Coca Cola 2011 Annual Report Download - page 3

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains information that may constitute ‘‘forward-looking statements.’’ Generally, the words ‘‘believe,’’ ‘‘expect,’’ ‘‘intend,’’
‘‘estimate,’’ ‘‘anticipate,’’ ‘‘project,’’ ‘‘will’’ and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical
in nature. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. All
statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future — including
statements relating to volume growth, share of sales and earnings per share growth, and statements expressing general views about future
operating results — are forward-looking statements. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and
when made. However, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such
statements speak only as of the date when made. Our Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-
looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-
looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our Company’s
historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those
described in Part I, ‘‘Item 1A. Risk Factors’’ and elsewhere in this report and those described from time to time in our future reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
In this report, the terms ‘‘The Coca-Cola Company,’’ ‘‘Company,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’ and ‘‘our’’ mean The Coca-Cola Company and all
entities included in our consolidated financial statements.
General
The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company. We own or license and market more than 500 nonalcoholic
beverage brands, primarily sparkling beverages but also a variety of still beverages such as waters, enhanced waters, juices and
juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, and energy and sports drinks. We own and market four of the world’s top five
nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Finished beverage products bearing our
trademarks, sold in the United States since 1886, are now sold in more than 200 countries.
We make our branded beverage products available to consumers throughout the world through our network of Company-owned
or controlled bottling and distribution operations as well as independently owned bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers and
retailers — the world’s largest beverage distribution system. Of the approximately 56 billion beverage servings of all types
consumed worldwide every day, beverages bearing trademarks owned by or licensed to us account for more than 1.7 billion.
We believe that our success depends on our ability to connect with consumers by providing them with a wide variety of options to
meet their desires, needs and lifestyle choices. Our success further depends on the ability of our people to execute effectively,
every day.
Our goal is to use our Company’s assets — our brands, financial strength, unrivaled distribution system, global reach and the
talent and strong commitment of our management and associates — to become more competitive and to accelerate growth in a
manner that creates value for our shareowners.
We were incorporated in September 1919 under the laws of the State of Delaware and succeeded to the business of a Georgia
corporation with the same name that had been organized in 1892.
Acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.’s North American Business and Related Transactions
On October 2, 2010, we acquired the North American business of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (‘‘CCE’’), one of our major bottlers,
consisting of CCE’s production, sales and distribution operations in the United States, Canada, the British Virgin Islands, the
United States Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, and a substantial majority of CCE’s corporate segment. CCE shareowners
other than the Company exchanged their CCE common stock for common stock in a new entity named Coca-Cola
Enterprises, Inc. (‘‘New CCE’’), which after the closing of the transaction continued to hold the European operations that had
been held by CCE prior to the acquisition. The Company does not have any ownership interest in New CCE. Upon completion of
the CCE transaction, we combined the management of the acquired North American business with the management of our
existing foodservice business; Minute Maid and Odwalla juice businesses; North America supply chain operations; and Company-
owned bottling operations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a unified bottling and customer service organization called
Coca-Cola Refreshments (‘‘CCR’’). In addition, we reshaped our remaining Coca-Cola North America (‘‘CCNA’’) operations into
an organization that primarily provides franchise leadership and consumer marketing and innovation for the North American
market. As a result of the transaction and related reorganization, our North American businesses operate as aligned and agile
organizations with distinct capabilities, responsibilities and strengths.
1