Coca-Cola today expanded its savings target and said it now expected the decline in 2017 adjusted profit to be smaller than it previously forecast.
Coca-Cola also reported a smaller than expected quarterly profit, mainly due to higher costs related to refranchising its North America bottling operations.
Coca-Cola said it was increasing its cost-cutting target by $800m in annualised savings and now expects to save $3.8 billion by 2019.
The majority of the additional savings are expected to come from cost cutting in the company's supply chain, marketing and from its new operating model, which classifies its product portfolio under five new units.
Coca-Cola said today it expects full-year adjusted profit to decline 1-3%, compared with the 1-4% decline it forecast in February.
The company is offloading much of its low-margin bottling business to cut costs amid falling demand for carbonated beverages in North America.
Coca-Cola had warned in February that the refranchising was turning out to be costlier than previously anticipated.
The company said it recorded a charge of $84m related to the refranchising in North America.
Global soda sales fell 1% in the first quarter ended March 31, the company said.
Coca-Cola's chief executive of more than eight years, Muhtar Kent, will step down next month.
He will be succeeded by the company's Chief Operating Officer James Quincey, who is credited with several recent changes to help the company cut its dependence on sugary drinks.
The company said that net income attributable to its shareholders fell to $1.18 billion, or 27 cents per share, from $1.48 billion, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 43 cents per share.
Revenue fell 11.3% to $9.12 billion, declining for the eighth quarter in a row.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 44 cents per share and revenue of $8.87 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
