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"The Quaker Oats Company  The Quaker Oats Company (&amp;quot;Quaker&amp;quot;) is the leader in sports drinks globally, the fourth largest global cereal company, and it also has a sizeable convenience food business. Operations exhibit the following strengths: (1) The brand portfolio is strong, if not overly deep, with over 80% of sales in categories where it holds leading market shares. Quaker has had good success with recent product introductions. (2) Quaker has divested a number of its less profitable divisions to focus on its core areas, causing sales to fall to about $5.0 billion, even as EBITDA levels have improved to the $800-$900 million range. Profitability is strong compared to peers and trending up, with EBITDA margin in the 17%-19% range and ROC above 30%. (3) Diversification by product category is strong and lends stability to results. The U.S. food area is the largest division with close to 60% of sales and slightly larger portion of operating profits, with Gatorade contributing the remainder. (4) Recent restructuring charges have improved productivity, including the F2000 charge that is estimated to save about $70 million by 2002. (5) The balance sheet should remain above average with good coverage ratios as cash flow is strong (now in the $600 million range) and should fund internal needs over the near future."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.just-drinks.com/news/dbrs-releases-benchmark-report-on-quaker-oats-pepsico-and-coca-cola_id78849.aspx>