What a selection of the world’s top brands had to say about their performance and outlook during the first quarter of the 2026 calendar year.
PepsiCo (16.04.26)
What’s the top line? Q1 organic revenue was up 2.6%, with guidance unchanged from Q4 at 2-4% organic revenue growth for the year. This was in part due to cost reductions in North America following a productivity program launched in early 2025. Core operating margin was up 10 basis points, and growth rates on ‘permissible and functional’ brands were up to double digits in some cases.
Executive vice president and chief financial officer Stephen Schmitt said he’s pleased with the company’s performance, and plans to ‘continue to play offense’ and invest in value in North America, where he promised ‘additional advertising and marketing’.
CEO Ramon Laguarta added that they were ‘optimising our advertising and marketing’ and that the company is ‘actually a little bit ahead of where we thought we would be by now’.
Any interesting insights? Functional and health-conscious foods remain a focus, with Laguarta crediting brands like Naked and Gatorade with bringing in new customers seeking ‘no colors, no artificial colors, no artificial flavors’. He added that there are now ‘two types of consumers coming into the category’, with lapsed customers being brought back to snacking brands, like Lays and Doritos, thanks to affordable multipacks and multi-serve options.
Events marketing will be a key for the year ahead. PepsiCo is sponsoring the Fifa World Cup, which Laguarta called a ‘very big opportunity to engage consumers’ holistically through space gains and activations. In particular he highlighted the ‘No Lays No Game’ campaign, which he said would ‘link Lays to the occasion of sports watching and making sure that when there are gatherings of consumers watching the game, this is activated’.
Netflix (16.04.26)
What’s the top line? Netflix beat Wall Street expectations for both revenue (which increased 16% year on year to $12.25bn) and earnings in Q1, although the result was not enough to keep investors happy, with shares sliding 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
The drop may be a reaction to the announcement that co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from his role as executive chairman in June.
Forward guidance also likely had an effect. Netflix projected a 1.5% decline in operating margins for the April-to-June quarter, signalling some near-term pressure on profitability even as top-line growth remains strong.
This was also the first earnings call since Netflix dropped out of the bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery, with co-CEO Ted Sarandos saying that Netflix had put ‘emotion and ego aside’ to walk away as the cost of the deal grew.
Any interesting insights? Management used the earnings call to double down on three strategic pillars: live content (especially sports), advertising, and gaming — all increasingly central to Netflix’s pitch as more than just a streaming service.
Co-CEO Gregory Peters said programmatic buying is growing strongly and is ‘on its way’ to representing more than half of non-live ad spend. Netflix now has more than 4,000 advertisers globally, up 70% year on year in 2025, signalling steady traction for its ad-supported tier.
For live sports, Sarandos said that Netflix is still focused on ‘big breakthrough events’ rather than full-season rights. He pointed to the World Baseball Classic as a standout success, noting it was the most-watched programme Netflix has ever had in Japan, and the largest baseball streaming event of all time, with 31.4 million viewers.
He was clear that sports is part of a broader live strategy that also includes cultural events such as the recent comeback tour by Korean pop group BTS.
Gaming also remains an unexpectedly strong engagement driver. Peters highlighted retention benefits and framed gaming as a major long-term opportunity, citing a global consumer spend market of roughly $150bn, excluding China and Russia. The Netflix Game Controller app becoming the most downloaded in the US App Store wasn’t mentioned by management but reflects the popularity gaming has on the platform.
Peters spoke about the four key areas for gamers; narrative, puzzle, mainstream and kids. For the latter, Netflix has launched the Netflix Playground app, featuring ad-free games designed for children under eight and included with all Netflix memberships.
Peters said: ‘Our goal here is to become a destination where kids’ favorite worlds come to life through games and through interactive experiences.’
Finally, management was asked to spell out the business model on podcasts. Sarandos said there were early signs of incremental engagement, with evidence that podcast content helps fill ‘daytime gaps’ in viewing and boosts mobile consumption, where engagement has traditionally been weaker.
Tesco (16.4.26)
What’s the top line? Sales increased 4.3% to £66.6bn in the year ending 28 February, while pre-tax profit rose 8.5% to £2.4bn, and its share of the UK market hit 28.5%, which is the highest it’s been in a decade.
Any interesting insights? Group chief executive Ken Murphy said that the conflict in the Middle East made it harder to predict what was going to happen this year, but he added that Tesco is yet to see changes in shopping behaviours.
Tesco Media, the supermarket’s retail media platform, ran over 12,500 campaigns in the financial year just gone, according to Murphy, and over 90% of advertisers increased the amount they spent on the platform.
Murphy said that advertisers are ploughing more into the platform because they’re getting more than just ad space.
‘They recognise the combination of the insights that we provide through Dunnhumby [Tesco’s data analytics platform], our ability to build audiences that are a lot more tailored to them through our Sphere [retail media] platform, and the investments we’re making with Adobe and Kevel and others to make that whole retail experience a lot more seamless and cost-effective is really, really working for them,’ said Murphy.
Primark (21.4.26)
What’s the top line? Primark is going to split from Associated British Foods (ABF) and become a standalone business. The demerger is expected to complete by the end of 2027, and the fashion retailer will likely list on the FTSE 100.
In the half-year ending 28 February, Primark’s revenue increased 2% (constant currency), but like-for-like sales declined 2.7%, and profit was down, too.
Any interesting insights? In September Primark launched its first integrated UK campaign, In Denim We Can, which ‘delivered strong ROI and improved brand health’ according to the brand’s new CEO, Eoin Tonge. He also said its second full-funnel campaign, Shockingly Chic, was looking good, in terms of results. Both campaigns included in-store, TV, paid social, CRM and out-of-home advertising.
Primark’s Major Finds activations got the most air time, though. The social media and influencer-led promotions highlighting in-demand bargains in womenswear were praised for helping to remind customers what Primark is all about.
‘Firstly [they’re] helping to tackle the price perception,’ said Tonge, ‘But they’re also selling out and driving footfall into stores with attachment buys. Finally, they’re working very well for us online in terms of sales and in digital engagement.’
While UK Womenswear has been the focus of Primark’s increased marketing investment up until now, the company says it is increasing local marketing across Europe, especially with influencers, targeted digital ads, and CRM.
George Weston, the CEO of ABF, noted that across Europe demand was beginning to weaken as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, however. ‘There must be a risk that if the conflict persists, consumer spending will keep on being subdued,’ he said.
The US is next on the agenda for the brand, which has taken a step back to evaluate its target consumer there.
Danone (22.4.26)
What’s the top line? Like-for-like sales in Q1 increased 2.7%, reaching €6.7bn ($7.8bn). Chief financial officer Jürgen Esser attributed the growth primarily to demand for functional dairy products. High-protein yoghurts are ‘flying off the shelves’ in Europe, apparently.
Any interesting insights? Esser thinks the acquisition of Huel (announced in March 2026 for approximately €1bn) will enhance Danone’s ‘presence in the premium functional nutrition category’, and he highlighted Huel’s ‘direct-to-consumer channel management’ and ‘state-of-the-art digital marketing skills’ as key assets.
In fact, Esser talked about a broader shift towards ‘science-based’ marketing across all of Danone.
Danone will continue to focus on its functional and health-focused brands, which are growing faster than the average of the food and beverage market. The demand for these kinds of products was sufficient to compensate for the impact of a targeted infant milk formula recall that Danone was forced to issue earlier in the year.
Branded waters are another category which performed well for Danone over the previous quarter, at 2.3% like-for-like growth.
