NEW YORK (AP) — Coca-Cola has struck preliminary deals to begin handing back more of its U.S. distribution network to independent bottlers, a move that’s expected to improve profit margins in its flagship market.

The world’s biggest beverage maker, which makes Sprite, Dasani and Powerade, had purchased its biggest North American bottler in 2010 to make it easier to introduce new products and clean up the messy patchwork of factories that had been created over the decades. The idea was that the company would consolidate production and eventually refranchise the business.

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