Coca-Cola Enterprises Pops on Profit

ATLANTA (TheStreet) -- Soft drink bottlers are all the rage these days, especially when they pop the cap on expectations.

Coca-Cola Enterprises(CCE Quote), Coca-Cola's(KO Quote) largest bottler, swung into profit in the second-quarter and raised its full-year outlook.

Shares of the company jumped 3% to $18.91 in afternoon trading.

During the quarter, the company earned $313 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.17 billion, or $6.48 a share. Last year's results were weighed down by a hefty impairment charge.

Excluding restructuring charges, Coca-Cola Enterprises earned 67 cents a share, far surpassing Wall Street's expectations of 51 cents.

Revenue fell to $5.91 billion from $5.94 billion.

The company now expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.44 to $1.49 a share, up from prior forecast of $1.24 to $1.29 a share.

Coca-Cola Enterprises also announced that it increased its annual dividend payout by 4 cents a share, or about 14%.

On Tuesday, one of PepsiCo.'s(PEP Quote)bottlers, PepsiAmericas(PAS Quote), posted a 32% decline in its second-quarter profit, hurt by the stronger dollar and charges related to a joint venture.

Pepsi has been in talks to acquirePepsiAmericas and its largest bottler Pepsi Bottling(PBG Quote), but the two rejected the soft-drink maker's first offer, saying it was too low.

--Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.