the coca-cola company company report
TRANSCRIPT
THIS REPORT WAS PREPARED EXCLUSIVELY FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES BY [INSER STUDENT’S NAME], A MASTERS IN FINANCE STUDENT
OF THE NOVA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS. THE REPORT WAS SUPERVISED BY A NOVA SBE FACULTY MEMBER, ACTING IN
A MERE ACADEMIC CAPACITY, WHO REVIEWED THE VALUATION METHODOLOGY AND THE FINANCIAL MODEL. (PLEASE REFER TO THE DISCLOSURES AND DISCLAIMERS AT END OF THE DOCUMENT)
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MASTERS IN FINANCE
▪ The consumption of carbonated soft drinks is slowing
down worldwide due to the increasing health consciousness that
led people to look for more natural beverages, with less sugar and
less chemicals, recording a minimal growth rate of 0.1% in volume
terms in 2016.
▪ Refranchising of bottling partners undergo. Through
some structural changes the company reduced its sales by 5.5% in
2016 but at the same time was able to increase its EBITDA
margins in 1% by reducing its exposure to the low margins of
bottling operations.
▪ Changing the portfolio of beverages. The company is
now investing in healthier beverages with natural ingredients and
even functional benefits as those are the ones growing more,
beign bottle water the beverage with higher consumption volume
growth, recording a rate of 5.8% in 2016.
▪ Sugary drink tax. Several countries and states have
successfully passed sugar taxes and many others are expected to
pass it. This measure increases consumers aversion to sugary
products.
Company description
The Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia is a
manufacturer and distributer of non-alcoholic beverages
worldwide. The company owns or licenses over 500 brands of
sparkling and still beverages including 4 of the world’s top 5 non-
alcoholic beverage brands and is present in more than 200
countries.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY COMPANY REPORT
NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES JANUARY 2018
STUDENT: LORENA CUTELO [email protected]
A changing business
… chasing consumer’s preferences
Recommendation: HOLD
Price Target FY18: 47.76 €
Price (as of 3-Jan-18) 45.43 €
Source: Bloomberg
52-week range (€) 39.12-47.04
Market Cap (€m) 177 780
Outstanding Shares (m) 4 288
Source: Bloomberg
(Values in € millions) 2015 2016 2017F
Revenues 44 294 41 863 42 510
EBITDA Margin 24% 25% 26%
NOPLAT 6 668 6 930 7 269
Net Income 7 366 6 550 8 006
ROIC 12% 14% 16%
Source: Company’s Annual Report
Share Price Performance
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY COMPANY REPORT
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................... 3
COMPANY OVERVIEW ........................................................................... 4
COMPANY DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................ 4 SHAREHOLDER STRUCTURE ................................................................................... 6
THE SECTOR ........................................................................................... 7
EUROPE MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA ......................................................................... 8 MACROECONOMIC SCENARIO .............................................................................. 8
Industry Analysis ................................................................................... 9 LATIN AMERICA .................................................................................................... 9
Macroeconomic Scenario ................................................................... 11 Industry Analysis ................................................................................. 12
NORTH AMERICA ................................................................................................. 13 Macroeconomic Scenario ................................................................... 13 Industry Analysis ................................................................................. 14
ASIA PACIFIC ....................................................................................................... 15 Macroeconomic Scenario ................................................................... 15 Industry Analysis ................................................................................. 16
COMPETITION ........................................................................................17
VALUATION ............................................................................................21
REVENUES ........................................................................................................... 21 COSTS .................................................................................................................. 23 NET WORKING CAPITAL AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ........................................ 24
FINANCIALS ...........................................................................................24
WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST OF CAPITAL ............................................................. 24 MULTIPLE VALUATION ........................................................................................ 25 SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 26
APPENDIX ..............................................................................................27
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ..................................................................................... 27 Income Statement (million USD$) ...................................................... 27 Balance Sheet (million USD$) ............................................................ 28 Cash Flow Statement (million USD$) ................................................. 29
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................... 30
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Executive summary The Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American
multinational corporation. One of the world’s top non-alcoholic beverage
manufacturer and distributor. With a distribution system made up by TCCC1 and
more than 250 partners, it owns or licenses more than 500 brands that sells in
over 200 countries.
Over the past few years the company has been suffering from shifting consumers
preferences to healthier and more natural options. As a consequence, the sales
of the carbonated soft drinks segment have been slowing down worldwide
leading Coca-Cola’s CSD2 volume consumption to grow by a minimal rate of
0.1% worldwide and more severely decline in North America by 0.6% in 2016
where the consumption have declined by over 12% during the last decade. In the
other hand, water consumption has been increasing significantly recording a
consumption growth rate of 5.8% in volume terms in 2016.
A sugar tax rate has been already implemented in some countries and states and
is expected to be successfully implemented in some other regions in the future.
However, these regions together are yet not significant enough and as TCCC is
not the final seller of the products it is not the one suffering the biggest impact of
these laws, instead, the ones selling the products to final consumers are. In the
other hand, this law helps decrease sugary products consumption and increase
consumer’s aversion to sugary products.
To respond to these new consumers preferences and at the same time offset the
main consequence derived from the new taxes, the decreased consumption of
sugary products, Coca-Cola has been investing in healthier beverages, with less
sugar, less chemicals and more natural ingredients increasing in this way the
consumption of still beverages in Asia Pacific by 5%, by 3% in North America and
EMEA3 and by 2% in Latin America in 2016. In addition, the company is also
reformulating the recipes of the existing products and offering smaller packs as
an option to consume fewer calories.
By the end of November 2017, the company completed the refranchising of all
North America bottling partners and earlier this year also completed China’s
refranchising. The company has also plans to make structural changes in Europe
and Africa. These structural changes allowed the company to reduce its
exposure to the low margins of the bottling business from a EBITDA margin of
1 TCCC is the abbreviation for The Coca-Cola Company 2 CSD is the abbreviation for Carbonated Soft Drinks 3 EMEA is the abbreviation for Europe, Middle East and Africa
CDS a declining category…
TCCC changing portfolio…
Some structural changes …
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Figure 1: Competitor’s Global Presence
24% in 2015 to 25% in 2016 and are expected to reach 26% by the end of 2017.
However, these structural changes have decreased sales by 5.5% in 2016 once
they no longer have a big part of bottling and distribution companies’ sales.
Coca-Cola has also signed a strategic agreement with Monster Beverage Corp.
in 2015 agreeing to transfer the ownership of its global energy drinks in exchange
of the ownership of Monster’s non-energy drinks business and a 16.7% stake in
Monster Beverage Corp.
Through this analysis was concluded that the industry is going through some
years of change and TCCC is correctly reacting to it. The efforts to reinvent
products and creating a portfolio of beverages that suits better the consumers’
preferences are paying off. At the same time, the impactful structural changes
made in the company are allowing it to improve its efficiency in the long term.
Measuring the upsides and downsides, under this analysis, the scenario of Coca-
Cola is positive, however, exponential gains are not expected, yielding a final
recommendation to HOLD, with a target price of $47.76.
Company overview
Company description
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE4: KO), founded in 1886 and headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the world’s largest beverage company. It offers ready-
to-drink beverages with carbonation (sparkling) and without carbonation (still),
including waters, flavored waters and enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks,
energy drinks, dairy, sports drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees in more than
500 brands, 4 of which belong to the world’s top 5 nonalcoholic beverage brands:
Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Besides those 4 brands, some other
famous brand names include: Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks,
Nestea, Schweppes, Aquarius, Smartwater, Vitaminwater, Zico coconut water, Del
Valle juices and nectars, Georgia coffee and AdeS soy-based beverages. With 21
brands that generate more than $1 billion USD in annual retail sales, Coca-Cola
has the strongest portfolio of brands in the industry. TCCC is present in more than
200 countries, a wide global presence that only PepsiCo can equal.
