A comeback of foodservice beverages, combined with sustained high food sales, lifted PepsiCo to 21% revenue growth in the second quarter.
Revenue for the quarter ended June 12 reached $19.2 billion, compared with $15.9 billion for the same quarter last year. Most of that growth came from PepsiCo Beverages North America, which posted $6.2 billion in revenue, compared with $5.0 billion the previous year. The boost came from the winding down of the pandemic, with restaurants, theaters and other foodservice venues opening up.
By contrast, the Frito-Lay snacks unit had $4.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 6.5% increase, while Quaker Foods went down to $575 million, a 13% decrease. This is probably because sales of those products were inflated during the second quarter of 2020 due to consumers buying more grocery products in general during the pandemic. Compared with the second quarter of 2019, before the pandemic, Frito-Lay revenue was up 14% and Quaker, up 9%.
“We are pleased with our second quarter results as we delivered very strong double-digit net revenue and earnings per share growth,” chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a statement. “Given the strength of our results, we now expect our full year organic revenue to increase 6% and core constant currency earnings per share to increase 11%.”
In announcing the results, PepsiCo said it would extend and expand a cost-cutting program to increase automation and information systems, and “optimize” manufacturing and supply chain operations. The goal is to save at least $1 billion a year through increased productivity. This initiative will cost about $3.15 billion, the company estimates.
