Coca-Cola to focus on India, China

Friday, 07 May 2004, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: The new Irish chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola intends to focus on India and China to boost sales after years of sluggish growth. Neville Isdell, 60, from Downpatrick in Ireland, has been named the CEO elect of Coca-Cola. He will take over from the current chief when he retires this summer. Isdell is an executive known for his diplomatic skills, who moved to Africa at the age of 10 with his father, a fingerprint and ballistics expert. The appointment ends a three-month search in which several top CEOs, including Gillette's James Kilts, removed themselves from the running, leaving Isdell the only candidate to be offered the job. Speaking after his appointment was announced, Isdell said he intended to focus on countries like China and India to boost sales after years of sluggish growth. "I in no way accept the growth of Coca-Cola is over," he said. "I believe there is at least one and possibly two Coca-Cola companies to be built out there in places like China and in places like India. "It is my job to prove by the results that I was and am the best choice." In the early 1980s, Isdell was assigned to turn around Coca-Cola's sales in the Philippines, a key market because Coca-Cola had just invested $13 million in a troubled bottler. Under his command European profits rose from $1.26 billion in 1995 to $1.47 billion in 1998.
Source: IANS
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