Our Company
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2009 Year in Review
- Mission, Vision & Values
- The Coca-Cola System
- Our People
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From Our Leadership
From the 2009 Annual Review
A Letter from Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dear Fellow Shareowner:
We are pleased to share with you that the passion and determination belonging to the women and men of Coca-Cola helped our Company continue to grow during the worst economic environment since World War II. Our intense focus on growing our brands, gaining share, driving revenue growth and leveraging productivity enabled our Company to meet our 2009 volume and profit growth goals, in line with our long-term targets.
We entered 2009 with a simple and clear purpose: to confront the global economic uncertainty by focusing on what we could control. We worked to ensure that we came out of this crisis in an even stronger position by communicating with our consumers and retail customers; investing in innovation; and enhancing our distribution, sales and production capabilities around the world.
Working with our more than 300 bottling partners, we added approximately 650 million incremental unit cases of volume to our business, a 3 percent gain over 2008. The 2009 incremental unit case volume from China, India, Mexico and Brazil alone was equal to adding another Germany—our sixth-largest market—to our business. We also grew individual brands, including our Simply® trademark which reached retail sales of more than $1 billion.
In 2009, our Company generated $8.2 billion in cash from operations, up 8 percent from 2008 and marking the first time we have surpassed the $8 billion mark. We reinvested $2 billion back into our business, repurchased $1.5 billion in Company stock and paid $3.8 billion to shareowners through dividends. Indeed, 2009 marked our 47th consecutive year of increased dividend payments.
Throughout the year, we made significant productivity enhancements across multiple facets of our business. We are more than halfway toward our goal of driving out $500 million in annualized operating expenses by 2011. Our leadership efforts across the sustainability spectrum, meanwhile, earned The Coca‑Cola Company a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index—positioning us among the top 10 percent of the world’s largest 2,500 companies in terms of advancing sustainable business practices.
Our 2020 Vision
As we enter an exciting new decade of growth for our Company, we do so with a strong foundation. Our widely recognized and valued brands, solid financial position and unmatched ubiquitous global presence give us great confidence that we can continue to capture a growing share of the projected $1 trillion market for nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages by 2020. As global populations grow, economies expand, and middle-class, urban lifestyles emerge, we see an environment that is very positive for a business that provides simple and affordable moments of pleasure and refreshment, for cents at a time, more than one and a half billion times every single day.
For the past two years, we have worked closer than ever before with our bottling partners to create an aligned, systemwide vision for our business for the next 10 years and beyond. Our 2020 Vision looks at the current and future trends shaping our business and provides a set of shared principles, priorities and actions focused on creating long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value. We have outlined select goals in our 2020 Vision, including:
- More than doubling our system revenue while increasing system margins by 2020
- Ensuring that we are the most preferred and trusted beverage partner
- Attaining global leadership in corporate sustainability
- Managing people, time and money for the greatest effectiveness
- Becoming one of the world’s premier employers
Our 2020 Vision is designed for growth and action. Most importantly, it is being activated today as we continue the growth of Trademark Coca-Cola®—the epicenter of our business—while bringing new beverage innovations to the marketplace and adding sustainable value to our expanding portfolio.
At the heart of our Vision is a deep commitment to best serve our consumers and customers everywhere by continuously improving and evolving our global franchise system. One of the most important barometers of the health of our system is the amount of investment directed back into our business. In 2009, our system announced a host of strategic investments, including multibillion-dollar enhancements in Brazil, China, Mexico and Russia.
Our system took a major step forward on February 25, 2010, when we announced that The Coca-Cola Company will acquire the entire North America business of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE), which consists of approximately 75 percent of U.S. bottler-delivered volume and almost 100 percent of Canadian bottler-delivered volume. We also agreed in principle to sell our Norway and Sweden bottling operations to CCE, and CCE will have the right to acquire our majority stake in the German bottling operations in the future.
We are confident that these actions will create substantial value for our stakeholders and shareowners as we work to create the world’s premier low-cost and effective beverage manufacturing, sales and distribution business. This evolution in our business will give us the financial flexibility, expanded geographic coverage and marketing and distribution leadership needed to accelerate our business in North America and Western Europe, while strengthening the long‑term health of our franchise system.
The Future
The past year was one chapter in an ongoing growth story for our Company. It was an important year because it reaffirmed our confidence in our Company’s ability to weather an extraordinary global economic crisis and continue to grow.
As we look ahead to the year 2020, we are convinced that these next few years will be critical in defining the future for The Coca‑Cola Company and our system partners. In a “Growing World of Refreshment,” the opportunities before us are tremendous. We look forward to continuing to share our story with you.
And most of all, we thank you, our fellow shareowners, for your support. There is no greater responsibility than earning your trust and confidence, and rest assured we will work tirelessly to keep our commitments and protect and grow the value of your investment in our Company.
With sincere gratitude,
Muhtar Kent
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer
March 22, 2010
The trademarks listed are owned or used under license by The Coca-Cola Company and its related affiliates, as of December 31, 2007.
