which may be referred to by our senior executives during this morning’s discussion to our results as reported under generally accepted accounting principles. You can also find schedules in the same section of our website that provide an analysis of our growth and operating margins.

In addition, this call may contain forward-looking statements, including statements concerning long-term earnings objectives, which should be considered in conjunction with cautionary statements contained in our earnings release and in the company’s periodic SEC report. Following prepared remarks, we will turn the call over for questions. [Operator Instructions].

Now I’ll turn the call over to James.

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
谢谢你，罗宾，大家早上好。继年初的强劲表现之后，我们在第二季度继续保持良好势头。我们将深受消费者喜爱的强势品牌与统一的普及型分销系统相结合，使我们能够在多种不同的经营环境中取得胜利。鉴于上半年的强劲业绩和我们业务的韧性，我们今天将上调我们的最高和最低业绩指导。

To give you the full picture of our results and our raised guidance, I’ll start by discussing second quarter performance and provide perspective on the current business and consumer environment. Then I’ll highlight our performance across categories, including how we are driving quality leadership throughout our portfolio. Finally, I’ll touch on why we’re confident in our ability to deliver our long-term objectives. And then John will end by discussing our results for the quarter and our revised guidance for 2023.

第二季度，各种宏观力量在我们的市场上相互竞争。从积极的方面看，许多供应链压力有所缓解，对银行业稳定性的担忧减弱，能源价格继续从历史高位回落。然而，全球通胀依然高企，一些市场的地缘政治局势依然紧张。尽管如此，我们在本季度仍实现了 11% 的有机收入增长。

销量持平，在经历了一个缓慢的开端后，销量连续改善，6 月份成为本季度最强劲的月份。2023 年上半年，我们的销量增长与 2019 年以来的基本表现保持一致。更广泛地说，我们的行业表现强劲，我们相信我们在销量和价值方面都有很大的增长空间。我们还在继续扩大份额。本季度，我们在家庭和外出渠道都获得了价值份额。

As we look towards the second half, the global inflationary environment is impacting consumers and our business differently across geographies. In developed markets like North America and Western Europe, inflation is beginning to moderate, and labor markets remain strong. Our elasticities continue to be relatively low. However, we have seen some willingness to switch to private label brands in certain categories. Across the sector, consumers are increasingly cost-conscious. They’re looking for value and stocking up on items on sale. In these markets, our pricing is largely in place and is expected to moderate as we cycle pricing initiatives from the prior year.

It’s more important than ever to be consumer-centric and to partner with customers to provide affordable and premium propositions, which deliver value through basket and incidence growth. In many developing and emerging markets like Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, consumers are more accustomed to persistent inflation. However, the number of markets with intense inflation has expanded.

Five of our top 40 markets are currently experiencing over 20% annual inflation. In these markets, it’s equally important to leverage revenue growth management capabilities to balance affordability with premiumization to be able to take price with local market inflation, which helps offset the currency pressures. There are, as always, a few markets affected by specific local factors. In China, economic recovery slowed in the second quarter, and inflation has declined. Consumer confidence is below pre-pandemic levels. And we continue to monitor our leading consumer indicators and take action to win in the market.

在印度，本季度反常的降雨和较低的气温对业务造成了不利影响。不过，增长前景依然完好。在全球从通货膨胀、货币贬值到消费者需求变化等各种市场动态中，我们的业务被证明是非常有弹性的。我们有很多杠杆，可以在不同的运营环境中成功管理。我们仍然以消费者为中心，专注于增长。我们的成功秘诀没有改变。我们将继续通过世界一流的营销和创新、卓越的收入增长管理和强大的执行力来实现我们的战略。我们正在提高标准，增强整个产品组合的质量领导力。

从可口可乐开始。我们正在扩大 Z 世代饮者的基数，扩大份额，并利用我们的规模来提高整个系统的效率。本季度，我们将可口可乐与消费场合联系起来，通过本地体验吸引消费者，从而获得了销量和价值份额。一个很好的例子是 "魔力食谱"（Recipe for Magic）活动，该活动在 50 多个市场启动，庆祝在用餐时饮用可口可乐。这项活动得到了当地厨师体验的支持，在全球范围内利用了约 750 名有影响力的人，并通过社交媒体和以食谱为重点的广告牌使活动变得生动活泼。

膳食可乐 "活动还使可口可乐公司加强了与当地的相关性。例如，在意大利的户外渠道，可口可乐与披萨的关系日益密切，在过去 4 年中，披萨是消费量最大的餐食，每年约有 30 亿份披萨，从 10% 增加到 20% 。虽然可口可乐品牌无处不在，但我们会根据消费场合调整价格包装结构，并继续推动平价和高端化。在第二季度，我们在提高每升价格的同时，篮子事件和每次旅行的数量也实现了两位数的增长。

接下来谈谈气泡饮料。我们的主打品牌雪碧、芬达、FRESCA 和 Thums Up 受到了消费者的强烈追捧。与此同时，我们还有很大的发展空间，可以在发达市场和发展中市场进一步推动质量领先。

With Sprite, we are driving brand awareness by connecting consumers to passion points and personalized experience at a more granular and locally relevant levels through our global Heat Happens platform. In North America, Sprite celebrated hiphop’s 50th anniversary with the launch of Sprite Lymonade Legacy and sponsorship of concert tours, exclusive experiences and collaborations with prominent artists.

