The Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest beverage maker, said Tuesday its profit in the first quarter this year dropped 11 percent from a year earlier despite a solid increase in sales.

For the three months ending March 31, the company based in Atlanta, Georgia, earned 1.002 billion dollars, or 42 cents a share, compared to a profit of 1.13 billion dollars, or 46 cents a share, for the same period a year ago, according to a press release.

The company's revenue in the quarter rose by 4 percent to 5.27 billion dollars, compared to 5.1 billion dollars recorded a year ago, as worldwide unit case volume rose by 3 percent.

The growth was led by a 4 percent increase in international operations, including double-digit unit case volume growth in key emerging markets, such as China, Brazil, Russia and Turkey. Offsetting these results were declines in Germany, the Philippines, India and northwestern Europe.

"These results reflect our stated intent to step up our investments in marketing, innovation and organizational capability building while effectively managing our portfolio of countries," said Neville Isdell, chairman and chief executive officer.