The business is divided in two main parts:
• The “concentrate operations” in which they focus on manufacturing,
marketing and selling concentrates and syrups to authorized bottling and
canning operations that mix them to produce finished beverages and then
pack them in authorized containers.
4 NYSE is the abbreviation for New York Stock Exchange
21 brands that generate over $1 billion USD in annual retail sales…
Source: Each company website
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Finished beverages are then sold to wholesalers or directly to retailers.
Outside the United States the company also sells concentrates for
fountain beverages to bottling partners that then sell them to fountain
retailers such as restaurants and convenience stores.
• The “finished products operations” that manufactures, markets and sells
sparkling and still beverages to retailers, distributors or wholesalers. In the
United States the company also manufactures fountains syrups and sells
them directly to fountain retailers, like restaurants, cafes and convince
stores, that sell beverages for immediate consumption.
The operating structure of the company is constituted with the following operating
segments: “Europe, Middle East and Africa” that accounted for 29% of company
total unit case volume in 2016 with net operating revenues of $7014 million of
which the biggest share of 19% came from Middle East & North Africa, 8% from
South Africa and 8% from Germany; “Latin America” that accounted for 28% of
company total unit case volume in 2016 with net operating revenues of $3 746
million of which 45% came from Mexico 22% from Brazil and 19% from South
Latin; “North America” that accounted for 20% of company total unit case volume
in 2016 with net operating revenues of $6 437 million with the biggest share of
94% coming from United States of America and the other 6% from Canada; “Asia
Pacific” that accounted for 23% of company total unit case volume in 2016 with
net operating revenues of $4 788 million of which 37% came from China,15% from
Japan and 13% from India; “Bottling Operation” with net operating revenues of
$19 751million and “Corporate”.
Coca-Cola is often thought to be produced and distributed around the world by a
single company. In reality, the portfolio of beverages is produced, bottled and
distributed by a business system made up of “The Coca-Cola Company” and
nearly 250 Coca-Cola bottlers that are independent contractors. This large
distribution system is one of the company's main advantages over competition.
Even though most of the products are bottled, distributed and sold by independent
bottling partners, from time to time The Coca Cola Company acquires or takes
control of bottling operations, usually in underperforming markets, to try to improve
their performance. In this way The Coca Cola company not only establishes an
appropriate capital structure for the bottler, but it also assists in the development
of the business and helps focus the bottler’s sales and marketing programs. But,
in order to improve its efficiency Coca Cola is now putting in practice a
refranchising plan. In other words, the Company is now divesting/ reducing
ownership in bottling partners. It already finished refranchising bottling operations
Figure 3: Sales per region in million $USD from 2014 - 2016
Source: Company’s annual report
Figure 5: Unit Case Volume distribution per region in 2016
Source: Company’s annual report
Figure 2: Main Competitor’s Net Profit Margin
Source: Financial Times Website
Figure 4: Main Competitor’s Debt to Equity Ratio
Source: Bloomberg
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in the US and China has also plans to make structural changes in Europe and
Africa. By doing this, Coca Cola is now able to refocus on building its core brands
and reduce its exposure to the low margins of the bottling business.
In the past June 2015, the company signed a strategic agreement with Monster
Beverage Corp. With this agreement TCCC transferred ownership of its global
energy drinks business to Monster while Monster transferred its non-energy drinks
business including Hansen’s Natural Sodas, Peace Tea, Hubert’s Lemonade and
Hansen’s Juice Products, to TCCC. In addition, TCCC acquired a 16.7% stake in
Monster Beverage Copr and has two directors in the board of directors of Monster.
The Company claims to be serious about making positive contributions to the
world. About a third of the product’s portfolio is now low-calorie or no calorie at all.
They are continuously working to reduce their environmental impact as well as
creating economic opportunities where they operate, in fact, they employ
approximately 100 300 people in more than 200 countries.
Shareholder structure
Having traded in the public markets for nearly a century, the first stock of Coca-
Cola Company was putted on public sale in the New York Stock Exchange in
1919 with the stock symbol “CCO” that was replaced in 1923 by the actual “KO”. y
the time it was putted on public sale, Coca-Cola shares worth just $25 million.
After that, the value has soared to a market capitalization of nearly $178 billion.
The Company shares are also well known for its powerful legacy of 55 years of
consecutive dividend increases, with an increase of over 37% during the last 5
years, increasing from $1.02 in 2012 to $1.40 in 2016. In addition, the company’s
investors had positive capital gains almost every year over the last decade, being
the only exception 2008 that recorded a capital loss of $5.54 USD caused by the
global financial crisis.
Over 66% of Coca-Cola shares have institutional ownership (large entities that
manage funds on the behalf of others). The attention of the particularly meaningful
investor Warren Buffet, CEO5 of Berkshire Hathaway, an American
multinational conglomerate holding company, was attracted by Coca-Cola shares
in 1988 when he began purchasing them. Today, Berkshire Hathaway is the
largest Coca-Cola shareholder controlling 9.3% of the outstanding shares followed
by The Vanguard Group, an American investment management company, with
5 CEO is the abrreviation for Chief Executive Officer
Figure 6: Workforce per region
Source: Company’s Annual Review
Figure 7: Coca-Cola Yearly Dividends and Capital Gains in $USD
Source: Yahoo Finance
Source: Yahoo Finance
Figure 8: Institutional Holdings
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6.4% and State Street Global Advisors, the investment management division
of State Street Corporation and the world's third largest asset manager, with 3.8%.
Regarding the 33.3% of non-institutional investors, the major shareholder is the
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, a fund designed to provide investors
with exposure to the entire U.S. equity market that holds 2.15% of the company’s
shares. Followed by the Vanguard 500 Index Investors Fund, the industry’s first
index fund for individual investors, with 1.52% and the SPDR6 S&P500 ETF, an
exchange-traded fund which trades on the NYSE with 1.06%.
The Sector
The soft drinks industry is composed of two major manufacturing systems, the
Flavoring Syrup and Concentrate Manufacturing and the Soft Drink Manufacturing.
6 SPDR is the abbreviation for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts
Top Institutional Holders Shares Held
%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 400,000,000 9.3
The Vanguard Group, Inc. 273,897,295 6.4
State Street Global Advisors (US) 165,438,565 3.8
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. 160,694,279 3.7
Capital World Investors 148,860,129 3.5
Fidelity Management & Research Company 88,248,673 2.0
Capital Research Global Investors 79,080,741 1.8
Wellington Management Company, LLP 62,855,491 1.5
Capital International Investors 38,223,601 0.9
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) 35,000,470 0.8
Top Non-Institutional Holders Shares Held
%
Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx 91,571,437 2.15
Vanguard 500 Index Inv 64,620,821 1.52
SPDR® S&P 500 ETF 45,213,295 1.06
Vanguard Institutional Index I 39,406,517 0.92
VA CollegeAmerica WA Mutual 529B 38,657,200 0.91
VA CollegeAmerica Inc Fund of Amer 529E 35,582,000 0.83
VA CollegeAmerica Amercn Bal 529E 34,173,000 0.8
VA CollegeAmerica Cap Inc Bldr 529E 29,412,900 0.69
Vanguard Growth Index Inv 25,286,221 0.59
VA CollegeAmerica Fundamental Invs 529E 25,135,000 0.59
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The first manufactures flavoring syrup, concentrates and related products for use
in soda fountains or for manufacturing soft drinks that are primarily sold to soft
drink producers while the second, blends ingredients such as water, syrups, and
sweeteners, and then packages and distributes these beverages for sale.
