Investor Relations

PepsiCo's annual report is more of a slick marketing piece rather than an economical piece. Aside from providing all the pertinent information for their investors, the annual report is visually appealing as it is full of colorful pictures of PepsiCo products and graphs of the company's progress. The report features a letter to the shareholders, detailing the company's story, recent successes, as well as a picture of the CEO Indra Nooyi, a woman interestingly enough. The goal is clearly not simple compliance but PepsiCo fully taking advantage of the opportunity to push their company and possibly attract more investors.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=78265&p=irol-reportsannual

As previously mentioned, the letter to shareholders appears in the company's annual report. The messages delivered in the letter are very positive--constantly highlighting the company's accomplishments and honors. The letter emphasizes PepsiCo's work to support the company's future growth which should make shareholders feel comfortable in their investment. The tone of the letter is extremely goal oriented and informative. It comes across credible in context but at the same time it is not like a company to feature its set backs or mistakes therefore the whole story may not be there. The idea of the letter is not to turn investors away but to keep them and attract more.

The latest news release on PepsiCo's earnings, I would say, is not very reader friendly and definitely written in technical language. CEO Indra Nooyi is quoted as saying, "Our strong top and bottom line results in 2007 once again demonstrated the balance and strength of our global portfolio. All of our segments posted solid results for the year." The statement is positive but vague, almost unbelievable because of the fact that it is so vague. It would instill confidence in investors because it does make PepsiCo appear strong as a company, but it is not enthralling enough to lure more investors in. I would have the CEO pinpoint a specific achievement that the company had been trying for in the last news release.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=78265&p=irol-financial_releases