Soft drink bottler Refresco has posted a 53.2% increase in volume terms, to 10,888 million litres, in full-year 2018.
Adjusted EBITDA for the period grew to €322 million from €214 million in 2017, the company said.
Operating profit for the full year dropped to €51 million from €95 million the previous year.
Fourth-Quarter Results
The company saw year-on-year volume growth of 67.6%.in the fourth quarter of its financial year, to 2,556 million litres.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter grew to €82 million from €50 million a year earlier.
Chief executive Hans Roelofs said, "In the final quarter of 2018, we continued to see strong overall volume growth across the business, in line with our expectations and driven by the acquisition of Cott and organic growth.
"Although we did not achieve the level of profitability we wanted, we made good progress with the integration of the two businesses, and synergies are on track," added Roelofs.
Outlook
The bottler has invested €134 million in developing its production and warehousing capabilities, as it seeks to drive profits in 2019.
In February, it acquired Cott’s concentrate manufacturing business in Columbus, Georgia, which will contribute towards driving innovation in beverage concentrate production.
Roelofs added, "To accelerate the next phase of our growth, we have decided to adjust the management structure of Refresco and create an executive committee."
The committee will comprise the current executive board members as well as chief purchasing officer, Coert Michielsen, the group said.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