在中国，我们与当地流行歌星和格莱美制片人合作，在 1,500 所高校开展了针对 Z 世代饮酒者的 "全球雪碧璀璨音乐计划"。在韩国，"雪碧水弹节 "同样取得了良好的效果。

在印度，"瓶中笑话"（Joke in a Bottle）促销活动让消费者扫描包装，通过 WhatsApp 收到定制的本地化笑话，以消暑解热。今年 6 月，雪碧被 Kantar 授予 "最具复原力品牌 "称号，因为它是 2022 年新增家庭数量最多的快速消费品品牌。

转向水、运动、咖啡和茶。我们正在对更广泛的机会进行细分，利用我们焕然一新的资源配置能力，优先考虑投资回报率最高的市场和子类别。我们以消费者为中心，加快创新产品的上市速度，实时衡量成果，扩大成功规模，从而建立我们的优势。

我们继续通过在墨西哥推出绿茶、在土耳其推出夏季限量版以及在欧洲推广零糖产品，为 Fuze Tea 带来新的活力。本季度，Fuze Tea 的销量增长了两位数。本季度，我们在北美重新推出了零糖维他命水，采用了新的甜蜜素和甜菊糖系统，从而提高了价值份额。BODYARMOR FLASH I.V.和Flashlyte分别在美国和墨西哥上市。虽然时间尚早，但这两款产品在本季度引起了消费者的强烈兴趣，并取得了可喜的初步成果。

本季度，我们的果汁、高附加值乳制品和植物饮料连续 9 个季度实现两位数增长，销量和价值份额均有所增长。我们将继续创新，推动 "Simply "商标的高端化。Simply mixology 为消费者提供口感极佳的混合饮料和即饮模拟鸡尾酒，并启动了一项体验式活动，庆祝夏季的开始及其在全国的推广。

此外，随着 Core Power 和 fairlife 营养计划继续保持强劲的发展势头，fairlife 又迎来了一个非凡的季度。今年 5 月，我们宣布投资 $6.5 亿美元，建造一个最先进的生产设施，以帮助推动下一波增长。最后，我们对即饮酒类饮料的表现感到鼓舞。我们将继续采取审慎的态度，探索和应用我们的经验。虽然时间尚早，但 "杰克和可乐 "已经取得了可喜的成果。在菲律宾，"杰克可乐 "和 "柠檬豆 "的组合带来了强劲的份额增长。

史威士莫吉托（Mojito）在印度的推广也有了一个良好的开端。这些例子说明，我们的营销转型正在取得成效。我们整个饮料产品组合的实力让我们更有信心，我们将继续为消费者提供适合各种场合的饮料选择。

我们的宗旨是让世界焕然一新，让世界与众不同。在努力发展业务的同时，我们始终致力于为公司和地球打造一个更加可持续发展的未来。我们将继续通过创新和合作，努力实现包装循环经济的愿景。例如，在美国，我们最近与共和服务公司（Republic Services）合作，确保我们的包装有充足的再生塑料供应。与此同时，我们也在大力推广可重复填充物。最近，我们与美国 4 个城市的客户共同启动了一项计划，对可充装喷泉杯进行测试，并计划在其他地方推广。

我们成功地渡过了上半年，这为我们决定上调全年业绩指导提供了支持。我们没有试图预测事情可能发展的多种方向，而是继续专注于实现我们在二月份提出的主要目标。换句话说，第一，通过坚持不懈地以消费者为中心，在全球范围内追求卓越，并在当地取得胜利，从而推动业绩增长；第二，为我们业务的长期健康发展进行投资，并提高我们战略飞轮所有要素的标准；第三，实现美元每股收益的增长。

我们的系统从未如此强大，我们的全球网络模式使我们能够迅速适应不断变化的环境。我们相信，凭借我们令人难以置信的系统和遍布全球的员工，我们完全有能力实现我们最新的指导和目标。

With that, I’ll turn the call over to you, John.