The industry as a whole is going through some major changes. In a global
analysis, consumers consumption patterns around the world are modifying due to
increased health consciousness. People are looking for more natural beverages,
with less chemicals, less sugar, and sometimes with more and diverse functional
benefits. In addition, there’s also concerns about artificial sweeteners. As a
consequence, the growth of soft carbonated drinks sales volume has been
slowing down worldwide, with a more severe impact in North America where the
sales volume of carbonated soft drinks has declined nearly 17% over the last 10
years.
While sugary sodas are suffering from a severe decline, new healthier
beverages, or at least perceived as healthier, are entering the market. Flavored
and enhanced water, energy drinks, sport drinks, ready to drink coffees and
ready to drink teas are some healthier options gaining market share with this
change in consumers preferences. Besides the increase of healthier beverages,
most of the core soft drinks brands are reformulating soda’s recipes to reduce
their calories and selling beverages in smaller cans and bottles.
Even though the industry in global is sharing these challenges, the dynamics of
each region influences the industry performance. The consumption of soft drinks
may vary depending on several macroeconomic factors, like GDP7 growth,
consumers spending, economic conditions, consumption trends among others.
As such, follows an analysis of the main geographical areas where The Coca-
Cola company performs.
Europe Middle East & Africa
Macroeconomic Scenario
The western part of Europe is under some uncertainties caused by the Brexit vote
once the consequences of it are still unclear, while the Eastern part of Europe is
expected see long-term benefits in the next few years, as a consequence of the
integration in the world economy and is also seeing an increase in tourism
services.
7 GDP is the abbreviation for gross domestic product
Figure 9: Worldwide Consumption Volume in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 10: TCCC’s geographical presence in EMEA
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
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The Middle East and Africa region is going through some of the toughest years.
Uncountable deaths are the worst consequence of Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen
civil war. This has also resulted in the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Countries such as Algeria and Iran, stable oil exporters, are also struggling due to
low oil prices, undiversified economies and high rates of unemployment. The Sub-
Saharan Africa growth is mainly driven by Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, the
continent’s strongest economies. Once the economic recovery from the recession
of Nigeria and South Africa remain a bit slow, the economic growth of the global
Sub-Saharan Africa is still moderate. The prospects for the Sub-Saharan Africa
region remain challenging thus growth is expected to remain below its values
before the crisis.
Despite this, the EMEA area together recorded a reasonable real GDP growth of
2.4%, a growth that is expected to maintain over the next few years. Inflation
reached 4.2% in 2016 and is expected to increase to 5.2% in 2017 according to
Euromonitor prevision yielding an average inflation rate of 4.6% from 2017 to
2021.
Private final consumption suffered a drastic drop of 12.5% in 2015 and a softer
decline of 0.5% in 2016, however, this is expected to rebound over the next few
years mainly due to lighter fiscal contractions and tax cuts in the Western Europe.
Even though the unemployment rate decreased in the Eastern Europe area, the
era of violence in middle east has made unemployment rates come to its highest
values in the Middle East and slightly increase when considering the entire EMEA
area from 9.2% in 2015 to 9.4% in 2016.
The Western Europe is the region that is ageing faster in the world, but on the
other hand in Middle East and Africa the population is considerably younger than
in other parts of the world, bringing the median age of population in the EMEA to
26.8 years.
Industry Analysis
The soft drink industry in EMEA has grown 3.29% in volume terms in 2016
reaching a consumption of 243 895 million liters. The best performing sub region
for carbonates in the world, in terms of per capita increasing consumption and
also percentage growth, is Middle East and Africa that recorded a percentage
growth in consumption of 5.1% alone while, when considering the entire EMEA
area recorded a more modest growth of 1.3%. This might be justified by the
favorable demographics of the region once the average population age in EMEA
Figure 11: EMEA statistics and demographics of 2016
Note: Diabetes prevalence is the percentage of adult population (aged 20-79) with diabetes type 1 or 2.
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 12: EMEA’s GDP over the period 1977-2016 (current USD$)
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 13: EMEA’s Private final consumption expenditure over the period 2006-2016 (current USD$)
Source: Euromonitor
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Figure 16: RTD Coffee consumption in EMEA in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
is the youngest in the world with a large segment of people entering the consumer
class for the first time. Some markets in Africa still have low rates of consumption
per capita and therefore have strong market potential. However, carbonate sales
in Europe, as in many other parts of the world, are being affected by the healthy
lifestyle trend of people reducing the consumption of sugar and artificial
sweeteners in addition to the slow population and economic growth. Soft drink
producers, grouped in the European association UNESDA, have achieved an
average calorie reduction of 12% between 2000 and 2015, mainly due to the
modification of recipes of sugary drinks. Now UNESDA aims to accelerate the
process to achieve a further 10% reduction by 2020. To try to achieve this goal,
one of the main tools that is being used is implementation of a sugary tax.
Hungary has been taxing sugar them since 2011. In 2012 the France introduced a
tax on sugary drinks or drinks with artificial sweetener at €0.075 a liter. In 2017 the
world Health Organization urged countries to start taxing sugary drinks. After the
announcement Portugal introduced a sugar tax on soft drinks under which drinks
with more than 80 grams of sugar per liter will be taxed at €16.46 per 100 liters.
Drinks with fewer than 80 grams of sugar will pay a reduced tax of €8.22 per 100
litres. The tax will raise the price of a standard 330-millilitre can of Coca-Cola,
which contains 35 grams of sugar, by 0.055€.
Ready-to-drink coffee has been growing at a considerable growth rate, it has
increased by 9% in volume term between 2011 and 2016 in Western Europe,
although it remains a small part of the soft drinks market and brands will have to
innovate and improve the coffee experience to make consumers swift from to-go
brewed coffee or even from other beverages like energy drinks. In Europe, middle
East and Africa together the consumption annual growth rate of RTD coffee in
2016 was 3.9%.
As consumers become increasingly conscious about health issues and the
consequences of sugar and artificial sweeteners, bottled water gains market within
the soft drinks category. In 2016, bottled water accounted for over half of the
volume sales of the soft drinks category and reported a consumption annual
growth of 4.51%. The overall consumption of soft drinks in Europe, Middle East
and Africa during the next few years is expected to growth at an average annual
growth rate of 3.5%.
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 14: Coca-Cola’s 2016 Unit Case Volume Mix by Geography in EMEA
Figure 15: Soft drinks distribution by category in EMEA in 2016
Source: Euromonitor
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Latin America
Macroeconomic Scenario
Latin America was the hardest-hit developing region during the global
deceleration. During six years of continuous slowdown in the economy, including a
more severe recession in 2015 and 2016 when the real GDP growth decreased
0.6% recording a GDP of $5 201 billion in 2016, lower than the previous $5 359
billion in 2015 and $6 276 billion in 2014. Latin America suffered adverse effects
on household incomes and unemployment that recorded a rate o 8.4% in 2016
putting 39% of Latin Americans in risk of falling back into poverty again. However,
the situation in changing, with an expected GDP growth rate of 1-1.5% for 2017
and an average growth of 2.3% for the next 5 years, according to Euromonitor
forecast, the economy is starting to grow again. Nonetheless, the scenario varies
from country to country and the return to an aggregate growth is mainly thanks to
Argentina and Brazil that are coming out of recession. Mexico, Peru, Chile and
Colombia are growing at a slow pace of around 2%-3% while Bolivia and
Dominican Republic are the one with a more robust growth of nearly 4%.
Growth in 2017 is coming mainly from a small recovery in exports and from
imports substitution, while investment remains depressed. One reason are the
political uncertainties. Starting with the fact that Donald Trump, president of the
United States, is renegotiating the North American Free-Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada to try to make it less free. He is also trying to
impose protectionist measures and continues to threaten to deport millions of
Mexicans and Central Americans from the United States. And second because
between November 2017 and October 2018 presidential elections are set to take
place in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Chile.
