Fast-Growing Beverage Company Continues to Gain
Share and Outgrow U.S. Sports Drink Category
The Coca-Cola Company today announced that it has acquired full
ownership of BODYARMOR, a line of sports performance and hydration
beverages that is incremental to the Coca-Cola beverage portfolio
and has significant potential for long-term growth.
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the full release here:
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In 2018, Coca-Cola initially acquired a 15% stake in BODYARMOR
with a path to full ownership, based on a pre-determined discount.
Coca-Cola is paying $5.6 billion in cash for the remaining 85% of
the company.
BODYARMOR will be managed as a separate business within
Coca-Cola’s North America operating unit and will continue to be
based in New York. Under a separate consulting and
transition-services agreement, the executive leadership team,
including Co-founder and Chairman Mike Repole and President Brent
Hastie, has agreed to continue to work to maintain the brand’s
successful momentum in the market. They are committed to executing
BODYARMOR’s 2022 plan and working on vision and strategy for 2023
and beyond.
BODYARMOR will continue to be distributed by the U.S. Coca-Cola
bottling system. When Coca-Cola made its initial investment in
2018, BODYARMOR gained access to the Coca-Cola system, which
enabled BODYARMOR to accelerate its growth to meet explosive
consumer demand for premium sports and hydration beverages.
BODYARMOR is currently the #2 sports drink in the category in
measured retail channels, growing at about 50% to drive more than
$1.4 billion in retail sales.
“BODYARMOR has been a great addition to the system lineup over
the last three years, and the company has driven continuous
innovation in hydration and health-and-wellness products,” said
Alfredo Rivera, president of the North America operating unit of
The Coca-Cola Company. “We’re excited to bring BODYARMOR into The
Coca-Cola Company and work with Mike Repole and his leadership team
on the next stage of growth.”
"Ten years ago, we set out with a vision to create a
better-for-you sports drink with a goal of becoming the #1 global
sports drink,” Repole said. “Our talented leadership team under
Brent Hastie, our 400 dedicated employees and incredible Coca-Cola
bottling partners have helped us build this remarkable brand. If it
wasn’t for Kobe Bryant’s vision and belief, BODYARMOR would not
have been able to achieve the success we had. I couldn’t be more
excited to become part of the Coca-Cola family and set our sights
on the future.”
As part of the agreement, Coca-Cola and Repole will also
collaborate on the company’s still beverages portfolio, including
marketing, packaging and innovation strategies across multiple
brands.
Coca-Cola’s acquisition of BODYARMOR will be funded through cash
on-hand and is consistent with an M&A and capital allocation
framework that focuses on accelerating growth, expanding
capabilities and driving efficiencies. Coca-Cola pursues brands and
products that are complementary to the overall portfolio and have
growth opportunities for the long term.
For more information about BODYARMOR products and athlete
partnerships, visit their website at
https://www.drinkbodyarmor.com/
About The Coca-Cola
Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company
with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our
company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. We
sell multiple billion-dollar brands across several beverage
categories worldwide. Our portfolio of sparkling soft drink brands
includes Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta. Our hydration, sports, coffee
and tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo
Chico, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak, Honest and Ayataka. Our
nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverage brands include
Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del Valle, fairlife and AdeS. We’re
constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our
drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We seek to
positively impact people’s lives, communities and the planet
through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable
sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across our value
chain. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than
700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local
communities worldwide. Learn more at www.coca-colacompany.com and
follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About BODYARMOR Sports
Nutrition
BODYARMOR is a premium sports drink that provides superior
hydration. It is packed with electrolytes, coconut water and
antioxidants and is low in sodium and high in potassium. Created in
2011 by Mike Repole and Lance Collins, BODYARMOR contains natural
flavors and sweeteners and no colors from artificial sources. In
2013, Kobe Bryant became a major shareholder in the company,
helping to spark sustained growth and awareness for the brand. In
2017, BODYARMOR launched BODYARMOR LYTE, which has all the same
nutrients as BODYARMOR Sports Drink but has no sugar added and only
20 calories per bottle; and BODYARMOR SportWater, a premium sport
water created for those with an active lifestyle with a performance
pH 9+ and electrolytes for sport. In August 2018, The Coca-Cola
Company purchased a minority stake in BODYARMOR, making them the
second largest shareholder behind Repole. In 2021, BODYARMOR
launched BODYARMOR EDGE, which combines the Superior Hydration of
BODYARMOR Sports Drink with a boost of natural caffeine to give
consumers an EDGE.
This press release may contain statements, estimates or
projections that constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined
under U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words “believe,”
“expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will” and
similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which
generally are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause The
Coca-Cola Company’s actual results to differ materially from its
historical experience and our present expectations or projections.