约翰-墨菲
谢谢你，詹姆斯，大家早上好。我们对公司业务的发展势头和第二季度的强劲业绩感到高兴。从第一季度开始。我们的有机收入增长了 11%。单位销量持平。正如詹姆斯（James）所说，第二季度的销量起步较慢，但最终取得了积极的成果。本季度精矿销售额比单位箱数高出 1 个百分点，这主要是受精矿发货时间的影响。本季度的价格/混合增长率为 10%，这主要是由于去年的结转定价以及各运营部门的一些新定价行动，包括恶性通货膨胀市场的影响。

本季度的可比毛利率上升了约 40 个基点，主要原因是基本的扩张和瓶子再特许经营带来的微小收益，但汇率的影响部分抵消了这一增长。本季度的可比营业利润率增长了约 90 个基点。这主要得益于顶线的强劲增长和瓶装业务特许经营的影响，但营销投资的增加、与上年同期相比更高的运营成本以及汇率的影响抵消了部分增长。

综合来看，第二季度可比每股收益为 $0.78，同比增长了 111TP3，尽管货币逆差比预期高出 61TP3。年初至今的自由现金流约为 10 亿吨。这主要归功于强劲的基本运营业绩和营运资本效益，但第二季度支付的 $7.2 亿过渡税款以及并购相关付款部分抵消了上述效益。

我们的资产负债表十分稳健，净债务杠杆为息税折旧摊销前利润（EBITDA）的 1.6 倍，低于 2 至 2.5 倍的目标范围。我们的资本分配重点保持不变，我们将继续投资以推动长期增长。正如詹姆斯提到的，我们对市场上的情况感到鼓舞。我们将继续加快战略飞轮的旋转速度，以实现以业绩为导向的增长，同时我们也在利润率议程上取得了进展，这体现在我们抵消成本不利因素以维持稳定毛利率的一贯记录上。

从长远来看，我们有许多杠杆可以推动业绩增长，提高支出的有效性和效率。我们的全天候战略，加上我们为继续在我们的产品组合中创造优质领先地位而制定的宏伟计划，使我们有良好的前景来实现我们提出的 2023 年指导目标。

这包括 8% 至 9% 的有机收入增长，其中包括数量的正增长，同时价格/组合继续保持领先。有几点需要注意。我们预计，随着上一年度定价措施的周期性实施，发达市场的定价在本年度将趋于缓和。在发展中市场和新兴市场，我们的目标是根据当地市场的通胀率进行定价。

如果市场上的严重通货膨胀导致价格/产品组合升高，其影响往往会被货币因素抵消，因为我们通常很难对冲风险。由于我们的报告日程，第四季度将增加一天。我们现在预计，货币中性的每股收益增长在 9% 至 11% 之间，比较舒适。根据目前的汇率和我们的对冲头寸，我们更新了货币展望，即 2023 年全年的可比净收入将受到约 3 到 4 个百分点的不利影响，可比每股收益将受到约 4 到 5 个百分点的不利影响。

Inflationary pressures are beginning to moderate in some ways, including freight rates that are favorable compared to last year. That said, several commodities that are prevalent in our baskets like sugar and juice remain elevated. And we have some hedges that we’ll be rolling off to less favorable rates. Based on current rates and hedge positions, we continue to expect per case commodity price inflation in the range of a mid-single-digit impact on comparable cost of goods sold in 2023. Our updated underlying effective tax rate for 2023 is now 19.3%.

总而言之，我们预计 2022 年的可比每股收益将增长 5% 至 6%，而 2022 年为 $2.48。我们仍然预计，通过约 $114 亿运营现金减去约 $19 亿资本投资，2023 年将产生约 $95 亿自由现金流。如果不考虑第二季度支付的过渡税以及与并购交易相关的各种付款，我们的隐含自由现金流转换将在长期指导范围内。该指导不包括我们与美国国税局正在进行的美国所得税纠纷相关的任何付款。

在进入下半年之际，我们将继续建立一种文化，强调在我们开展业务的各个方面提高标准。得益于全球系统员工的不懈努力，我们有信心实现 2023 年的指导目标，为利益相关者创造长期价值。

好了，接线员，我们可以开始提问了。

操作员
第一个问题来自美国银行的 Bryan Spillane。

布莱恩-道格拉斯-斯皮兰
我想我有一个问题，就是当我们展望今年下半年的有机销售时，隐含的有机销售指导，我想是在今年下半年5%到6%的范围内。也许詹姆斯（James）和约翰（John），你们能谈谈宏观环境或目前的运营状况与你们年初的想法有什么不同吗？

And given that there’s more of these markets where — or countries where hyperinflation is an issue, is price a little bit more of a driver in terms of the organic sales comp in the back half of the year relative to volume again versus kind of what you were thinking at the start of the year?

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Yes. Well, let me try and unpack that a little bit. I think the headline part of the answer is there’s a little more pricing in Q2 and in the downhill than we had expected at the beginning of the year, principally around that basket of countries where inflation is high, above 20% and a little more persistent. That’s the short answer.

