PepsiCo - maker of products including Pepsi, Mountain Dew sodas and Tropicana juice - saw its net income climb 16% to $587m (£420m) in the third quarter from $507m last year.
But the company - which controls more than half of the US snack chip market and about 30% of the soft drink market - also announced that its chairman and chief executive Roger Enrico is to step down.
President and chief operating officer Steve Reinemund is set to take his place.
Praise for Enrico
Mr Enrico is credited with changing the group's focus from soft drinks to snack foods.
He has also won favour with shareholders for the successful spin-off of its restaurant and bottling businesses.
He has worked for PepsiCo since 1971 and has been chief executive officer and chairman since 1996. Mr Enrico will now step down as chief executive before the end of next year and will retire as chairman before the end of 2002.
Analysts have welcomed Mr Reinemund's appointment.
"He's known for strong fiscal discipline, and that's what really sort of turned Pepsi around over the past couple of quarters, and so I think people will be encouraged by this," JP Morgan beverage analyst John Faucher said.
Mr Reinemund takes over at a strong time for the company.
Third quarter revenues climbed 4.9% to $4.9bn from $4.58bn a year ago, boosted by strong volume gains across the business.
"Looking ahead, we see lifestyle changes continuing to create opportunities on a very large scale," current chairman Roger Enrico said.
"By creating innovative products and packages and taking advantage of our vast distribution systems, we believe we can continue to generate consistent double-digit earnings growth for the foreseeable future," he added.
Shares in the company hit a low of nearly $30 earlier this year, but are now close to $50.