PepsiCo, Coca-Cola executives say bottler takeovers show promise
Top executives at PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. expressed a measured degree of satisfaction with the integration of their largest North American bottlers.
PepsiCo bought its two largest North American bottlers in February, and Coca-Cola acquired the North American wing of Atlanta-based bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises in October. Both deals were worth billions of dollars and required executives to mesh massive organizations.
Pepsi's integration has been done fairly well, said chief executive Indra Nooyi. But "if I said the integration was going swimmingly well, I’d be lying," she said at a Beverage Digest conference. "It's a challenging integration."
Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, said the merged company is off to a good start six weeks into Coca-Cola's new ownership of a vast U.S. bottling network. Coca-Cola has posted two consecutive quarters of growth in North America.
"We accelerated," Douglas said. "Pretty good so far, (with) lots of work to do."
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