PepsiCo to Invest $250 Million in Vietnam over Next Three Years

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Aug 16, 2010, 09:00 ET

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), the world's second largest food and beverage business, today announced that it plans to invest US$250 million in Vietnam over the next three years.

"I am pleased to announce that over the next three years we expect to invest $250 million in our food and beverage businesses in Vietnam," said Mr. Saad Abdul-Latif, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa, to a gathering of employees, business partners and community leaders in Ho Chi Minh City. "Vietnam represents one of PepsiCo's most exciting growth opportunities, and this investment is a reflection of our confidence in this dynamic country and the talented people who live and work here."

The new investment will be allocated to a variety of projects, including increasing manufacturing capacity, adding marketplace equipment like coolers, further strengthening existing brands and broadening the company's product portfolio via innovation. The investment is in addition to PepsiCo's investment over the past two years in two new manufacturing facilities, a new foods plant in Binh Duong and a new beverages plant in Can Tho.

Mr. Abdul-Latif also highlighted PepsiCo's commitment in Vietnam to the company's Performance with Purpose agenda of achieving business success while making a positive imprint on society. He cited the company's move to provide more eating and drinking options for Vietnamese consumers. In addition to carbonated soft drinks, the company offers Tropicana Twister juice drinks, Aquafina water, Lipton ready-to-drink tea, and two new isotonic drinks, 7-Up Revive and Sting Pro. And the company's Poca brand snacks line includes a range of nut-based snacks. He also hailed the work of local employees in the community, where PepsiCo is a large contributor to social causes such as healthcare and education.

"I am most proud of the corporate social responsibility initiatives undertaken by our team here," remarked Mr. Abdul-Latif. "While we are focused on developing our business and our people, we are equally committed to being an exemplary corporate citizen of Vietnam."

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

Cautionary Statement

Statements in this release that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. They inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences and tastes or otherwise; damage to PepsiCo's reputation; trade consolidation, the loss of any key customer, or failure to maintain good relationships with PepsiCo's bottling partners; PepsiCo's ability to hire or retain key employees or a highly skilled and diverse workforce; unstable political conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the countries where PepsiCo operates; changes in the legal and regulatory environment; PepsiCo's ability to build and sustain proper information technology infrastructure, successfully implement its ongoing business process transformation initiative or outsource certain functions effectively; unfavorable economic conditions and increased volatility in foreign exchange rates; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; increased costs, disruption of supply or shortages of raw materials and other supplies; disruption of PepsiCo's supply chain; climate change or changes in legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change; PepsiCo's ability to realize the anticipated cost savings and other benefits expected from the mergers with The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. and PepsiAmericas, Inc.; failure to renew collective bargaining agreements or strikes or work stoppages; and any downgrade of PepsiCo's credit rating resulting in an increase of its future borrowing costs.

For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the SEC, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE PepsiCo