• Reported earnings per share of $0.47 for the third quarter, which included a $0.01 per share negative impact on equity income resulting from a non-recurring charge from bottlers.
  
  
• The Company generated $1.2 billion cash flow from operations in the third quarter and $3.4 billion on a year-to-date basis.
  
  
• Worldwide unit case volume grew 5 percent in the third quarter and 5 percent for the first nine months of the year.
  

ATLANTA, October 16, 2002 - The Coca-Cola Company today reported third quarter earnings per share of $0.47, which includes a $0.01 per share non-recurring charge from Latin American equity investees and the negative impact of $0.01 per share from foreign currencies. Prior year third quarter earnings per share were $0.43 on a reported basis and $0.45 when adjusted for SFAS No. 142. The prior year third quarter earnings per share included a $0.02 non-recurring gain and $0.03 per share of incremental marketing.

Cash flow characteristics remain strong as net cash from operating activities was $1.2 billion in the quarter and $3.4 billion for first nine months of the year. After investing activities, the Company has generated approximately $2.7 billion of cash flow on a year-to-date basis, and expects strong cash flows to continue.

Worldwide unit case volume increased more than 5 percent in the quarter and 5 percent for the first nine months, reflecting 9 percent volume growth in North America and 4 percent internationally in the quarter. Unit case volume benefited from the recent strategic acquisitions and license agreements on brands such as Evian, Danone waters, Seagram's Mixers, and Risco.

Doug Daft, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We continued to build on our progress in the first half of the year to generate year-to-date carbonated soft drinks growth of 2 percent and non-carbonated beverages growth of 27 percent, while continuing to enhance system profitability. While growth in North America was very strong, our worldwide results were below our internal projections due to extremely poor weather conditions in parts of Europe and Asia. Further, we have not yet seen the improvements in macroeconomic conditions that we anticipated when we set our earnings objectives at the beginning of 2002."

Mr. Daft continued, "However, as economic conditions are not expected to improve in the fourth quarter, we may not recoup the earnings impact of factors beyond our control that affected our business in the third quarter. As a result, it is possible that the Company's full-year earnings may be $0.01 - $0.02 per share below the current consensus expectations of $1.78.

"Even as economic conditions remain challenging, we are confident that our growth rates will continue to exceed the worldwide industry trends in all major beverage categories," concluded Mr. Daft.

The Company's earnings outlook includes the impact of expensing the fair value of employee stock options, based on transition rules required by the current accounting standards. However, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued an exposure draft that may provide the Company with a choice of transition methods. A final decision regarding the transition method to be adopted by the Company will be determined after the FASB finalizes any new accounting guidance, which is expected to be later this year. The Company currently expects to grant employee stock options in December of this year.

Year-to-Date Financial Highlights

• Nine-month earnings per share of $0.94 on a reported basis.
  
• Before non-recurring items and the impact of currencies, earnings per share were $1.43.
  
• Cash from operations of $3.4 billion on a year-to-date basis.
  
• The Company repurchased 9.3 million shares of common stock during the first nine months under its existing share repurchase program.
  
• Year-to-date results included several non-recurring items. These items included a non-cash charge primarily related to investments in Latin America caused by the economic crisis in Argentina, a gain from the sale of Kaiser in Brazil, a charge from equity investees in Latin America, and the implementation of a new accounting standard.

Operational Highlights

North America

• Unit case growth of 9 percent for the quarter and 6 percent on a year-to-date basis, led by strong growth in both carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. Unit case volume in the quarter benefited from several strategic transactions involving Seagram's Mixers, Evian, and the Danone water brands. Excluding these brands, unit cases grew 5 percent in the third quarter, led by strong growth in the bottle/can business and from The Minute Maid Company.
  
• Carbonated soft drink growth in the quarter was led by 4 percent growth in Trademark Coca-Cola with strong performance from Vanilla Coke and diet Coke with Lemon.
  
• Non-carbonated beverages growth continued to be led by Dasani, Powerade, Minute Maid Lemonade and Simply Orange.

Latin America

• Unit case volume increased 1 percent in the quarter and 1 percent in the first nine months versus the prior year. Unit case volume in the quarter benefited slightly from the Company's license agreement with Panamco for Risco, a water brand in Mexico, effective at the beginning of September.
  
• Results continued to benefit from strong performance in Northern Latin America, offset by the very challenging economic conditions in markets such as Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil.

Europe, Eurasia and Middle East

• Unit case volume increased 2 percent in the quarter and 4 percent for the first nine months.
  
• While the Company had solid growth in markets such as Great Britain, Spain, and Russia, third quarter results were negatively impacted by extremely poor weather conditions and floods throughout many parts of Europe in July and August. September, in contrast, reflected strong growth.

Asia

• Unit case growth of 9 percent for the quarter and 11 percent for the first nine months.
  
• Strong growth was driven by China, India and the Philippines.
  
• Japan had solid growth, with the exception of July, when results were negatively impacted by extremely poor weather conditions.

Africa

• Volume growth of 3 percent for the quarter and 7 percent for the first nine months.
  
• The Southern and East Africa Division continues to generate strong growth while Northern Africa's results have been negatively impacted by boycotts against American brands.

Financial Review

Operating Results -

Revenues for the quarter increased 13 percent, reflecting a 7 percent increase in gallon shipments, pricing of concentrate and the impact from structural change (primarily the consolidation of the bottling operations in Germany) and the inclusion of Evian and the Danone water brands, partially offset by negative country mix. Cost of goods sold increased at a rate greater than revenues resulting from the consolidation of lower margin bottling operations (primarily Germany) and from recent water brand transactions in North America.

