Brands
Coca-Cola logs $102m India bottling gain as Q4 revenue edges up
Global revenue up 2 per cent to $11.8bn as India refranchising shapes bottling volumes
ATLANTA: If the year had a flavour, Coca-Cola’s 2025 would be classic cola with a splash of India. The beverage giant ended the year with steady global growth, a jump in profits and a tidy nine-figure gain from refranchising parts of its bottling business in the Indian market.
For the fourth quarter, Coca-Cola reported net revenues of $11.8 billion, up 2 per cent year on year, while organic revenues grew 5 per cent, powered by a 4 per cent rise in concentrate sales and a modest 1 per cent increase in price and mix.
For the full year, net revenues reached $47.9 billion, also up 2 per cent, with organic revenues climbing 5 per cent on the back of a 4 per cent improvement in price and mix and a 1 per cent increase in concentrate sales.
Profitability told a more dramatic story. Full-year operating income rose 38 per cent to $13.8 billion, while net income attributable to shareowners jumped 23 per cent to $13.1 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the year came in at $3.04, up 23 per cent.
The December quarter was more uneven. Operating income fell 32 per cent to $1.84 billion, largely due to one-off items including a $960 million non-cash impairment linked to the BODYARMOR trademark. Even so, comparable earnings per share for the quarter rose 6 per cent to $0.58.
Cash generation remained strong. The company reported $7.4 billion in operating cash flow for the year and $5.3 billion in free cash flow, or $11.4 billion excluding a one-time fairlife payment.
India adds a financial fizz
India figured not just in the growth narrative but also in the transaction line. During the year, Coca-Cola recorded a $102 million gain from the refranchising of bottling operations in certain Indian territories.
The company had already been reshaping its bottling footprint across markets, including multiple refranchising moves in India across 2024 and 2025 as part of a broader asset-light strategy.
The impact of those structural shifts showed up in the bottling investments segment, where unit case volume declined 6 per cent in the fourth quarter, largely due to a fall in India and the effect of refranchising activity.
Asia Pacific holds steady
Across the Asia Pacific region, unit case volume was flat in the quarter. Growth in water, sports drinks, coffee, tea and the core Coca-Cola trademark was offset by declines in sparkling flavours.
Operating income in the region dropped 36 per cent for the quarter, reflecting higher input costs and currency headwinds, even as the company said it gained value share in several markets during the year.
Dividend discipline and a cautious outlook
Coca-Cola continued to lean on its dependable dividend story, paying $8.8 billion in dividends during 2025 and extending its streak of annual increases to 63 years. Capital expenditure for the year stood at $2.1 billion, up 2 per cent.
For 2026, the company expects organic revenue growth of 4 to 5 per cent and comparable earnings per share growth of 7 to 8 per cent, suggesting another year of steady, if unspectacular, expansion.
For now, though, the takeaway from 2025 is simple: global growth may have been modest, but with profits up sharply and India contributing a $102 million refranchising gain, Coca-Cola’s financial year still had plenty of fizz.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
