Bottler Coca-Cola HBC has beaten its half-year profit expectations and lifted its annual revenue target, supported by strong sales and higher prices for its soft drinks.
Demand for packaged food and beverages has so far stayed resilient despite the cost-of-living crisis, even as companies hiked prices of their products to pass on high energy and input costs to consumers.
The Switzerland-based company, of which U.S. beverage giant Coca-Cola owns 20%, forecast organic revenue growth in a mid-teens percentage for the full year, compared with its prior guidance of 5% to 6%.
Organic revenue for the first half was up 17.8%, the drinks bottler said, with organic volume growth of 1.6% seen in its Sparkling division, 20.9% in Energy and 21.9% in Coffee, while its Stills business, including Water, saw volumes down 11.2%.
'Strategic Pillars'
"It has been a very good first half of the year with progress across our strategic pillars," commented Zoran Bogdanovic, chief executive of Coca-Cola HBC AG. "Our priority categories of Sparkling, Energy and Coffee, together with a strong performance across all segments, have driven organic revenues and EBIT growth ahead of expectations.
"While some markets continue to face a challenging consumer environment, revenue per case has been improved through careful price and mix management enhanced by data, insights and analytics. At the same time, volumes have remained resilient, which is testament to the quality of our execution."
Profit Performance
The company reported a comparable operating profit of €560.7 million for the six months through to June 2023, up 21.2% from a year earlier.
Analysts had expected a profit of about €521.5 million, according to a poll compiled by the company.
Profit outlook, which the company had raised last month, remained unchanged.
Additional reporting by ESM
