PepsiCo (PEP) Revenue Beats Estimates As North America Sales Rise

PepsiCo Inc. reported better-than-expected quarterly net revenue Thursday, as higher sales of snacks and beverages in North America helped reduce the impact of a strong dollar.

The company increased its 2015 annual dividend to $3.01 per share from $2.81 per share and said it would return about $7 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks in 2016.

Revenue from PepsiCo’s North America beverages business, which the company started breaking out from the third quarter, rose 2 percent in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 26, accounting for 31.5 percent of total revenue.

Revenue from its snacks business, which includes Frito-Lay and Doritos chips, also increased 2 percent in the region.

Frito-Lay North America and North America Beverages were the only two businesses to report revenue growth in the quarter.

The average value of the dollar against a basket of currencies rose 11.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

The net income attributable to the company rose to $1.72 billion, or $1.17 per share, in the fourth quarter, from $1.31 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.06 per share.

Net revenue fell 7 percent to $18.59 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.06 per share on net revenue of $18.51 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.