The longer version of the answer is, look, we’re executing the strategy we’ve talked about consistently over time and again, in CAGNY, the real focus on upping the bar on marketing, upping the bar on RGM, the commercial strategies and the execution of the marketplace. All with the intent about delivering a good, strong top line-led growth algorithms. And obviously that — we’ve talked historically that in normal times, that 5% to 6% would be split between volume and price on a roughly equal basis. And so what you’re seeing in the back half of the year, which I think is important to note, is we’re expecting volume to be consistent in the second half with the way it was in the first half, which in the end is running our trend, if you like, a CAGR versus 2019, similar to what we did last year.

So we see sustained positive volume growth coming out of ’22. And we’re looking for volume growth in the second half in a very similar way to the first half whether you’re comparing to prior year or to 2019. So we want a business that is growing consumer base for all the right, appropriate strategic reasons. Then what’s going to happen to revenue in the second half is we’re going to see the impact of 3 buckets of price/mix.

The first bucket is the carryover of pricing from prior year. Obviously, there was more cost inflation last year. But logically, that is a set of numbers that is going to tend to 0 by the end of December. And so that is going to step down as we go through Q3 and Q4. So bucket one, carryover. That’s going to step down.

Bucket two is price increases we’ve made so far this year that are leaving aside the large inflation countries, look much more like a normal year in terms of what we’ve taken this year, both in terms of timing, number of price increases and relative level of price increases. So we…

操作员
女士们，先生们，我们遇到了技术故障。请不要挂断电话。

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
我什么时候停的？接线员，你知道我的回答何时断线吗？

操作员
很遗憾没有，先生。下一个问题来自巴克莱银行的劳伦-利伯曼。

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Operator, let me just finish the other question. I was going to back up. Apologies to everyone for the technical trickiness. I’m just going to back up and if I’m repeating something I said apologies. And if there’s a gap in the logic, apologies again. I think we talked about volume second half similar to first half, whether you talk in prior year or 2019. Pricing, 3 buckets. The bigger piece of the pricing of the 3 factors, which is the carryover, is obviously stepping down through the year towards 0 by the end of the fourth quarter.

The new pricing that’s come in, in ’23 being very consistent with the kind of a normal level of pricing that we would see, and it’s kind of in place already for the year. And that obviously then continues at the same rate through the rest of the second half. And the third piece, which is about 1/4 of what’s happening on PMO at the moment, this bucket of higher inflationary countries and as I said earlier, there was a little more inflation from those countries in the second quarter than we had previously expected. Obviously, that then comes back around in a little more ForEx headwind.

We are assuming that some of those inflation rates will moderate in the balance of the year in the second half and likewise moderate in the ForEx, although it’s very uncertain. So we’ll have to see what happens, but that’s basically the composition of how to think about the effect of our strategy delivering good top line growth in the second half.

操作员
下一个问题来自巴克莱银行的劳伦-利伯曼。

劳伦-瑞-利伯曼
Can you hear me okay because like my line’s got crackly now. That’s okay. Great.

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
是的，我们抓住你了，劳伦。

劳伦-瑞-利伯曼
好的。好的，我想从资源分配模式和关键利润池的确定等方面，问一下关于 Costa 和咖啡的总体情况，准备好的发言稿中没有提到，但今天上午的新闻稿中肯定提到了，尤其是在英国。

So I guess broad question would be how coffee overall is kind of fitting in on this thought process and resource allocation models if they are getting their particular differences by geography or is it for different emphasis on the category by different bottlers. And then specific to the numbers called out in the release and Costa U.K., should we think about that as recovery with mobility, COVID or tweaks or adjustments to the strategy you’ve made that are beginning to come through in performance?

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Yes. Sure, Lauren. Let me do it in reverse order. The Q2, I think, is more recovery than new stages of growth. Having said that, the Express machines have continued to expand numerically in terms of numbers of placements all the way through COVID and including so far this year. So the Express business, the B2B business, the U.K. is — has been strong, remains strong and still growing, still gaining share. The retail — the store numbers are much more about a recovery kind of completing the play on mobility perhaps and gain share a little bit. And obviously, we’re focused on how to drive growth going forward, and we see plenty of headroom in the U.K. market.

But I would characterize year-to-date more on — more of a biased recovery on stores than new and the bias on Express on new. Internationally speaking, in — if you just break it down into — there’s a couple of different buckets, the ready-to-drink bucket, we’ve made some good progress in China. We made some good progress in Japan with launches of ready-to-drink Costa in the case of Japan complementing Georgia. And actually Japan had a pretty good start to the year growing both Georgia and Costa. So kind of a full coffee strategy in the ready-to-drink looking good, and that’s still the most important ready-to-drink coffee market for us.

