Keurig Dr Pepper reports higher sales as it prepares to split

Profit falls while the company keeps its early 2027 separation target

Keurig Dr Pepper reported stronger second-quarter sales but lower profit attributable to common shareholders as it continued work to divide its operations into two companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company said profit attributable to common shareholders fell to $60 million, or 4 cents a share, from $547 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 57 cents a share, compared with the 54 cents a share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Net sales rose 75% to $7.31 billion, ahead of Wall Street models for $7.23 billion. The increase came as the company continued preparing to separate its coffee and refreshment-beverage businesses.

The planned coffee company would include Peet’s and Keurig, while the other company would focus on refreshment beverages. Keurig Dr Pepper said the separation remains scheduled for early 2027.

The company’s U.S. refreshment-beverage segment reported a 10% increase in net sales to $2.9 billion. Volume and mix growth contributed 6.5%, while favorable net price realization contributed 3.5%.

Sales in Keurig Dr Pepper’s international unit rose 20% to $664 million. JDE Peet’s reported net sales of $2.8 billion, which Chief Executive Tom Cofer said helped balance pressures in the company’s U.S. coffee segment.

The U.S. coffee business reported net sales of $918 million, down 3.2% from the prior year. Declines in volume and mix outweighed higher prices, the company said.

Keurig Dr Pepper agreed last year to buy JDE Peet’s, the owner of Peet’s Coffee, for $18 billion. The transaction preceded the planned separation of the company’s coffee brands into a separate public company.

Cofer said Keurig Dr Pepper made meaningful progress on its integration and separation work during the quarter. “At the midpoint of the year, we remain on track to achieve our 2026 financial and transformation commitments while preparing for a successful separation in early 2027,” he said.

For the year, Keurig Dr Pepper continues to expect constant-currency adjusted earnings-per-share growth in the low double digits. The company also continues to forecast net sales between $25.9 billion and $26.4 billion.