Profits stay flat as volumes dip at coke bottler
COKE bottler Coca-Cola HBC reported flat profits in the third quarter of 2014, at €148.2m (£115.9m), compared with €148.1m in the same period last year.
Sales revenue dropped by more than five per cent, from €1.9bn to €1.8bn, with volumes down by 4.8 per cent, from 575m unit cases to 548m.
The company, which is based in Europe and is also known as Coca-Cola Hellenic, attributed this dip in volumes to unseasonably poor weather in established markets in addition to a “strategic decision to focus on sustainable value-accretive volume in developing markets”.
Dimitris Lois, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola HBC, said that despite lower volumes, the company was pleased with its profitability performance during the quarter.
He added: “We expect markets to remain challenging for the remainder of the year. We will focus on revenue growth management initiatives while addressing affordability. With these initiatives in place, as well as our actions to improve cost efficiency and cash flow generation, we continue to believe that performance for the year will be in line with our expectations.”
Shares in the company rose by just over one per cent yesterday.