HeadwaterCompany strategiesBuild yours

Coca-Cola

A total beverage company, Long-term growth

Our company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference
Coca-Cola’s purpose

A total beverage company

The Coca-Cola Company sold $13.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026 and earned an operating margin of 34.9%, with unit case volume up 5%. It makes concentrates and brands and sells them to bottling partners, who make, package, and distribute the drinks, so its four geographic segments earn margins of 31% to 64% while the segment that owns bottling earned 6%. Its plan is to hand more of its bottling to partners, grow beyond sparkling drinks into a total beverage portfolio, and turn consumer insight into new products faster.

1

Concentrate and bottling partners

Concentrate and bottling partners

  1. Concentrate salesSell concentrate to bottling partners and grow it with unit case volume. Concentrate sales grew 4% in the quarter.
  2. RefranchisingRefranchise its own bottling: certain territories in India in May 2025, and the pending sale of its bottling operations in Africa, expected to close toward the end of the third quarter or in the fourth quarter of 2026.
  3. The bottling segmentWork with bottling partners, who with the company employ more than 700,000 people.

Bottling Investments earned $91 million of operating income on $1,527 million of revenue in the second quarter, a margin of about 6%.

North America earned $1,695 million on $5,408 million and Latin America $1,177 million on $1,839 million.

Bottling Investments’ operating income grew 55%, including the effect of refranchising.

The segment that owns bottling earned a 6% margin

In the second quarter of 2026 Coca-Cola’s four geographic segments earned 31% to 64% of their revenue as operating income, against 6% for Bottling Investments, the segment that owns bottling operations.

$0bn$1bn$2bn$3bn$4bn$5bnNorth America31% margin$1.70bn of $5.41bnEurope, Middle East& Africa40% margin$1.31bn of $3.24bnLatin America64% margin$1.18bn of $1.84bnAsia Pacific41% margin$0.66bn of $1.58bnBottling Investments6% margin$0.09bn of $1.53bn
Net operating revenuesOperating income

Unit case volume grew 5% and price/mix grew 2%. Unit case volume grew largely on India, and the segment’s operating income grew 55%.

Margins are operating income over net operating revenues for the quarter, worked out from the amounts. The group’s operating margin was 34.9%, with corporate costs and eliminations included.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar volume grew 16%

Coca-Cola’s unit case volume grew 5% in the second quarter of 2026, led by India, China, the United States, and Brazil. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar grew 16%, and coffee declined 2%.

+16%Coca-ColaZero Sugar+7%Diet Coke /Coca-ColaLight+6%Water+6%Tea+5%TrademarkCoca-Cola+5%Sportsdrinks+4%Sparklingsoft drinks+2%Juice,dairy, andplant-based−2%Coffee

One bubble is one percentage point of unit case volume growth, on average daily sales. Total volume grew 5%.

The World Cup campaign ran in more than 180 markets

Coca-Cola ran one connected campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the trophy at more than 70 stops and programmes in over 20 million retail outlets. It made more than 60 billion impressions.

101001,00010,000100,0001m10m100m1bn10bn100bnTrophy Tour stops70+Markets180+Content creators2,500+Fans met on the tour700,000First-party data records25 million+Retail outlets20 million+Consumers on connected packaging80 million+Views9 billion+Impressions60 billion+
  • Trophy Tour stops: more than 70 stops across approximately 30 markets.
  • Markets: the campaign spanned more than 180 markets.
  • Content creators: more than 2,500 content creators supported the campaign.
  • Fans met on the tour: approximately 700,000 fans reached by the trophy tour.
  • First-party data records: more than 25 million first-party data records collected.
  • Retail outlets: programmes spanned more than 20 million retail outlets.
  • Consumers on connected packaging: connected packaging engaged more than 80 million consumers.
  • Views: over 9 billion views.
  • Impressions: more than 60 billion impressions.

The campaign contributed to a portion of 5% volume growth for Trademark Coca-Cola and 8% for Powerade in the quarter.

The scale is logarithmic: each gridline is ten times the one before. Fans (about 700,000) are given as approximately; the other counts are “more than”.

  1. Own the part that earns, and let partners carry the part that costs.

    Coca-Cola’s operating margin was 40% in Europe, Middle East & Africa, 31% in North America, and 64% in Latin America in the second quarter, and 6% in Bottling Investments, the segment that owns bottling; it has been refranchising that bottling to partners. We recommend finding the part of a business with the highest return on the capital it needs, keeping that, and asking partners to carry the heavy parts.

  2. Make innovation travel.

    Coca-Cola is building innovation hubs in each operating unit so that a product that works in one market, such as Coca-Cola Zero Zero from Europe, can be lifted and shifted into others, and it adapted Sprite+Tea for China with a lemon-forward flavour. We recommend a plan that says how a success in one place will be copied elsewhere, and who adapts it locally.

  3. Say where you are losing, too.

    In the same quarter it gained value share in three of its four geographic segments, Coca-Cola reports that it lost value share in Asia Pacific because of a loss in India, and it reports coffee falling 2%. We recommend a plan that names its weak spots with the same plainness as its strong ones, so that a good headline never hides the place that needs fixing.

Sources

  1. 1. The Coca-Cola Company (2026). Coca-Cola reports second quarter 2026 results and raises full year guidance. Earnings release, 28 July 2026. investors.coca-colacompany.com

Headwater is not connected with or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Powerade, BODYARMOR, and Costa are trade marks of their owners. Updated 29 September 2026. To report an error, email [email protected].

All company strategies