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To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (17014)	1/26/1999 5:47:00 PM
From: yard_man	Respond to of 86076

Coca-Cola Fourth-Quarter Profits Fall 27 Percent By June Preston 17:10 01-26-99 ATLANTA (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter net income fell 27 percent to $597 million, in line with expectations, as slowdowns in global markets, a stronger dollar and a shorter reporting period strained sales. Coke said earnings for the quarter amounted to $597 million or 24 cents a share, compared with $817 million or 33 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Revenues decreased 5 percent to $4.46 billion from $4.70 billion in the 1997 quarter. ''The earnings were in keeping with what we told analysts in December,'' Coca-Cola Vice President Randy Donaldson told Reuters. ''They were flat.'' The company said unit case volume also fell short of expectations. For the year, global unit case volume grew 6 percent, or 900 million cases, to nearly 16 billion unit cases in 1998. For the quarter, which had four fewer reporting days than the year earlier, worldwide volume grew 3 percent when calculated on a comparable-days basis. Comparable volume rose 5 percent in North America, 3 percent in Latin America, 2 percent in Europe and 4 percent in the Middle and Far East in the quarter, the company said, and fell 2 percent in Africa. For the year, Coca-Cola's earnings fell 14 percent to $3.53 billion, or $1.42 a share, from $4.13 billion, or $1.64 a share in 1997. Annual revenues were $18.81 billion, nearly even with 1997 sales of $18.87 billion. ''Obviously 1998 was a year in which we had significant effects from currency fluctuations,'' Donaldson said. ''The 6 percent volume is below our historic goal of 7 to 8 percent volume growth.'' Coca-Cola Chairman M. Douglas Ivester said the global economy in some key markets had an impact on both earnings and volume in 1998. ''The past year has been a challenging period...as economic slowdowns in several key markets had a short-term impact, slowing volume growth and affecting our earnings,'' Ivester said in a statement. ''Even though the economic environment became more uncertain and volatile in the later part of 1998, we strongly believe that our fundamental opportunities for long-term growth have not changed,'' he said. Coke's shares fell 5/16 to 62 9/16.