NEW YORK, JAN 29: Coca-Cola Co's top officials said on Friday they are still aiming for annual earnings growth of around 15 per cent as they sought to persuade investors a new managerial regime can put the fizz back into the company's results."We view the recent realignment as positive moves to grow earnings and volume in the future," newly appointed Coca-Cola chief Douglas Daft told investors and analysts in New York, adding that Coke's new earnings range for growth "will not be below the mid-teens." Daft said earlier this week that the company's earnings outlook and volume estimates were a "tad" too high at 15 to 20 per cent and 7 to 8 per cent, respectively.Shares of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola have tumbled 10 per cent since the world's largest beverage company announced on Wednesday it would cut about 6,000 jobs from its operations worldwide 2,500 of which will occur at the company's headquarters. The job cuts are intended to help the beverage giant trim its annual expenses by about $300 million. Daft,who said he wanted Coke to be aggressive but predictable in terms of growth going forward, was joined by president-elect Jack Stahl and vice president James Chestnut.