Despite the reasons stated above, Latin America growth is dependent on the
improvement of education and inadequate infrastructures, on the address to the
problem of badly design taxes and regulations and on the strengthening of the
business environment and ending corruption.
The annual population decreased by 3.5% in 2016 however, is expected to
recover in 2017 increasing by 11.1%, yielding an average growth rate of 6.6%
over the next five years. Latin America is also ageing very quickly, the median age
of the population that was 29.7years in 2016 is expected to rise by 5 years until
2030.
Figure 17: TCCC’s geographical presence in Latin America
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 18: Latin America statistics and demographics of 2016
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 19: Latin America GDP (current USD$) in trillions
Note1: Diabetes prevalence is the percentage of adult population (aged 20-79) with diabetes type 1 or 2.
Source: Euromonitor
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Industry Analysis
Latin America reached sales of 113 378 million liter of soft drinks in 2016, what
represents an increase of 1.45% when comparing it with the previous year.
Latin America is the second largest carbonate beverage market, after North
America, in value terms, with recorded retail sales of $37.9 billion in 2016. The
biggest carbonates markets in Latin America are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina that
together account for nearly 72% of all Latin America carbonate sales. Even though
this is a mature market, the consumption of sugary sparkling beverages has been
falling over the past few years due to increasing health awareness and
consequently more concerns about the negative effects of sugar. In addition, in
2014 the Maxican government imposed a 10% tax on all sugar-added beverages
that resulted in a drop of nearly 3% in sales in volume terms in Mexico. The
region’s population growth is also a drawback once this is expected to fall below
1% the next few years. The economic troubles felt in Brazil and Argentina led
consumers to cut back on their spending helped increasing even more the drop in
consumption of these beverages. As those economies recover and Mexicans get
used to the new sugar tax the sparkling beverage market is expected to return to
growth, according to Euromonitor analysis during the next 5 years the
consumption of carbonates in Latin America in volume terms is expected to
increase in average by 1.1%.
Everyday there’s more people in Latin America looking for beverages with
functional benefits. The consumption of sports and energy drinks in this region is
still moderate representing only 1.5% of the total soft drinks market, and the
market is still relatively immature (relatively mature on sports drinks and immature
on energy drinks), what can justify the fact that the growth of this type of
beverages has been wildly fluctuating over the past few years, recording a
consumption annual growth of 6.2% in 2016 in volume terms. However, when
compared in value terms, Latin America is the fastest growing region in the world
of Sports and Energy drinks with a recorded annual growth of 8% and the
category still has a lot of potential to grow in the near future. The consumption of
sports drinks in Latin America exceeds the world average. The main drivers of
consumption growth of sports drinks in Latin America are the income, once that
people get more concerned about their athletic performance as their income rises,
and also population growth. However, energy drinks’ consumption is still low, and
the consumption growth depends on income and also on population age once that
the older consumers get the less energy drinks they consume.
Figure 20: Coca-Cola’s 2016 Unit Case Volume Mix by Geography in Latin America
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 21: Soft drinks distribution by category in Latin America in 2015 and 2016
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 22: Carbonate beverages consumption in Latin America in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
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Also as a form of functional hydration there’s coconut water, that has gain a lot of
market especially in Brazil, where the consumption of it has overtook the
consumption of sport drinks since 2013. Even though this product is especially
strong in Brazil there’s a lot of potential to expand in other parts of Latin America.
Due to the increasing health awareness, the consumption of bottled water has
been increasing in Latin America recording a consumption annual growth of
4.29% in 2016 in volume terms. In addition, extreme heat and air dryness in some
regions, the constant problems in public water felt in Mexico, and the economic
slowdown helped increase the demand for bottled water.
The expected consumption annual growth of the overall category of Soft Drinks in
Latin America in volume terms is 2.5%, during the next few years.
North America
Macroeconomic Scenario
The longest-lasting US recession since the Great Depression was the one
that finished in 2009. The US economy has been improving modestly since
then backed up by a robust labor market, increasing wages, steady gains in
private final consumption, a buoyant housing market and a rebound in private
investment. Canada was also able to improve its financial situation after the
recession thanks to cautious financial policies and an increase in household
consumption in addition to the commodity boom. In 2015, with the drop in
exports, oil prices falling and the cut of business investment the real GDP
growth decreased to only 0.9% in this country. However, in 2016, an increase
in consumption and a strong performance in the service sector allowed the
growth to rebound.
The two countries together, forming the North America region, recovered after
the recession achieving a real GDP growth of 2.6% in 2010, a figure that has
only been surpassed in 2015 with a recorded growth of 2.7%. In 2016 the rate
dropped to a more modest 1.5% while inflation increased from 0.2% in 2015
to 1.3% in 2016.
Canada is expected to increase its energy production next year, allowing
related industries to grow, is also expected to increase exports and implement
an expansionary fiscal policy, which together with a cheaper dollar will back
Figure 24: TCCC’s geographical presence in North America
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 25: North America statistics and demographics of 2016
Note1: Diabetes prevalence is the percentage of adult population (aged 20-79) with diabetes type 1 or 2. Note2:Obese population is measured as a percentage of population aged 15+.
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 23: Sports and Energy drinks consumption in Latin America in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
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up an increase in real GDP growth. The North America region is expected to
record an average real GDP growth of 2.2% in the next 5 years.
Even though more than 50% of all households have lower income today than
in 2000, the solid job market in addition to the increase in consumer
borrowing provided support to the private final consumption that grew by 3.7%
in 2016 and is expected to grow by 4.7% in 2017. Unemployment dropped for
the sixth consecutive year recording a rate of 5.1% in 2016.
Despite the modest growth, there’s some uncertainties specially in the US
around infrastructure spending, health care and crucial policy decisions such
as new protectionist trends and tax policy that could block the economy
growth. Some other risks are the tension that is being felt with North Korea,
and also with Mexico and other central American countries caused by issues
of illegal immigration.
Industry Analysis
In 2016, the soft drinks industry in North America recorded sales of 123 003
million liters, corresponding to a growth of 1.9% when compared to the previous
year.
Carbonate beverages in North America have been declining during the last
decade and 2016 was not an exception. This phenomenon was mainly driven by
the increasing consumers concerns about the consumption of sugar and artificial
sweeteners and its health consequences in addition to the tax on sugar-added
beverages that was implemented in some areas. In the United States of America,
Philadelphia became the first major city in the country to tax not only the sugar-
added beverages but also the artificially sweetened soft drinks at $0.015 per
ounce and was then followed by several states. Some of them are Boulder
(Colorado), Cook County (Illinois), Portland (Oregon), Seattle (Washington) and
San Francisco (California). What’s performing well are the new smaller pack sizes
such as the 7.5oz mini-cans and the 8.5oz aluminium bottles that offer consumers
a lower calorie option and at the same time keep the margins to producers. The
consumption annual growth rate of carbonates in North America in 2016 in volume
terms was -0.65% and these drinks are expected to keep declining as the anti-
sugar trend is alive.
This increasing awareness of consumers about their health has prompted the
replace of sugar and artificial sweeteners with more natural and healthier options.
Coconut water has increased and even takes a new role as beverage base for
carbonates and sports drinks. Coconut water is marketed has having greater
Figure 26: North America GDP (current USD$) in trillions
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 27: Coca-Cola’s 2016 Unit Case Volume Mix by Geography in North America
Source: Euromonitor
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 28: Soft drinks distribution by category in North America in 2015 and 2016
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hydration properties and helping lower cholesterol due to its electrolyte
composition. In the same way, the consumption of bottled water increased by
4.8% in 2016 recording a volume of sales of 43 900 million liters.
