The Top 100 beverage companies once again saw a change at its top spot. Based on 2015 financial sales, The Coca-Cola Co. reclaimed the No. 1 spot despite experiencing a sales decrease in comparison to 2014. The changing of the guard was a result of Anheuser-Busch InBev seeing dollar sales contraction of nearly $4 million. However, with its pending merger with SABMiller plc, the international brewer will be in prime position to reclaim the spot. Mergers and acquisitions had impacts on other areas throughout the Top 100 as Mondelez International and D.E. Master Blenders were removed from the list in place of Jacobs Douwe Egbers, the company formed from the coffee and tea brands of Mondelez and D.E. Once again the halfway point continued to rise as the No. 50 company, Trinchero Family Estates, had an estimated $667 million in sales. This is up from the $641 million last year’s No. 50 slot, National Beverage Corp., had in 2014.
Coca-Cola maintained its spot as the No. 1 beverage brand on the U.K.’s BrandFinance Global 500 list for 2015 with a value of more than $35 million. Pepsi and Red Bull filled out the Top 3, making all three nonalcohol brands. However, alcohol brands still were represented with Johnnie Walker at No. 4. Other alcohol brands on the list for 2015 were Bud Light, Heineken, Moutai, a Chinese distilled liquor called baijiu, and Budweiser.
| Coca-Cola | 35,797 |
|---|---|
| Pepsi | 21,379 |
| Red Bull | 7,389 |
| Johnie Walker | 5,603 |
| NesCafe | 5,216 |
| Bud Light | 5,176 |
| Heineken | 5,094 |
| Moutai | 4,483 |
| Budwiser | 4.322 |
| Sprite | 3,973 |
Source: BrandFinance Global 500, 2015
The saying goes that “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” Anheuser-Busch InBev is doing just that by maintaining its No. 1 spot in capital expenditures. PepsiCo. Inc. jumped up to the No. 3 spot despite a decrease in spending in 2015, while The Coca-Cola Co. moved up from No. 6 to No. 4 with an extra $152 million in spending in 2015.
| Anheuser-Busch InBev | 4,300,000 |
|---|---|
| Nestlé SA* | 3,872,000 |
| PepsiCo Inc.* | 2,700 |
| The Coca-Cola Co. | 2,553 |
| Unilever Group* | 2,418 |
| SABMiller plc | 1,394 |
| Davide Campari | 1,152 |
| Dr Pepper Snapple Group | 179 |
| Kraft Heinz | 648 |
| Molson Coors | 269 |
Source: Reported and publicly available estimates of capital expenditures among public companies in 2015.
*Includes cap ex spending against non-beverage products
Fans are coming out in masses for their favorite beverage brands. Consumers continue to show their love, or should we say “like,” through Facebook. Coca- Cola continues to distance itself from other brands as its fewer than 3 million fans away from the 100 million mark. This year also saw Dunkin Donuts fall off the list while Fanta made an appearance at No. 9.
| Coca-Cola | 97,571,431 |
|---|---|
| Red Bull | 45,376,132 |
| Starbucks | 36,183,986 |
| Pepsi | 35,218,591 |
| NesCafé | 32,902,026 |
| Monster Energy | 24,313,996 |
| Sprite | 21,119,199 |
| Heineken | 20,817,657 |
| Fanta | 17,765,951 |
| Dr Pepper | 14,875,771 |
Source: Search conducted May 10, according to socialbakers.com and individual page visits.
Keeping a company alive isn’t possible without a team. Although Nestlé SA saw a decrease in employees, the company still holds the No. 1 spot, followed by PepsiCo Inc. and Starbucks. Unilever and Danone found their way back on the list this year, with Unilever taking back the No. 4 spot from Anheuser-Busch InBev.
| Nestlé SA | 335,000 |
|---|---|
| PepsiCo Inc.* | 263,000 |
| Starbucks | 238,000 |
| Unilever Group | 160,000 |
| Anheuser-Busch InBev | 150,000 |
| LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton* | 125,346 |
| The Coca-Cola Co. | 123,200 |
| Danone Group | 99,781 |
| Henieken N.V. | 73,767 |
| SABMiller plc | 69,000 |
*Includes employees in non-beverage divisions.
Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show steady population growth for California since the 2010 Census. It looks as though that’s not the only thing growing in the Golden State as it increased its number of beverage companies by one to maintain a strong lead in the location with the most headquarters. New York stayed firm at No. 2 while there was a six-way tie among states and countries for the No. 3 position.
| California | 17 |
|---|---|
| New York | 10 |
| Canada | 4 |
| Colorado | 4 |
| Illinois | 4 |
| Massachusetts | 4 |
| United Kingdom | 4 |
| Washington | 4 |
| Florida | 3 |
| France | 3 |
*Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas also have three.
The beverage market sure is juicy, especially when it comes to Top 100 players. Juice and juice drinks continues to be the top category that companies play in, followed by wine and beer. Not too much changed in regards to positions except for spirits jumping water, and coffee and ready-to-drink coffee.
| Anheuser-Busch InBev | 4,300,000 |
|---|---|
| Nestlé SA* | 3,872,000 |
| PepsiCo Inc.* | 2,700 |
| The Coca-Cola Co. | 2,553 |
| Unilever Group* | 2,418 |
| SABMiller plc | 1,394 |
| Davide Campari | 1,152 |
| Dr Pepper Snapple Group | 179 |
| Kraft Heinz | 648 |
| Molson Coors | 269 |
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