Selling, administrative and general expenses increased only slightly during the quarter on a reported basis. Excluding the impact of structural changes and $0.03 per share of incremental marketing from the prior year, selling, administrative and general expenses increased slightly as compared to the prior year.

Operating income was negatively impacted by approximately 1 percent during the quarter and 3 percent for the first nine months because of the relative strength of the U.S. dollar when compared to the prior year. Year-over-year weakening of the Japanese Yen, the Argentine Peso, the Venezuelan Bolivar, the Mexican Peso and the Brazilian Real drove the negative currency impact, partially offset by a strengthening Euro.

Non-Operating Items -

Equity income has improved during the year because of the reduced amortization expense resulting from the implementation of SFAS No. 142, structural change, and due to the overall improving health of the Coca-Cola bottling system around the world. As previously mentioned, third quarter results were negatively impacted by $0.01 per share from a non-recurring charge recorded by the Company's equity investees in Latin America.

The results for the first nine months included a first quarter non-recurring cash gain of approximately $0.01 per share after tax, resulting from the sale of the Company's ownership interest in Kaiser in Brazil. Approximately half the gain was recorded in "Other income (loss) - net," with the remaining portion recorded in "Equity income".

During the first quarter, the Company also recorded a non-cash charge in "Other income (loss) - net" of $157 million primarily related to investments in Latin America caused by the currency devaluation and economic crisis in Argentina. The Company expects to realize a minimal tax benefit from this asset write-down; therefore, the impact on diluted earnings per share is approximately $0.06 per share after tax.

The reported tax rate for the first nine months was 27.9 percent as it was impacted by the first quarter non-recurring items referred to above. Excluding the impact of the Kaiser gain and the write down of investments referred to above, the effective tax rate on operations was 27 percent for the first nine months.

After excluding the benefit of the Kaiser gain and the write down of investments referred to above, the "Other income (loss) - net" line of the income statement reflects a $62 million loss for the third quarter and a $157 million loss for the first nine months. The majority of these amounts relate to exchange losses resulting from the balance sheet remeasurement of receivables and other assets, primarily in Latin America and Africa, resulting from the currency devaluation and economic crisis.

"Other income (loss) - net" in the prior year third quarter included a non-recurring non-cash gain of approximately $90 million pre tax, or slightly over $0.02 per share after tax, resulting from the issuance of common stock by Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) to acquire operations previously owned by the Herb bottler.

Balance Sheet -

The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2002, as compared to the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2001, was significantly impacted by the Company's consolidation of its German bottling operation, Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetraenke AG (CCEAG), as of February 2002. Prior to the consolidation, the Company's investment in CCEAG was recorded as an equity method investment. Upon consolidation of CCEAG, the individual balances were included in the Company's respective balance sheet line items.

The consolidation of CCEAG was the main component of the following changes in the Company's balance sheet from December 31, 2001 to September 30, 2002: (1) $836 million decrease in "Equity method investments - other, principally bottling companies;" (2) $1,234 million increase in property, plant and equipment; (3) $945 million increase in "Trademarks and other intangible assets;" and (4) a $1,238 million increase in "Other liabilities." Another item impacting the Company's balance sheet was the implementation of SFAS No. 142, "Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets," effective January 1, 2002.

The $1,616 million increase in the Company's long-term debt was due to both the consolidation of CCEAG, which had the effect of increasing debt by approximately $800 million, of which approximately $750 million is classified as long-term, and the issuance by the Company of $750 million of U.S. dollar notes.

Accounting Pronouncements

EITF No. 01-09 "Accounting for Consideration Given By a Vendor to a Customer or Reseller of the Vendor's Products" was effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2002, and it requires certain selling expenses incurred by the Company to be reclassified as deductions from revenue. In the third quarter of 2001, $702 million ($1.9 billion in the first nine months of 2001) of payments made to bottlers and customers which were previously classified as Selling, Administrative and General Expenses were reclassified to a reduction in net revenues in accordance with this EITF consensus. The full-year amount of the reclassification for 2001 is approximately $2.5 billion.

In June 2001, the FASB issued SFAS No. 142, "Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets." Under the new rules, goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets are no longer amortized but are reviewed annually for impairment. Separable intangible assets that do not have an indefinite life will continue to be amortized over their useful lives. The amortization provisions of SFAS No. 142 apply to goodwill and intangible assets acquired after June 30, 2001. With respect to goodwill and intangible assets acquired prior to July 1, 2001, the Company began applying the new accounting rules beginning January 1, 2002.

The required adoption of SFAS No. 142 is considered a change in accounting principle and the cumulative effect of adopting this standard resulted in a non-cash after-tax charge in the first quarter 2002 of $926 million. This amount does not affect the Company's on-going operations and represents intangible assets for both the Company and its equity affiliates. The adoption of the new accounting standard will result in a reduction in annual amortization expense of approximately $60 million, and an increase in equity income of approximately $150 million annually.

During the prior year, the Company implemented SFAS No. 133, "Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities," and the cumulative effect of the accounting change was a one-time, non-cash charge of $10 million.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the third quarter 2002 results on October 16, 2002 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). The Company invites investors to listen to the live audiocast of the conference call at the Company's website, www.coca-cola.com.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company and is the leading producer and marketer of soft drinks. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's best-known brand, The Coca-Cola Company markets four of the world's top five soft drink brands, including diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Through the world's largest distribution system, consumers in nearly 200 countries enjoy The Coca-Cola Company's products at a rate of more than 1 billion servings each day. For more information about The Coca-Cola Company, please visit our website at www.coca-cola.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(UNAUDITED)
(In millions)

Nine Months Ended September 30,