The overall growth of soft drinks category is expected to remain positive but is
now coming from less robust beverage types like Ready-To-Drinks (RTD) tea and
sports drinks. The expected consumption annual growth rate of the overall
category of soft drinks in the next few years is 0.7%.
Asia Pacific
Macroeconomic Scenario
The Asia-Pacific region, driven mainly by China and India continues to be the
world leader in growth with a real GDP growth of 5.4% in 2016, slightly lower than
5.6% in 2015 and 5.7% in 2014. The Chinese economy is one of the main engines
of growth in the world, with a record of nearly three decades of continuous growth,
with private final consumption and public investment in infrastructure as the
strongest drivers. However, the Chinese economy has been slowing down due to
rising protectionism sentiments, lack of growth in export and also, cooling property
market. Despite these, with some policy stimulus the growth is expected to keep
above 6% over the next few years.
India is one of the world’s fastest-growing large economies and the third-largest
economy in the World measured in terms of purchasing power parity, following
China and the United States. It’s growth have been mainly supported by steady
gains in consumption, the fall in oil price and an increase in foreign direct
investment inflows. Public investment is expected to gain strength, but private
sector investment is flat. In New Delhi, the capital of India, there’s a plan
under way to make the manufacturing sector one of the leading sources of
growth, the “made in India” program. The program’s goal is to raise the
manufacturing share of GDP from 17% (2015) to 25%.
Within the healthy rates of growth in the overall Asia Pacific economy, Japanese
economy prospects are the less favorable. With the Great East Japan earthquake
and tsunami in 2011, the private consumption and the stock building suffered a
sharp decline provoking an abrupt stop in the economic growth. More recently, a
recovery in demand for Japanese goods, the accommodative monetary policy of
the Central Bank, and the increasing performance of tourism sector allowed Japan
to achieve a GDP growth of 1% in 2016.
Figure 29: CSD consumption in North America America in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 30: TCCC’s geographical presence in North America
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Figure 31: Latin America statistics and demographics of 2016
Note1: Diabetes prevalence is the percentage of adult population (aged 20-79) with diabetes type 1 or 2.
Source: Euromonitor
Source: Euromonitor
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Indonesia is one of the best performing emerging markets thanks to an
increase in private consumption, supported by gains in unemployment rates
and wages, a boom in commodity prices and its large domestic market . Is
also the world’s fourth most populous nation. Even though the increase in
worldwide trade protectionism is a threat to the growth of Indones ia, GDP is
expected to slightly grow the next few years due to increases in private final
consumption, low interest rates that can promote private investments and
growth in exports in addition to the fact that Indonesia has low public debt,
large domestic markets and a young population. However, the quality of
public spending is critical given the lack of funds.
As such the Asia-Pacific entire region is expected to keep a real GDP growth over
the next five years ranging from 5.4% to 5.6%. Inflation in 2016 was 3%, the same
as the previous year and has softened when compared to 3.9% in 2014 influenced
by the fall of commodity prices and stronger local currencies. This reduced
inflation pressure creates room for continued accommodative monetary policy.
Private final consumption increased by 5.0% in 2016 and is expected to keep
growing during the next few years at an average rate of 6.9%. This is supported
by a increasing wages and a reduced unemployment rate of 4.3% in 2016.
Population in Asia Pacific has been growing at a steady rate of 1%.
Industry Analysis
Asia Pacific recorded sales of 198 702 million liters of soft drinks in 2016,
representing an increase of 4.7% when compared with the previous year.
As in the other parts of the world, the consumers increasing health awareness has
led consumers to reduce their sugar and sweeteners consumption. As carbonates
are usually high in these ingredients, and thus suffer from an unhealthy image,
this type of beverage was the one suffering more with this trend, and Asia Pacific
was not an exception. The consumption growth rate of carbonates in Asia Pacific
has been slowing down the past few years and recorded a small growth of 1.5% in
2016 in volume terms. In order to reduce the negative impact in sales, producers
have been innovating. Some have introduced new features like high elements of
caffeine, referred to as “Kyo-Tansan” trying to gain a wider market of consumers,
while some other producers decided to offer their products in smaller pack sizes,
improving their convenience for on-the-go consumption, offering an option with
less calories and at the same time attracting price-sensitive consumers. Smaller
pack sizes are now offered not only on carbonates but also in juice drinks, RTD
tea among other categories.
Figure 32: Asia Pacific GDP (current USD$) in millions
Source: Company’s 2016 At-a-glance report
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 33: Coca-Cola’s 2016 Unit Case Volume Mix by Geography in Asia Pacific
Figure 34: Soft drinks distribution by category in Asia Pacific in 2015 and 2016
Source: Euromonitor
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In line with the healthier lifestyle trend and the growing household income, some
other drinks saw their consumption rising in 2016. Hybrid beverages, that mix
water with fruit juice, energy drinks and lactobacillus are increasing their popularity
because of its capacity to meet consumers needs for flavor and are healthy ate
the same time. In Asia Pacific, bottled water recorded a consumption growth rate
of 8.4% in 2016 and Sports and Energy Drinks recorded a consumption growth
rate of 6.0% both in volume terms. Over four fifths of Ready-To-Drink coffee are
consumed in Asia Pacific, with Japan being the largest consumer of RTD Coffee
in the world by far. However, market maturity and the competition of fresh brewed
coffee are limiting further growth, recording a consumption growth rate of RTD
coffee in 2016 of 2.49%.
The overall consumption of soft drinks in Asia Pacific in expected to growth at an
average annual rate of nearly 5% during the next few years in volume terms.
Competition
The Coca-Cola Company faces a large number of competitors ranging from small
to very large and well-established companies that sell sparkling beverages,
waters, flavored waters, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, sports drinks,
dairy or energy drinks. Many of those competitors are specific to a country or
region and thus they affect Coca-Cola Company sales in a regional way but not
globally. In some markets Coca Cola competitors also include beer companies or
retailers that developed their own private label beverage brand. However, the
main competitors are present globally and affect the TCCC sales and market
share worldwide. The primary competitor of TCCC in pretty much every country is
PepsiCo, thus, this company as well as some of the other main competitors are
analysis bellow:
PepsiCo. - PepsiCo in an American multinational food and beverage
company, headquartered in Purchase, New York. PepsiCo was created in 1965
with the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay. It is the world’s second largest soft
drinks company by value, behind TCCC. Today the company has a portfolio of 22
brands including some of the world’s most recognizable brands of soft drinks
such as Pepsi, Gatorade and Tropicana, each generating over $1 billion in annual
retail sales in 2016 and sold around the world in more than 200 countries.
Although PepsiCo is present worldwide it’s main markets are the US, that account
for 56% of PepsiCo total revenue, followed by Canada, the UK, Mexico and
Russia. The five countries together account for about three quarters of total
Figure 35: Bottled Water volume consumption in Asia Pacific in million liters
Source: Euromonitor
Figure 36: Company Logo
Source: PepsiCo Website
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revenue. Over two thirds of all PepsiCo soft drinks sales come from areas in which
Coca-Cola is also present and the two companies compete head-on almost
everywhere. Even though Coca-Cola is dominant in the majority of categories,
PepsiCo has the edge in sports drinks, where Gatorade sells more than various
Coca-Cola brands, such as Powerade, nearly everywhere. PepsiCo also
outperforms TCCC in RTD coffee due to a strategic partnership that was able to
create with Starbucks . Especially problematic for PepsiCo is, however, the fact
that TCCC is outperforming in bottled water category as this category will be a
large contributor to soft drinks growth worldwide in the next few years. PepsiCo
has been losing ground to TCCC in soft drinks, especially in major markets such
as the US and China. However, PepsiCo outperformed TCCC in a few markets
such as Canada, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but these just some exceptions.