And then the B2B, which is a mix of Express along with kind of we’re serving to providing machines and beans, starting to see that getting some traction in Europe with the bottling partners there and starting to kind of find its feet in the U.S., too. And those are the ones I’ve called out as the most — as at the front of the program in terms of geographic expansion.

操作员
下一个问题来自摩根士丹利的 Dara Mohsenian。

达拉-沃伦-穆赫辛尼安
So I just wanted to follow up on Bryan’s back half question. You did mention a weaker start in April post the Q1 call and then the stronger June volume performance, obviously, on this call. Is that engendering additional confidence internally around top line? And the reason I’m asking is it sounds like conceptually, you’re not necessarily guiding to the June volume strength continuing in the second half. I’m just trying to understand that. Is that more just prudence, given the inflationary environment you mentioned and consumer volatility? Or are there other factors there?

在我们考虑你的全年有机销售增长指导范围时，作为问题的一部分，这仅仅是第二季度的增长吗？其中是否有一些是第一季度的增长？在提高全年有机销售增长指导的范围内，你对下半年的预期是否有任何改变？

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
我想达拉，你可以用一个问题来回答这些问题。听着，很明显，在第二季度，正如我们在之前的电话会议中预计的那样，4 月份开始时增长乏力。但到了季度末，一切都趋于正常，6 月份的增长非常稳健。

But I think the easier way to think about it is take the whole of the first half because you’re always going to have some good months and some bad months. April happened to concentrate some price increases in developed countries and bad rains in India. Look, that will always happen on any given month. I think what is a question of what gives us confidence in the back half of the year by just saying January to June with its combination of good, middling and bad months, the growth rate in the first half, what we’re expecting is a similar sort of growth rate in the second half, whether you compare to 2022 or to 2019.

And so we think the momentum is there. We think in the developed markets, we’ve got through the pricing that needed to be taken in ’23. We don’t foresee substantive new pricing in the downhill. But we think this is going to be a well set up run through in the second half.

And as I called out on that other answer with Bryan that the uncertainty factor is really around a concentrated in a few of these more inflationary marketplaces. Guidance going up, I guess there’s obviously some flow through. We had a good first quarter, obviously, versus consensus. About a second quarter — we clearly feel confident in our outlook for the full year, which is why we’re taking it up. So there’s some flow through.

Obviously, there’s some timing factors in the relative performance in Q2. And as we’ve talked on previous calls, given the nature of our business and where we sit in the supply chain relative to final sales, I think it’s always good to take a multi-quarter average to the way of thinking about volume or pricing or even the flow-through to EPS. And I think that’s kind of something that we always think about. Otherwise, you can get too distracted by the ups or downs on any given quarter. So we’re going up. In the guidance, we feel confident about the second half. There’ll always be some puts and takes, but we think we have a great strategy and a great plan to execute for the rest of the year.

操作员
下一个问题来自高盛集团的 Bonnie Herzog。

邦妮-李-赫尔佐格
好的。我想我有一个关于亚太地区营业利润率的问题，本季度亚太地区的营业利润率再次受到压力。然后，詹姆斯，你提到了几个仍然面临压力的市场，但只是希望你能就该地区的一些不利因素分享更多的信息。然后，你可能已经实施了哪些关键举措来减轻其中的一些压力？因此，我们应该如何看待该地区今年剩余时间的运营利润趋势？

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Sure. As it relates to Asia Pacific, what we — there’s obviously a set of things that happened in Q2 that were specific to Q2. There were some destocking in the China operating unit that was kind of a significant piece there. And there was some strong demand for some of the juice businesses in China and India. And those are 2 kind of atypical factors that happened that depressed on a timing basis the margin in Asia Pacific. It is worth noting that there is a sort of structural headwind when seen specifically just at the Asia Pacific region level. And what I mean by that is that we have a very big business in Japan, which is an excellent business and has a good operating margin.

But then Asia Pacific concentrates a set of fast-growing emerging and developing markets, India, China, some of the Southeast Asian countries. And given the nature of how fast they grow and their emerging profile, i.e., they have price points that are lower than Japan, they create a negative geographic mix effect to the Asia Pacific reporting segment. And that’s been a feature for an extended period of time. In other words, you have to sell 1-point-something cases in India and China to make up — to kind of compensate the mix effect relative to Japan. So that kind of structural headwind is always slightly there.

Obviously, our objective is through our strategies, our marketing, RGM execution and the way we invest to try and offset that headwind. So if you look back over time, you’ll see that the — whilst the margin fluctuates up and down, it has kind of had a certain stability when you look, for example, 2019 versus 2022. And so I close by saying don’t over-rotate to 1 quarter in the case of Asia Pacific, given some of the issues. But I would also point out that this is not a region seen on its own where operating margin is likely to grow all the time because of the structural mix effect.

