PepsiCo Chairman to Resign; Profit Rises

PepsiCo Inc. said that Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Enrico, who helped the No. 2 U.S. soft-drink company successfully spin off its restaurant and bottling businesses, will retire by the end of 2002, as the New York-based snack food and soft-drink giant posted better-than-expected third-quarter profit. PepsiCo expects long-term earnings-per-share growth of 12% to 13%, Chief Financial Officer Indra Nooyi said. The maker of Frito Lay chips, Pepsi and Mountain Dew sodas and Tropicana juices, PepsiCo said third-quarter net income rose to $587 million, or 40 cents a share, from profit from operations of $507 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier. Analysts’ average estimate was 39 cents, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Sales rose 7.2% to $4.91 billion from $4.58 billion. Shares of PepsiCo, which controls more than half the U.S. snack-chip market and about 30% of the soft-drink market, fell 88 cents to close at $45.13 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares touched a new 52-week high of $48.44 Tuesday before closing at $46, well above a 52-week low of $29.69 in early March.