PepsiCo’s soft drinks operations are still primarily focused on carbonates, which
accounted for 61% of soft drinks revenues in 2016. However, within the
carbonates category the relative importance of cola has been changing severely.
While PepsiCo’s cola volumes have been falling since 2011, volumes of non-cola
carbonates increased by 10% a trend that is expected to continue once
developing markets tend to have a stronger inclination to non-cola carbonates.
This increase was led by brands such as Mountain Dew and Mirinda. In 2016
PepsiCo reported net revenues of nearly $63billion, 48% of which has come from
the beverage segment. Currently PepsiCo has a market capitalization of
approximately $149.4 billion and has a market share of 10.3% in the soft drink
market and a more robust 19.8% in the carbonate drinks segment measured in
off-trade sales value.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. - Dr Pepper Snapple is an American
soft drink company, headquartered in Plano, Texas. Crated in May 2008, Dr
Pepper Snapple Group Inc. is the result of a demerge of Cadbury Schweppes
beverage segment. It offers carbonated soft drinks, juices, teas, mixers, waters
and other beverages belonging to a portfolio of more than 50 brands. Dr Pepper
Snapple is the world’s fifth largest soft drinks company and third largest carbonate
and juice company. The company account for about 9% of North America soft
drinks market. However, the company is considerably smaller than its major
competitors, therefore is really dependent on the American market being the US
responsible for more than 83% of global sales volume. It only has operations in
Latin and North America, outside of which the most important brands, such as Dr
Figure 37: Company Logo
Source: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Website
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Pepper and Snapple, are licensed to other companies. For instance, Dr Pepper is
distributed in Europe by Suntory and in Asia by The Coca-Cola Company.
The company has a diversified portfolio of brands, being the majority of them
carbonates, more precisely 76% of sales correspond to carbonate beverages.
Given the negative outlook of the carbonates segment in North America, this could
be a major threat, however, Dr Pepper Snapple Group is much more reliant on the
still buoyant mixers category than its major competitor, TCCC and PepsiCo.
Because of that, its exposure to the carbonates category is less of an issue than
for its competitors. Also unlike is two main competitors, DPSG cola sales account
for only 2% of carbonate sales, a positive point given cola’s poor performance in
recent years. Besides this, the juice category saw a big jump in importance in Dr
Pepper Snapple Group portfolio with the acquisition of Bai Brands LLC in 2016.
RTD teas volume is also growing but at a slower pace than its rivals such as Pure
Leaf and Gold Peak.
In 2016 Dr Pepper Snapple Group reported net revenues of $6 519 billion.
Currently its market capitalization is approximately $16.6 billion, and it has a
market share of 2.3% of the total soft drink category and 5.6% in the carbonate
drinks segment measured in off-trade sales value.
Nestlé S.A. – Nestlé is a Swiss multinational consumer goods company, one
of the largest in the world, that sells soft drinks, hot drinks, packaged food and pet
care from more than 2000 brands such as Nestea, Nesquik, Poland Spring, Nestle
Pure Life and Perrier. Founded in Anglo-Swiss in 1866 by Henry Nestlé to sell
condensed milk, the company is headquartered in Vaud, Switzerland. Nestlé
operates in approximately 191 countries and is the global leader in bottled water,
fourth in concentrates and RTD coffee and the third largest soft drinks company
by value. The best performing category of the company are soft drinks while
packaged food is the one struggling the most. Whithin the soft drinks category,
bottled water accounts for about three quarters of all soft drinks revenues. One of
the main strengths of Nestlé is its size and wide brand offering in bottler water.
Nestlé has a mains advantage over The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo
because it has rebranded its presence towards healthy products, a high-growth
category. The most important market for Nestlé is North America that is
responsible for around 41% of Nestlé’s revenues and where Nestlé is the
dominant brand of bottled water. In Asia Pacific the main driver of growth is RTD
coffee that led to a sales regional growth of 9% on average between 2011 and
2016. In 2016 the company reported net revenues of CHF 85.9 billion,
Figure 38: Company Logo
Source: Nestlé Website
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approximately $91.3 billion, of which CHF 27.2 billion, approximately $27.8 billion
were from powdered or liquid beverages and bottled water. Currently its market
capitalization is nearly $269.8 billion and Nestle has a market share of 2.9% in the
soft drinks category and 9.4% in the bottled water category measured in off-trade
sales value.
.
Monster Beverage Corporation – Monster Beverage Corporation was
founded in 1935 by Hubert Hansen and his sons as a fresh juice company. In
2002 introduced Monster Energy drinks in its portfolio and in 2012 changed its
name to Monster Beverage Corporation. Today the corporation manufactures
energy drinks, ready-to-drink coffee, ready-to-drink tea, natural soft drinks of
known brands such as Monster Energy, Hansen’s Natural Soda, Hubert’s
Lemonade, Peace Tea and Blue Sky and the products are sold in approximately
128 countries. In June 2015 Monster entered a long-term strategic partnership
with The Coca-Cola Company. Monster transferred its carbonates, juice and RTD
tea brands to TCCC, while TCCC transferred ownership of its global energy drinks
business to Monster and owns a 16.7% stake in Monster Beverage Corp. This
partnership allowed Monster to access the world’s top beverage distribution
system and to become the world’s number one player in global energy drinks in
off-trade volume terms. The main strength of Monster over competition is its focus
on product innovation, the corporation is continuously introducing new flavors and
product varieties. With reported net revenues of approximately $3.4 billion, 2016
was the 24th consecutive year of increased sales. Currently its market
capitalization is nearly $25.12 billion, and it has a market share of 13.5% in the
Sports and Energy segment and 1.5% in the soft drinks market measured in off-
trade sales value.
Danone – Danone is a French multinational company of packaged food and
beverages. The company is divided in four main segments: Fresh Dairy Products,
Waters, Early Life Nutrition, and Medical Nutrition and sells its products in over
130 countries over . Within the soft drinks category, it sells bottled water, sports
and energy drinks and concentrates. It leads the dairy market and holds a
significant position in the bottled water segment in which has a market share of
8.7% (measured in off-trade sales value). One of the main strengths of Danone is
that the company is entirely focused on health and wellness, one of the fastest
growing categories due to the shifting consumer preferences, where bottled water
is playing an integral part in its growth strategy.
Figure 39: Company Logo
Figure 40: Company Logo
Source: Monster Beverage Corporation Website
Source: Danone Website
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The water segment keeps growing as the company increases its effort to promote
flavored waters and changes the material used in bottles to make them kids-
friendly. The company is expanding to high growth markets such as, Asia and
Africa. Danone has a global coverage, however its product coverage is limited, in
contrasct with Nestle that also sells RTD tea and RTD coffee, Danone does not
has another categories to fall back on within soft drinks. In 2016 the company
reported net revenues of approximately €11.05 billion the equivalent of $13.72
billion and had a market share of 2.1% in the soft drinks category measured in off-
trade sales value.
Red Bull GmbH - Red Bull GmbH is an Austrian privately owned company
that sells the Red Bull Energy Drink and owns motor racing teams and football
clubs in multiple countries to complement its sponsorship of athletes in extreme
sports. Founded in 1984 and headquartered Fuschl am See, Austria, the Red Bull
Energy Drink is now sold worldwide in more than 171 countries. Red Bull has a
strong and consistent image that is globally associated with energy drinks. Its
geographic presence enables long term growth even if some markets reach
maturity and allow it to reach a market share of 18% in the Sports and Energy
beverages worldwide. Once this is a privately held company financial information
is limited, but its known that in 2016 the company reported sales of €5.11 billion,
the equivalent to $6.10 billion, and its market share in the soft drinks category was
1.8% measured in off-trade sales value.