These risks include, but are not limited to, the negative impacts
of, and continuing uncertainties associated with the scope,
severity and duration of the global COVID-19 pandemic and any
resurgences of the pandemic, including the number of people
contracting the virus, the impact of shelter-in-place and social
distancing requirements, the impact of governmental actions across
the globe to contain the virus, vaccine availability, rates of
vaccination, the effectiveness of vaccines against existing and new
variants of the virus, governmental or other vaccine mandates and
potential associated business and supply chain disruptions, and the
substance and pace of the post-pandemic economic recovery; an
inability to realize the economic benefits from our productivity
initiatives, including our reorganization and related strategic
realignment initiatives; an inability to attract or retain a highly
skilled and diverse workforce; increased competition; an inability
to renew collective bargaining agreements on satisfactory terms, or
we or our bottling partners experience strikes, work stoppages,
labor shortages or labor unrest; an inability to be successful in
our innovation activities; changes in the retail landscape or the
loss of key retail or foodservice customers; an inability to expand
operations in emerging and developing markets; increased cost,
disruption of supply or shortage of energy or fuel; increased cost,
disruption of supply or shortage of ingredients, other raw
materials, packaging materials, aluminum cans and other containers;
an inability to successfully manage new product launches; obesity
and other health-related concerns; evolving consumer product and
shopping preferences; product safety and quality concerns;
perceived negative health consequences of certain ingredients, such
as non-nutritive sweeteners and biotechnology-derived substances,
and of other substances present in our beverage products or
packaging materials; damage to our brand image, corporate
reputation and social license to operate from negative publicity,
whether or not warranted, concerning product safety or quality,
workplace and human rights, obesity or other issues; an inability
to maintain good relationships with our bottling partners;
deterioration in our bottling partners’ financial condition; an
inability to successfully integrate and manage consolidated
bottling operations or other acquired businesses or brands; an
inability to successfully manage our refranchising activities;
increases in income tax rates, changes in income tax laws or the
unfavorable resolution of tax matters, including the outcome of our
ongoing tax dispute or any related disputes with the U.S. Internal
Revenue Service (“IRS”); the possibility that the assumptions used
to calculate our estimated aggregate incremental tax and interest
liability related to the potential unfavorable outcome of the
ongoing tax dispute with the IRS could significantly change;
increased or new indirect taxes in the United States and throughout
the world; changes in laws and regulations relating to beverage
containers and packaging; significant additional labeling or
warning requirements or limitations on the marketing or sale of our
products; litigation or legal proceedings; conducting business in
markets with high-risk legal compliance environments; failure to
adequately protect, or disputes relating to, trademarks, formulae
and other intellectual property rights; changes in, or failure to
comply with, the laws and regulations applicable to our products or
our business operations; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange
rates; interest rate increases; unfavorable general economic
conditions in the United States and international markets; an
inability to achieve our overall long-term growth objectives;
default by or failure of one or more of our counterparty financial
institutions; impairment charges; failure to realize a significant
portion of the anticipated benefits of our strategic relationship
with Monster Beverage Corporation; an inability to protect our
information systems against service interruption, misappropriation
of data or breaches of security; failure to comply with personal
data protection and privacy laws; failure to digitize the Coca-Cola
system; failure by our third-party service providers and business
partners to satisfactorily fulfill their commitments and
responsibilities; increasing concerns about the environmental
impact of plastic bottles and other plastic packaging materials;
water scarcity and poor quality; increased demand for food products
and decreased agricultural productivity; climate change and legal
or regulatory responses thereto; adverse weather conditions; risks
and uncertainties relating to the transaction with BODYARMOR,
including the risk that the businesses will not be integrated
successfully or such integration may be more difficult,
time-consuming or costly than expected, which could result in
additional demands on our resources, systems, procedures and
controls, disruption of or ongoing business and diversion of
management’s attention from other business concerns; the
possibility that assumptions with respect to BODYARMOR or the
transaction could prove to be inaccurate; the potential failure to
retain key BODYARMOR employees as a result of the transaction or
during integration of the businesses and disruptions resulting from
the transaction, making it more difficult to maintain business
relationships; and other risks discussed in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and
our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which
filings are available from the SEC. You should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update
or revise any forward-looking statements.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211101005313/en/
Investors and Analysts for The Coca-Cola
Company: Tim Leveridge, koinvestorrelations@coca-cola.com
Media for The Coca-Cola Company: Scott
Leith, sleith@coca-cola.com Media for
BODYARMOR: Lindsey Raivich, lraivich@drinkbodyarmor.com
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