Drinks: Sugar-free soft drinks in demand: Coca-Cola increases forecast

Atlanta. Coca-Cola is once again raising its annual targets after a surprisingly strong quarter. In the third quarter of the year, the US beverage company benefited from an unexpectedly significant increase in sales of its soft drinks and slightly increased prices, with sugar-free drinks selling particularly well.

Sales climbed by a good 7 percent year-on-year to almost 13.4 billion dollars (around 12 billion euros), as the company announced on Tuesday in Atlanta. The increase was also at this level due to our own efforts, i.e. excluding currency effects as well as purchases and sales. For the whole of 2026, company boss Henrique Braun now expects an internal sales increase of at least five percent. Coca-Cola last raised its target in July and assumed growth of around 5 percent.

The group earned almost $4.47 billion operationally in the reporting period, twelve percent more than a year earlier. The bottom line is that profits rose by eight percent to a good $4 billion.

In addition, comparable earnings per share were slightly better than expected, increasing to $0.91. Management also increased its annual targets for this key figure, which is closely followed by analysts - an increase of at least eleven percent is now expected. Coca-Cola had previously promised a plus of nine to ten percent here.