Kathy N. Waller - The Coca-Cola Co.
Management
Thank you, James, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to talk quickly about our financial performance in the quarter before moving on to our full-year outlook. Starting at the top line, organic revenue growth was driven equally by volume and price/mix. Consolidated price/mix in the quarter was driven both by rate and product mix initiatives across many of our markets, partially offset by 1 point of segment mix, due to slower growth in our Bottling Investments Group than in our core concentrate operations. At gross profit, our comparable margin increased about 45 basis points, as solid pricing, a slightly favorable cost environment and productivity was partially offset by about an 80 basis point currency headwind. Our North America refranchising roughly offset the benefit from deconsolidating our German and South Africa bottling operations, resulting in a slight structural benefit to margins. Excluding the effect of currency and structural items, our underlying gross margin expanded over 100 basis points. Our comparable operating margin declined about 35 basis points. Similar to gross margin, currency headwinds impacted our operating margins by about 90 basis points, while structural items, primarily the deconsolidation of our German and South African bottling operations, positively impacted our operating margins. Turning to the cash flow, we continue to exercise strong cash flow management. Year-to-date, we have generated $6.7 billion in cash from operations. And we have returned $5.7 billion to shareowners through a combination of net share repurchases and $4.5 billion of dividends paid year-to-date, and that includes our third quarter dividend that was paid on October 3, right after our quarter closed. Net share repurchases year-to-date were $1.2 billion, and we continue to expect them to be $2 billion to $2.5 billion for the full year, in line with our initial guidance. Looking ahead to the remainder of the year, with one quarter remaining, we continue to expect our full-year comparable EPS to decline 4% to 7%, in line with our previously-communicated expectations. However, we now expect to spend slightly less than $2.5 billion on capital expenditures for the full year, down from our initial expectations of $2.5 billion to $3 billion. As you construct your models, there are a few items to consider for the fourth quarter. Our fourth quarter has two additional days as compared to last year, which will result in stronger top-line growth than we saw in the third quarter. We expect structural items to be an 11-point headwind on net revenue and a 6-point to 7-point headwind on income before tax in the fourth quarter. And finally, we expect currency to be a 1-point to 2-point headwind on net revenue and an 8-point to 9-point headwind on income before tax in the fourth quarter. So, in closing, our strategies are working in key markets. We are on track to deliver over $600 million in productivity this year, and we remain confident in our abilities to deliver our profit targets this year. So with that, Operator, we are now ready for questions.