Oct 8 (Reuters) -

PepsiCo ( PEP ) posted a surprise drop in third-quarter

revenue on Tuesday and cut its forecast for annual sales growth,

as it deals with cautious consumer spending in North America and

fallout from the recall of Quaker Foods products.

The packaged food giant expects fiscal 2024 organic sales to

grow in a low single-digit range. It had previously forecast a

4% rise.

Quarterly revenue was hurt by subdued trends in North

America, the impact from Quaker recalls earlier this year and

business disruptions due to rising geopolitical tensions in

certain international markets, CEO Ramon Laguarta said.

Organic revenue in Quaker Foods North America segment

slumped 13% during the quarter, following an 18% decline in the

second quarter.

However, price increases and measures to drive

efficiencies across its operations helped drive a 111 basis

point (bps) growth in margins.

It also earned $2.31 per share on an adjusted basis,

beating estimates of $2.29 per share, according to data compiled

by LSEG.

"We continue to expect to deliver at least 8 percent

core constant currency EPS growth as we will focus on tightly

managing our costs to better align with the subdued growth

environment that we are currently operating in," Laguarta added.

Net revenue fell 0.6% to $23.32 billion in the quarter ended

Sept. 7 from $23.45 billion last year. Analysts estimated a 1.3%

jump to $23.76 billion.

Shares of the company fell about 1% in premarket

trading.

(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil

D'Silva)