But when seen at the company level, we obviously manage it as part of the overall portfolio so that it is a piece of the puzzle in looking at our total strategy of, as we’ve talked about, using the levers to hit that top end of the revenue 5 to 6 with a little bit of aggregate operating income margin expansion for the total enterprise. And we understand the role of each segment within that equation.

操作员
下一个问题来自德意志银行的史蒂夫-鲍尔斯（Steve Powers）。

斯蒂芬-罗伯特-R-鲍尔斯
实际上，我想挤时间谈两个话题，但我想先谈谈詹姆斯，你刚才谈到的公司整体情况。本季度，我们的销售额显然很高。但我认为，与外界的预期相比，我们看到的利润流和 SG&A 杠杆作用比预期的要大一些，尤其是在北美等地区，那里的利润率与历史相比异常强劲。

So I’m curious in terms of how to think about the balance of managing top line growth versus continued margin expansion as you think about the back half. But then also more broadly, just in the context of your top line-led algo, is there maybe more cost efficiency opportunities that we should be thinking about longer term? Or is what we see in the quarter maybe more just a matter of timing?

I also, John, if I could, I just want to loop back to a question I asked last quarter on below-the-line dynamics. You came into the year talking about below-the-line deleverage, interest expense and so on. We haven’t seen that again this quarter, especially with the lower tax rate. So I’m just curious if that has changed in the full year and if that factored in to the full year guidance raise?

约翰-墨菲
Steve, let me take the second piece first. It’s fairly straightforward. In the quarter, we benefited from higher equity income and from interest that we earned on our overseas cash, which was in both cases ahead of what we had soon when we guided at the start of the year. And from the second half of the year, I don’t expect either of those 2 to be as strong. So I do think we’ll have a little bit of deleverage in the second half of the year but modest, not a significant variable for your consideration in the second half of the year.

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
是的，回到问题中的利润因素。在某种程度上，北美是我们刚才谈到的亚太地区的一个流动方面。很明显，北美地区的业绩和利润率都非常强劲。同样，有一些时间因素使北美地区第二季度的利润率结构趋于平缓，其中包括--有点像歌诗达在英国的情况，因为在北美市场，离家出走的增长率比在家的增长率要快得多。

And obviously, that’s margin accretive. That should be seen as, in a way, more completing the play of the recovery versus COVID. So the completion of the reopening of restaurants, cafes, theme parks, et cetera, et cetera. And so that channel mix, if you like, flatters the operating income in the short term. There’s a number of timings of other things that impact that, BODYARMOR integration, et cetera. I think the way to think about margin going forward by segment and most importantly for the company overall is, firstly, not to over-rotate on any 1 quarter.

Remember that there are a number of expense items and deduction items that we accrue on the basis of sales curve, not just what actually happened in the quarter. So timing is a feature. And that’s why I’m very strong on let’s take 4 quarters in a row and look at that relative to history.

And when you do that, whether in North America or Asia Pacific or more importantly, the company in the overall, what you’re going to see is us sticking to our strategy, which is to drive the growth from the top line and then to look for modest or moderate increments of the operating margin, which we deliver not just by effective strategies to allocate resources, whether they be marketing or operating expenses so that we are efficient and get a little bit of leverage there.

But the design of the portfolio itself and the RGM strategies also is a component in creating sales that inherently have a little more gross margin. So we use all the levers to try and deliver. And so don’t take these segments over or under deliveries as a sign of something new and radical happening. If they are features of our business model and the big overall idea is top line growth with small income and operating margin expansion.

操作员
下一个问题来自 Evercore 的 Rob Ottenstein。

罗伯特-爱德华-奥滕斯坦
James, I’d like to talk about the global system. Recently, there’s been a lot of interesting developments from some of the bottlers. You had CCH buy Finlandia. You’ve had a lot of your bottlers, particularly in Latin America and elsewhere, talk about B2B platforms that they’re developing. And so my question is, how are you thinking about these developments? Are there new models, revenue, earnings sharing models? And how do you make sure that the bottlers stay focused on those products that drive the most value for The Coca-Cola Company?

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Sure. Let me start just by headlining actually, we’ve just come off. Last week, we had a Global Bottler Meeting in Atlanta. I think it’s in 30-plus years since we had that meeting in Atlanta, but we had it in Atlanta last week with the majority of the biggest bottlers in the Coke system. And I think it was a very clear meeting on our collective will and ability and interest in investing in this business and our overall level of alignment on what’s important and what should we drive individually and what needs to be driven collectively.

So actually, you guys all go around and talk to the bottlers as well, and I think you will get it reflected back from them that there is a very high degree, not just an alignment on what needs to be done, but enthusiasm on the opportunities ahead of us to drive the business, our collective business forward. On some of the specifics, clearly, you’ve got in that basket, there are things that happen around the world that are local and a biased set of dynamics that are important and relevant and not necessarily projectable around the world. And the case of CCH and the distribution, now the ownership of Finlandia, I think, is one of those.

