Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' 'A' rating on PepsiCo Inc. is derived from: Our anchor of 'a', based on our "excellent" business risk and "intermediate" financial risk profile assessments for the company. The choice of our 'a' rather than 'a+' anchor reflects our assessment that PepsiCo's excellent business risk is in the mid-range relative to its comparably rated peers. Modifiers had no impact on the rating outcome. Strong market positions and brand names; Diversified product offerings; Geographic diversification; and Average EBITDA margin within the highly competitive global liquid refreshment beverage (LRB) and snack food industries. Solid cash flow generating ability, despite exposure to volatile commodity costs and foreign currency exchange rates; History of sizeable share repurchases, which have been largely
