Business and Recent Accounting Pronouncements (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 29, 2012

Description of Business

Cott Corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“Cott,” “the Company,” “our Company,” “Cott Corporation,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), is one of the world’s largest producers of beverages on behalf of retailers, brand owners and distributors. Cott produces multiple types of beverages in a variety of packaging formats and sizes, including carbonated soft drinks (“CSDs”), 100% shelf stable juice and juice-based products, clear, still and sparkling flavored waters, energy products, new age beverages, and ready-to-drink teas, as well as alcoholic beverages for brand owners.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying interim unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X and in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial reporting. Accordingly, they do not include all information and notes presented in the annual consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair statement of our results of operations for the interim periods reported and of our financial condition as of the date of the interim balance sheet have been included. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the annual audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. The accounting policies used in these interim consolidated financial statements are consistent with those used in the annual consolidated financial statements.

The presentation of these interim consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

ASU 2012-02—Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment

In July 2012, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) amended its guidance in regards to testing indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment in order to reduce the cost and complexity of performing an impairment test for indefinite-lived intangible assets by simplifying how an entity tests those assets for impairment and to improve consistency in impairment testing guidance among long-lived asset categories. The amendment permits an entity first to assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Subtopic 350-30, “Intangibles—Goodwill and Other”—General Intangibles Other than Goodwill. The more-likely-than-not threshold is defined as having a likelihood of more than 50 percent.

The amendments are effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012. Early adoption is permitted, including for annual and interim impairment tests performed as of a date before July 27, 2012, if a public entity’s financial statements for the most recent annual or interim period have not yet been issued. We have adopted this guidance and incorporated it into our assessment procedures. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.


ASU 2011-12—		Comprehensive Income: Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2011-05

In November 2011, the FASB deferred part of the new rules on the presentation of other comprehensive income as required by ASU 2011-05. As written, the guidance in ASU 2011-05 would have required that reclassification adjustments from other comprehensive income to net income be presented by income statement line item. Most respondents pointed out that the information required for separate presentation of reclassification adjustments in the statements may not be available in a timely manner due to the fact that there is currently no process and control in place to collect and summarize the level of detailed information required for such presentation. The amendments in this ASU are effective at the same time as the amendments in ASU 2011-05 so that entities will not be required to comply with the presentation requirements in ASU 2011-05 that this ASU is deferring. The deferral is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2011.

ASU 2011-05— Comprehensive Income: Presentation of Comprehensive Income

In June 2011, the FASB amended its guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income in financial statements to improve the comparability, consistency and transparency of financial reporting and to increase the prominence of items that are recorded in other comprehensive income. The new accounting guidance requires entities to report components of comprehensive income in either (i) a continuous statement of comprehensive income or (ii) two separate but consecutive statements. The provisions of this new guidance are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011. We have adopted this guidance and presented the components of comprehensive income in two separate but consecutive statements. This standard affects the presentation but does not have a financial impact on our consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2011-08— Intangibles-Goodwill and Other: Testing Goodwill for Impairment

In September 2011, the FASB amended its guidance in regards to testing goodwill for impairment to address concern raised about the cost and complexity of performing the first step of the two-step goodwill impairment test required under ASC Topic 350 – “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other.” The objective of this update is to simplify how entities, both public and nonpublic, test goodwill for impairment. The amendments in the update permit an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test described in ASC Topic 350. The more-likely-than-not threshold is defined as having a likelihood of more than 50 percent. The amendments are effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. We have adopted this guidance and incorporated it into our goodwill assessment procedures.