The B2B platforms, which are progressed very nicely in Latin America, are a feature of the business in multiple other countries. We’ve been testing and exploring and developing individually and collectively B2B platforms with the principal objective of enhancing the system and most importantly, the bottlers’ relationships with the retailers.

To the extent that we can compliment, and here we’re largely talking the fragmented channel because the relationship with the modern trade is already set on electronic platforms anyway. We’re talking about the fragmented trade, and the majority of the almost 30 million customers we visit as a system is to enhance that relationship, to make it no longer a hostage to the visit of the Coke sales rep but to make it a 24/7 opportunity to enhance relationship, to order product, to ask for a service call, to get a new cooler, to put some umbrellas up or to add to an order that’s already about to delivered.

And that is certainly when we have evaluated how those customers where the B2B platforms are available how they’re doing versus where it’s not yet rolled out. There’s clearly an improvement, not just in the relationship however you want to measure it, but also in the sales. So there’s a lot going on in the system. And I think the last thought there is you should take it also as examples of the willingness of the system to experiment and try and be on the front edge of what drives value in the marketplace.

操作员
下一个问题来自富国证券的 Chris Carey。

克里斯托弗-迈克尔-凯里
You made a comment on some private label switching happening in certain markets. Can you just expand on where you’re seeing this specifically geographically and perhaps by category and the playbook that you’ll be deploying in these markets, the sorts of developments that you’d be looking for to respond to these actions ahead?

And I asked that a bit in the context of, clearly, some of your ingredients are still quite inflationary and whether you see any potential risk to being able to price against that inflation in some of these markets going forward. Obviously, you have a playbook with a lot of different levers. And I’m just curious to hear your thoughts on where these developments seem to be happening and how do you think about responding to these a bit more specifically.

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Sure. So private label switching is principally a feature firstly in Europe, and then to some extent also in the U.S. If you were to include price brands or B brands, you might see some of that also in Latin America depending on how you want to define it. But very specifically on private label, that’s number one, a European effect; and number two, a U.S. effect. And it’s, in our view, highly related to the strength of the brands in any specific category.

因此，在饮料方面，我们看到更多的是水和果汁，而不是软饮料，当然，可乐就更少了。当然，我们在市场营销方面需要做的事情，以及继续使品牌与消费者相关并在市场上执行的战略，就是 RGM 战略。是的，高端化仍然是一个机会，但我们需要保持锚定，并继续发展和调整我们的可负担性战略，无论是补充装，还是可负担得起的小包装或可负担得起的特色消费包装，这已经成为在通胀环境中久经考验的战略。

And we have more things we can do in both marketplaces to have an anchor in both affordability and premiumization. And that’s a playbook that we’re rolling out and executing in those marketplaces. As it relates to the inflation and the COGS coming through, obviously, some of that, whether it be juice or sugar and corn syrup, affects different markets. The most of the inflation is in a set of markets where we do price for local inflation. And in a way, the higher inflation gets, the more likely it is we’re just — you’re going to follow inflation.

And so the risk not following is not really there as it goes up. The risk actually appears on the volume side. But this is a select group of markets. So if it were to err towards the more inflation in the back half of the year, we think it’s manageable. If we were to err for the less inflation, that would be good, but we think it’s in a bucket of manageable things.

And as it relates to the total company relative to some of those input costs, we have very long-term relationships with most providers and long-term hedging programs, which allow us to kind of — they don’t avoid inflation, but they smooth it that they make it much more manageable from a pricing and packaging point of view.

操作员
下一个问题来自花旗银行的 Filippo Falorni。

菲利普-法罗尼
Can you guys talk a bit more about your alcohol strategy broadly, particularly with the Red Tree Beverages subsidiary? And specifically in terms of like new innovation, any other subcategories or areas where you’re looking to expand within alcohol? I know you’re experimenting, but just any color on the future plans will be great.

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Yes. Thanks, Filippo. Look, the Red Tree entity that we stood up in the second quarter is more of a technicality than some new big step. It isn’t a change in strategy, and it’s not a vehicle to distribute in the U.S. It allows us a better platform to engage with the partners that we’re working with in the U.S. in terms of coordinating and influencing the marketing and allows us a better separation of the alcohol versus the non-alcohol band. So it’s more an optimization of the model and how we want to execute things rather than a different thing. And then in terms of progress, look, it’s still a small part of the business. And as I talked about, I think it was CAGNY, that’s great, and there are lots of runs on the board.

