Mexico City, Oct. 26 - Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Coca-Cola FEMSA” or the “Company”), the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America and the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world in terms of sales volume, announces results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2007.
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Total revenues reached Ps. 16,701 million in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of 6.0% compared to the third quarter of 2006, and increased 7.8% for the first nine months of the year to Ps. 49,236 million compared to same period of 2006.
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Driven by strong growth and higher profitability in the operations outside of Mexico, consolidated operating income increased 11.5% to Ps. 2,822 million for the third quarter of 2007, and 11.1% to Ps. 8,023 million for the first nine months of the year. Our operating margin was 16.9% for the third quarter of 2007 and 16.3% for the first nine months of the year.
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Consolidated majority net income increased 4.8% to Ps. 1,890 million in the third quarter of 2007, and 34.7% to Ps. 4,859 million for the first nine months of the year, resulting in earnings per share of Ps. 1.02 for the third quarter of 2007, and Ps. 2.63 for the first nine months of the year.
“Our operations posted strong results for the third quarter of 2007. Our performance displayed the advantages of our balanced, geographically diversified portfolio of assets, with more than 73 percent of our top-line growth coming from our operations outside of Mexico. In Mexico, we have been increasing our profitability; in fact, this is the first quarter in more than a year that we have achieved operating income growth. We, together with the Coca-Cola Company also just launched the public tender offer for Jugos del Valle. This transaction, which we expect to close in November of 2007, will considerably increase our company’s position in Latin America’s fast-growing still beverage segment. Looking forward, the overall competitive environment is behaving more rationally, which should bode well for our future performance,” said Carlos Salazar Lomelín, Chief Executive Officer of the company.