General presentation of Coca-Cola

The Coca Cola company was created at the end of the 19th Century and in the beginning was marketed as a medicine in the form of syrup prepared from coca leaves and cola nuts, hence the name given to this globally known drink. It was in 1916 that the famous glass bottle that made the drink such a success made its debut and became its trademark.
Even today, and in spite of competition, the Coca Cola Company is the largest non-alcoholic drink distributor and producer throughout the world, in front of its direct competitor “Pepsi”.
What is the average turnover of the Coca Cola Company and how is it distributed?
The Coca Cola Company generates more than 7 billion dollars profit each year from a total of almost 40 billion dollars in net income. But the production of this company must be divided in two large sectors.
The first of these sectors which represents the largest profit share of course relates to the sale of drinks. As opposed to what one could believe, the Coca Cola Company does not produce only soda of the same name but also distributes other well known drinks such as Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid and Nestea. This sector by itself represents nearly 73% of the total benefit.
As for the second sector, it relates to the bottling. At the beginning, this part of work was entirely sub-contracted, but, since the Seventies, the Coca Cola Company decided to buy out the majority of the bottling factories in order to manage the entirety of its production without external providers. This part therefore relates to the 27% remaining sales turnover.
Of course, the majority of the Coca Cola Company sales are from abroad with nearly 75% of the sales turnover on a world level, whereas its competitors are much more present in the United States.
The Coca Cola Group shares are priced on the New York Stock Exchange or NYSE. Historically, the price of this share has evolved from 39 to 65 U.S. dollars since its IPO in 2005.
Photo credits: Arie - Flickr