Valuation
Revenues
The portfolio of beverages of TCCC are sold in more than 200 countries
worldwide. Thus, to more precisely forecast the company’s revenues those were
geographically divided. The division used matches the operating segments of the
company, and these are: Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America; North
America; Asia Pacific. In addition, the revenues corresponding to the Bottling
Investments and Corporate segments were also forecasted individually.
By deeply analysing the macroeconomic scenario and the industry in each of the
segments was possible to estimate the consumption growth of soft drinks in each
of the regions for the forecasted period. As justified in the “The Sector” section
these expected growth rates are 3.5% in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 2.48%
in Latin America, 0.7% in North America and 5% in Asia Pacific.
Figure 41: Company Logo
Source: Danone Website
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After the total consumption volume of soft drinks for the next few years was
estimated, based on the strategy plans of the company and the analysis made to
the competitors the growth of the market share in each region was forecasted. In
a general way, TCCC is already well established in the majority of the regions
and presented constant market shares in all of them over the past years, thus,
excluding some major facts that might affect it, the market shares is expected to
keep the same constancy in the next years.
With these two drivers estimated, the consumption volume of beverages sold by
TCCC for the next 5 years was obtained. Regarding the price per liter, once
TCCC’s brands are generally mature and well positioned there’s not a big
fluctuation in prices, thus, prices increase at the inflation rate of each region.
The Bottling Investments operating segment includes all Company-owned or
consolidated bottling operations, regardless of geographic location. Thus, its
revenues are mainly affected by structural changes such as acquisitions and
divestitures of bottling, distribution or canning operations. Due to the
deconsolidation of the German bottling operations and the North America
refranchising activities, the Net Operating Income of the Bottling Investments
Segment saw a drop of nearly 14% in 2016. To estimate the revenues growth of
the Bottling Investments segment, the future structural changes that the company
has undergo and the ones that has planned for the next few years were analyzed.
Finishing the refranchising of all North American bottling operations, refranchising
Chinese bottling operations as well as make some structural changes in Europe
and Africa, the company’s plans for the next 5 years, were analyzed to predict an
average decrease of 4.8% in the Bottling Investments segment.
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Costs
Considering the nature of the business, the main bulk of costs comes from cost
of goods sold, selling and distribution and also advertising. The cost of goods
sold has constantly been 39% of revenues over the past few year and, taking into
account that sales will not have a drastic improvement the margin was kept and
no benefit from economy of scale was considered.
Regarding selling and distribution expenses, even though they depend on
general sales, as stated in the company’s report, they are primarily related to
company-owned bottling operations, and are primarily denominated in U.S
dollars. As this cost is generally transacted in local currency, foreign currency
exchange rate fluctuations do not have a significant impact on it. As such, they
present a pretty constant proportion of Bottling Investment revenues from 2014
onwards, when a change in the way the company reported the revenues of this
operating segment changed.
Due to the high competitiveness of the non-alcoholic beverage industry, TCCC is
required to make large spends on advertising through several channels so it
doesn’t lose market share over competitors. This spending, that accounted for
nearly 7% of total revenues in 2012 and 2013 are getting more expensive by the
year. This expense is getting higher in both absolute terms and with respect to
the revenue base. By 2016 this percentage increased to 10% of total revenues
with an absolute value of $4 004 million. This increasing advertising needs are
mainly driven by 2 reasons. With the weakening of the industry, and the
consumption of sugary sodas declining the company needs to increase the
support of its products with stronger consumer-facing media. Also, with
consumer preferences changing at a fast pace and Coca-Cola making constant
changes in its portfolio of products to respond to it, the company makes
significant advertising commitments to inform consumers about the changes. As
such, this proportion is expected to slightly increase over time achieving an
expected 12.5% by 2021 due to the fast-changing environment.
Figure 42: Advertisment expenses in million $USD
Source: Company’s Annual Report
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Net Working Capital and Capital Expenditure
Regarding capital expenditure, property, plant and equipment has been
decreasing since 2014, recording a decline of 14% in 2016. This drop was
primarily a result of North America’s bottling operations refranchising as well as
the company’s Chinese bottling operations being reclassified as held for sale.
Structural changes as those reduce the proportion of assets corresponding to
property, plant and equipment that in 2012 and 2013 accounted for 17% and in
2016 for just 12%. Once more structural changes are under execution and some
other are planned for the next few years, this proportion is expected to keep its
lower levels.
Net working capital measures a company’s short-term liquidity, in other words, if
the company is able to pay back to its creditors in the short term. Thus, it can
provide a general idea of how efficiently a company manages its assets. The
principal driver of net working capital needs are the company revenues. As such,
to forecast The Coca Cola Company net working capital an average of multiple
past ratios based on revenues were used. However, some exceptions to this were
needed. Inventories are tied up to input prices, as such, they were forecasted
based on cost of goods sold which are tied up to the same input prices. Accrued
marketing expenses were also forecasted in a different way once they are
proportional to the company’s advertisement expenses.
Financials
Weighted Average Cost of Capital
To value The Coca-Cola Company with the discounted cash flow method the
forecasted free cash flows were discounted using the weighted average cost of
capital. WACC8, commonly referred to as the company’s cost of capital, is the
average cost of the company’s sources of financing, debt and equity.
TCCC’s debt is composed by a mix of short-term and long-term debt and also
fixed-rate and variable-rate debt that enables the company to get a lower overall
cost of borrowing. As of December 31, 2016, the company’s short-term
borrowings consisted primarily of $12 330 million in commercial paper and $9 598
million in lines of credit and other short-term credit facilities. During 2016, the
Company issued Australian dollar-, euro- and U.S. dollar-denominated debt of
AUD1,000 million, €500 million and $3,725 million, respectively. To estimate the
8 WACC is the abbreviation for weighted average cost of capital
Figure 43: Cost of Debt Calculation
Source: Analyst Estimates
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company’s cost of debt it was used the interest rate of a 10-year note issued by
Coca-Cola, the annualized default probability considering the Moody's rating of
Coca-Cola long term debt of "Aa3" and a recovery rate of 31.3%. Through this, a
cost of debt of 2.22% was obtained.
The Capital Asset Pricing Model was used to estimate the cost of equity of
TCCC. The general idea behind CAPM9 is that investors need to be compensated
for the time they have their money invested and for the risk their taking. The time
value of money is represented by the risk-free rate for which a 10-years US
Government bond was used as a proxy yielding a 2.44% risk-free rate. The risk-
taking compensation was calculated using the market risk premium and the
industry beta levered with Coca-Cola’s financial structure. For the market risk
premium, the MSCI World Index returns (MXWO), a broad global equity
benchmark that represents large and mid-cap equity performance across 23
developed markets, were used. To estimate the beta that reflects the company’s
riskiness relative to the average company a set of seven industry comparable
companies were used. The average of the industry comparable company’s
unlevered betas was then levered to the company’s capital structure predicting a
beta of 0.65. In addition, a 95% confidence interval showed a lower beta of 0.25
and a upper beta of 0.80. These values yielded a cost of equity of 5.74%.
The mix of short-term and long term-debt with equity financing allowed The Coca-
Cola company to have an average cost of capital of 5.23%.
Multiple Valuation
In addition to the Discounted Cash Flow method, a multiple analysis was also
made to assess how TCCC is valued amongst its peers. From the initial set of
seven companies referred above, 5 were excluded from the multiple valuation.
From those four companies three were, Nestlé SA (NESN), Unilever (UNA) and
PepsiCo (PEP) once, even though their very strong on the beverage industry, their
core business is packaged foods and thus they have a very different structure and
are not directly comparable. The other two companies excluded were Boston Beer
company (SAM) and Craft Brew Alliance (BREW) because, even though they
work on the beverage industry they work on a very specific segment of it, the
alcoholic beverages market, the beer segment. Thus, the structure of these
companies is not comparable with TCCC.
