Home › Business › Business
Coca-Cola's first-quarter profits up; company backs torch relay
STORY TOOLS 
More from BusinessATLANTA — Coca-Cola gave investors good news Wednesday on the profit front, as vocal shareholders questioned its support of the Summer Olympics in Beijing and the beverage maker's business practices.
Coca-Cola reported that its first-quarter profit rose 19 percent due to acquisitions and overseas growth, offsetting unimpressive results in its home North America unit that were affected by fewer people going out to eat because of fuel prices and the slowing U.S. economy.
The results beat Wall Street expectations.
The company believes that the torch relay as part of the run-up to the Olympics should continue, Chief Executive Neville Isdell said. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is a corporate sponsor of the torch relay.
The relay has been disrupted in Greece, Istanbul, London, Paris and San Francisco by protesters opposed to China's policies in Tibet and overall human rights record. There has been no trouble at recent stops in Argentina, Tanzania, Oman and Pakistan.
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.