PEP PepsiCo Inc

Snack-and-beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. said profit in its latest quarter fell, due mostly to charges stemming from accounting changes in its Venezuelan business.

Excluding the Venezuelan impact, per-share profit beat analysts' expectations. In addition, the maker of Cheetos and Gatorade further lifted its earnings guidance for the year, now expecting per-share profit to grow 9%, a percentage point higher than its most recent estimate.

Venezuela, where the company derives about 2% of revenue and profit, has been a point of weakness for PepsiCo. In the latest quarter, the company wrote down the value of its investments there and took a charge of $1.4 billion, or 92 cents a share. Beginning in the current quarter, PepsiCo said it would no longer include results from its Venezuelan subsidiaries.

PepsiCo continues to grapple with weakening foreign currencies, which shaved 12 percentage points off the top line. Lower overhead costs helped counter that effect and helped push gross margin higher for the 13th straight quarter.

In all, the company reported a profit of $533 million, or 36 cents a share, down from $2.01 billion, or $1.32, a year earlier. Excluding the aforementioned charge related to Venezuelan operations, among other items, per-share profit fell a penny to $1.35.

Revenue declined 5.2% to $16.33 billion. Organic revenue grew 7.4%, Pepsi said.

Analysts projected $1.26 in earnings per share and $16.15 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Overhead expenses fell 3.3% to $6.14 billion. Gross margin rose to 54.7% from 53.6% a year earlier.

Shares in the company, up about 1% this year through Monday's close, added 2.3% premarket.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 06, 2015 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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