如果你想寻找一个真正的亮点，你可以对冲菲律宾，杰克可乐和柠檬豆（Lemon-Dou，一种含酒精的柠檬饮料）在热饮类别中获得了超过 30% 的份额。

All of this is very encouraging as we continue to take a measured approach to this and to kind of learn and apply our learnings. All of this needs to generate belief that it can be material for the Coke company, not just a nice business, and that we’re still in the process of driving towards. But certainly, so far, we’re pleased with what’s taken place, and we are encouraged about the next steps that we have to take.

操作员
下一个问题来自摩根大通的 Andrea Teixeira。

安德烈娅-法里亚-特谢拉
And James, on your volumes commentary, and I appreciate that on your 4-year CAGR, I think if our math is correct, it’s 1.7% unit case for total company, which is obviously remarkable. That said, I think EMEA was a bit softer in the quarter. I understand your commentary about Russia. And what is actually happening in EMEA ex Russia? And how we should be thinking going forward?

与此相关的是，既然您评论说美国的家庭外业务非常强劲，而欧洲--欧洲很大一部分是家庭外业务，那么关于 6 月份的评论，我们应该如何考虑不仅是欧洲，而且是全球企业内部业务与企业外部业务的表现？

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
I’m trying to process all the questions. I think you’ve beaten, that was Dara. I think you’ve beaten Dara. EMEA was a bit softer. Yes. I think on EMEA, we are — it was even though — so on EMEA, we’re expecting EMEA to be positive in the second half. And so there was a ramp effect from the withdrawal from Russia in the second quarter. But we — so Europe was in pretty good shape, actually, Europe ex Russia. If you take the first half, Europe ex Russia was positive. So we are feeling that now it’s dropped out of the base numbers in the second half that actually Europe and EMEA will be in good shape.

Obviously, EMEA has got a couple of the hyperinflationary countries like Turkey, like Pakistan, so EMEA could get other effects. But if you concentrate where Russia is, which is Europe, which is the biggest impact, actually, Europe had a positive volume in the first half if you take out Russia. And so we’re feeling good about Europe as we go into the second half. And I think the question really is the trade-off between pricing and volume in a couple of countries, particularly Turkey and Pakistan and for those that want to go deep down the rabbit hole, Zimbabwe as well.

Now the next part of the question, which was about our away-from-home versus at-home. Yes. It wasn’t just June, which was the strength in the U.S. basically the first half. You’ve seen the out-of-home growing ahead of the at-home and the recovery. And I think that’s the way to think about it is we’re seeing the back end of the recovery in the away-from-home.

Similarly, in Europe, in fact, globally, transactions were ahead of volume, which tends to imply smaller packages are growing faster than bigger packages from a mathematical point of view. So as a global feature, there’s a little more on-premise consumption or a little more small package consumption than large package consumption, which helps as well. But I don’t — we should see this as a new secular trend, more the kind of the last bit of renormalization post-COVID.

操作员
今天的最后一个问题来自瑞银集团的彼得-格罗姆（Peter Grom）。

彼得-K-格罗姆
So James, maybe just 2 quick follow-ups. One, just on Chris’ question around trade down and improving affordability. Do you expect any changes in the promotional environment, particularly in North America? It doesn’t sound like that’s a shift you expect, but just wanted to be sure. And then just following up on your response to Andrea’s question, I would be curious how you see channel mix evolving as consumers seek more value in some of these developed markets, particularly just given the strength from away-from-home that you just alluded to?

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
We see the U.S. pricing and promotional environment as pretty rational. We have a set of strategies in place to try and balance our premiumization, regular and affordability strategies in the U.S., which includes a little more promotion than the first quarter. But basically, promo levels are very similar to prior years and not as a step up. And we think that we have the right balance of premiumization and affordability plays to be able to continue to gain as we did in the second quarter volume and value share in the U.S. So we think the environment is rational. We think our strategy works for us because we gain volume and value share. And we’ve got the right mix of — roughly the right mix of promo and price. And obviously, we’re going to continue to push the affordability and the premiumization play.

And then the channel mix question, do we think we’ll see in developing markets what — I think the principal feature is a renormalization post-COVID. I don’t think it’s kind of recessionary or inflationary or that. I think it’s just been — we’ve kind of seen a renormalization of the channel mix. We had talked over prior years about how big an impact on price mix and margin structure, the shift in channels were with what seems ages ago, the lockdowns. That has now largely played out, which is another way of saying, we don’t expect channel mix to be a major feature of the discussion in quarters and years to come.

操作员
女士们、先生们，问答环节到此结束。现在请詹姆斯-昆西致闭幕词。

詹姆斯-罗伯特-B-昆西
Yes. Thank you, operator. So just to quickly summarize. Second quarter results, I think, demonstrate the momentum we have in the marketplace. We are navigating a broad set of dynamics in the local markets while driving scale and maintaining flexibility at a global level. We’re confident in our ability to deliver on our ’23 guidance and our longer-term objectives. Thanks for your interest, your investment in our company and for joining us this morning.

操作员
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.