Coca-Cola Enterprises 1Q profit falls 47 percent

For the quarter ended March 29, net income fell to $8 million, or 2 cents per share, from $15 million, or 3 cents per share, in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding restructuring charges and other items, the company earned 8 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 10 cents per share.

Revenue grew 7 percent to $4.89 billion from $4.57 billion in the first quarter of 2007. Analysts anticipated revenue of $4.91 billion.

The revenue growth came mainly from the company's European operations. Revenue in that division rose 16 percent while revenue in the company's North America unit grew just 4 percent.

Higher prices only partly offset commodity cost increases in both divisions. In North America, cost of sales per case grew 9 percent while prices per case rose 4.5 percent.

Volume the number of cases sold either directly or indirectly to consumers was flat in North America, excluding the impact of a calendar change. In Europe, volume rose 7 percent, excluding the calendar shift, the company said.

The company said its North America performance was impacted by soft economic conditions. Consumers have increasingly been cutting their discretionary spending to better handle high gas and food prices and the weak housing market.