These trademarks may be owned or licensed in select locations only. © 2008 The Coca-Cola Company, all rights reserved.
From the 2009 Annual Review
A Letter from Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dear Fellow Shareowner:
We are pleased to share with you that the passion and determination belonging to the women and men of Coca-Cola helped our Company continue to grow during the worst economic environment since World War II. Our intense focus on growing our brands, gaining share, driving revenue growth and leveraging productivity enabled our Company to meet our 2009 volume and profit growth goals, in line with our long-term targets.
We entered 2009 with a simple and clear purpose: to confront the global economic uncertainty by focusing on what we could control. We worked to ensure that we came out of this crisis in an even stronger position by communicating with our consumers and retail customers; investing in innovation; and enhancing our distribution, sales and production capabilities around the world.
Working with our more than 300 bottling partners, we added approximately 650 million incremental unit cases of volume to our business, a 3 percent gain over 2008. The 2009 incremental unit case volume from China, India, Mexico and Brazil alone was equal to adding another Germany—our sixth-largest market—to our business. We also grew individual brands, including our Simply® trademark which reached retail sales of more than $1 billion.
In 2009, our Company generated $8.2 billion in cash from operations, up 8 percent from 2008 and marking the first time we have surpassed the $8 billion mark. We reinvested $2 billion back into our business, repurchased $1.5 billion in Company stock and paid $3.8 billion to shareowners through dividends. Indeed, 2009 marked our 47th consecutive year of increased dividend payments.
Throughout the year, we made significant productivity enhancements across multiple facets of our business. We are more than halfway toward our goal of driving out $500 million in annualized operating expenses by 2011. Our leadership efforts across the sustainability spectrum, meanwhile, earned The Coca‑Cola Company a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index—positioning us among the top 10 percent of the world’s largest 2,500 companies in terms of advancing sustainable business practices.
Our 2020 Vision
As we enter an exciting new decade of growth for our Company, we do so with a strong foundation. Our widely recognized and valued brands, solid financial position and unmatched ubiquitous global presence give us great confidence that we can continue to capture a growing share of the projected $1 trillion market for nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages by 2020. As global populations grow, economies expand, and middle-class, urban lifestyles emerge, we see an environment that is very positive for a business that provides simple and affordable moments of pleasure and refreshment, for cents at a time, more than one and a half billion times every single day.
For the past two years, we have worked closer than ever before with our bottling partners to create an aligned, systemwide vision for our business for the next 10 years and beyond. Our 2020 Vision looks at the current and future trends shaping our business and provides a set of shared principles, priorities and actions focused on creating long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value. We have outlined select goals in our 2020 Vision, including:
- More than doubling our system revenue while increasing system margins by 2020
- Ensuring that we are the most preferred and trusted beverage partner
- Attaining global leadership in corporate sustainability
- Managing people, time and money for the greatest effectiveness
- Becoming one of the world’s premier employers
Our 2020 Vision is designed for growth and action. Most importantly, it is being activated today as we continue the growth of Trademark Coca-Cola®—the epicenter of our business—while bringing new beverage innovations to the marketplace and adding sustainable value to our expanding portfolio.
At the heart of our Vision is a deep commitment to best serve our consumers and customers everywhere by continuously improving and evolving our global franchise system. One of the most important barometers of the health of our system is the amount of investment directed back into our business. In 2009, our system announced a host of strategic investments, including multibillion-dollar enhancements in Brazil, China, Mexico and Russia.
Our system took a major step forward on February 25, 2010, when we announced that The Coca-Cola Company will acquire the entire North America business of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE), which consists of approximately 75 percent of U.S. bottler-delivered volume and almost 100 percent of Canadian bottler-delivered volume. We also agreed in principle to sell our Norway and Sweden bottling operations to CCE, and CCE will have the right to acquire our majority stake in the German bottling operations in the future.
We are confident that these actions will create substantial value for our stakeholders and shareowners as we work to create the world’s premier low-cost and effective beverage manufacturing, sales and distribution business. This evolution in our business will give us the financial flexibility, expanded geographic coverage and marketing and distribution leadership needed to accelerate our business in North America and Western Europe, while strengthening the long‑term health of our franchise system.
The Future
The past year was one chapter in an ongoing growth story for our Company. It was an important year because it reaffirmed our confidence in our Company’s ability to weather an extraordinary global economic crisis and continue to grow.
As we look ahead to the year 2020, we are convinced that these next few years will be critical in defining the future for The Coca‑Cola Company and our system partners. In a “Growing World of Refreshment,” the opportunities before us are tremendous. We look forward to continuing to share our story with you.
And most of all, we thank you, our fellow shareowners, for your support. There is no greater responsibility than earning your trust and confidence, and rest assured we will work tirelessly to keep our commitments and protect and grow the value of your investment in our Company.
With sincere gratitude,
Muhtar Kent
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer
March 22, 2010