9 CAPM is the abbreviation for capital asset pricing model
Figure 44: Cost of Equity Calculation
Figure 45: WACC Calculation
Source: Analyst Estimates
Source: Analyst Estimates
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With the remaining comparable companies, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and
Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST), an analysis was made using the Price to
EBITDA10 multiple (P/EBITDA), the price to sales (P/sales) and price to book
value of equity (P/equity). The most accurate multiple is probably the price to book
value of equity, once that TCCC has a similar ROIC and ROA compared with the
peers. The three multiples used yield an average price for TCCC of $171 620
million, a price lower than the one in the market. This might indicate that the
company may be overvalued on the market. However, this would be a very
impulsive conclusion. One should always keep in mind that even excluding the
companies that are not directly comparable, the ones remaining still have very
different capital structures, margins, do not work in the exact same markets and
are not subject to the same risks, all factors that end up affecting this type of
valuation.
Sensitivity Analysis
A sensitivity analysis was made to assess how weighted average cost of capital
and continuing value’s growth rate impact the final target price. The weighted
average cost of capital may vary due to changes in the cost of debt, the cost of
equity or in the capital structure of the company. Within these, the most probable
to vary is the cost of debt due to movements in the considered beta. Changes in
the continuing value’s growth rate are also probable to occur due to its
unpredictable nature. As such, a sensitivity analysis was conducted and, once the
return on invested capital is higher than the company’s WACC, an increase in the
growth rate results in higher final price target. In the other hand, a higher WACC
results in a lower final price target.
10 EBITDA is the abbreviation for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
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Appendix
Financial Statements
Income Statement (million USD$)
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Balance Sheet (million USD$)
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Cash Flow Statement (million USD$)
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Disclosures and Disclaimers
Report Recommendations
Buy Expected total return (including expected capital gains and expected dividend yield)
of more than 10% over a 12-month period.
Hold Expected total return (including expected capital gains and expected dividend yield)
between 0% and 10% over a 12-month period.
Sell Expected negative total return (including expected capital gains and expected
dividend yield) over a 12-month period.
This report was prepared by Lorena Gonzalez Cutelo, a Master in Finance’s student of Nova School of
Business & Economics (“Nova SBE”), within the context of the Field Lab – Equity Research.
This report is issued and published exclusively for academic purposes, namely for academic evaluation and
masters graduation purposes, within the context of said Field Lab – Equity Research. It is not to be construed
as an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security or financial instrument.
This report was supervised by a Nova SBE faculty member, acting merely in an academic capacity, who
revised the valuation methodology and the financial model.
Given the exclusive academic purpose of the reports produced by Nova SBE students, it is Nova SBE
understanding that Nova SBE, the author, the present report and its publishing, are excluded from the
persons and activities requiring previous registration from local regulatory authorities. As such, Nova SBE, its
faculty and the author of this report have not sought or obtained registration with or certification as financial
analyst by any local regulator, in any jurisdiction. In Portugal, the author of this report is not registered with or
qualified under COMISSÃO DO MERCADO DE VALORES MOBILIÁRIOS (“CMVM”, the Portuguese Securities Market
Authority) as a financial analyst. Rosário André - as the academic supervisor of the author - is registered as a
financial analyst with CMVM. No approval for publication or distribution of this report was required and/or
obtained from any local authority, given the exclusive academic nature of the report.
The additional disclaimers also apply:
USA: Pursuant to Section 202 (a) (11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, neither Nova SBE nor the
author of this report are to be qualified as an investment adviser and, thus, registration with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (“SEC”, United States of America’s securities market authority) is not necessary.
Neither the Author nor Nova SBE receive any compensation of any kind for the preparation of the Reports.
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PAGE 31/32
Germany: Pursuant to §34c of the WpHG (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz, i.e., the German Securities Trading
Act), this entity is not required to register with or otherwise notify the Bundesanstalt für
Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (“BaFin”, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). It should be
noted that Nova SBE is a fully-owned state university and there is no relation between the student’s equity
reports and any fund raising programme.
UK: Pursuant to section 22 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the “FSMA”), for an activity to be
a regulated activity, it must be carried on “by way of business”. All regulated activities are subject to prior
authorization by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). However, this Report serves an exclusively
academic purpose and, as such, was not prepared by way of business.The author - a Masters’ student - is
the sole and exclusive responsible for the information, estimates and forecasts contained herein, and for
the opinions expressed, which exclusively reflect his/her own judgment at the date of the report. Nova SBE
and its faculty have no single and formal position in relation to the most appropriate valuation method,
estimates or projections used in the report and may not be held liable by the author’s choice of the latter.
The information contained in this report was compiled by students from public sources believed to be reliable,
but Nova SBE, its faculty, or the students make no representation that it is accurate or complete, and accept
no liability whatsoever for any direct or indirect loss resulting from the use of this report or of its content.
Students are free to choose the target companies of the reports. Therefore, Nova SBE may start covering
and/or suspend the coverage of any listed company, at any time, without prior notice. The students or Nova
SBE are not responsible for updating this report, and the opinions and recommendations expressed herein
may change without further notice.
The target company or security of this report may be simultaneously covered by more than one student.
Because each student is free to choose the valuation method, and make his/her own assumptions and
estimates, the resulting projections, price target and recommendations may differ widely, even when referring
to the same security. Moreover, changing market conditions and/or changing subjective opinions may lead to
significantly different valuation results. Other students’ opinions, estimates and recommendations, as well as
the advisor and other faculty members’ opinions may be inconsistent with the views expressed in this report.
Any recipient of this report should understand that statements regarding future prospects and performance
are, by nature, subjective, and may be fallible.
This report does not necessarily mention and/or analyze all possible risks arising from the investment in the
target company and/or security, namely the possible exchange rate risk resulting from the security being
denominated in a currency either than the investor’s currency, among many other risks.
The purpose of publishing this report is merely academic and it is not intended for distribution among private
investors. The information and opinions expressed in this report are not intended to be available to any
person other than Portuguese natural or legal persons or persons domiciled in Portugal.
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While preparing this report, students did not have in consideration the specific investment objectives, financial
situation or particular needs of any specific person. Investors should seek financial advice regarding the
appropriateness of investing in any security, namely in the security covered by this report.
The author hereby certifies that the views expressed in this report accurately reflect his/her personal opinion
about the target company and its securities. He/ She has not received or been promised any direct or indirect
compensation for expressing the opinions or recommendation included in this report.
The content of each report have been shown or made public to restricted parties prior to its publication in
Nova SBE’s website or in Bloomberg Professional, for academic purposes such as its distribution among
faculty members for students’ academic evaluation.
Nova SBE is a state-owned university, mainly financed by state subsidies, students tuition fees and
companies, through donations, or indirectly by hiring educational programs, among other possibilities. Thus,
Nova SBE may have received compensation from the target company during the last 12 months, related to its
fund raising programs, or indirectly through the sale of educational, consulting or research services.
Nevertheless, no compensation eventually received by Nova SBE is in any way related to or dependent on
the opinions expressed in this report. The Nova School of Business & Economics does not deal for or
otherwise offer any investment or intermediation services to market counterparties, private or intermediate
customers.
This report may not be reproduced, distributed or published, in whole or in part, without the explicit previous
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may decide to suspend this report reproduction or distribution without further notice. Neither this document
nor any copy of it may be taken, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, in any country either than
Portugal or to any resident outside this country. The dissemination of this document other than in Portugal or
to Portuguese citizens is therefore prohibited and unlawful.