Coca-Cola HBC confident of volume growth in 2016
The bottling company has a broad geographic footprint with operations in 28 countries.
Coca-Cola HBC’s established markets cover Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland. It says volumes in these markets were, in part, impacted by unseasonably cool weather.
Its developing markets segment covers Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia: and this division continues to see ‘good volume growth momentum’ with a 3.5% increase in the period.
Coca-Cola HBC’s emerging markets are Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine.
Nigeria, Romania and Serbia were key drivers of the 0.5% volume growth in the Emerging markets segment, which continued to be negatively impacted by Russia.
Total volumes were up 0.1% for the period.
Half year highlights
Coca-Cola HBC said: “We are pleased with our performance in the first half of the year, and have a strong foundation for continued growth in volume and FX-neutral revenue in the remainder of the year.
“Despite the tough comparatives in the prior year, volumes held up well in July. With this momentum and the one extra selling day in the fourth quarter, we are confident of volume growth for the year as a whole.”
Coca-Cola HBC expects the developing markets segment to continue to grow in the remainder of the year, albeit at a slower pace, as it cycles a very strong third quarter in the prior year.
Meanwhile, volume growth in the emerging segment should improve in the second half of the year, mainly due to the expected deceleration of the market decline in Russia and continued growth in Nigeria.
The volume decline in established markets is expected to moderate considerably in the second half, despite the very strong third quarter in 2015.
Coca-Cola HBC’s FX-neutral net sales revenue grew by 2.4% over the period, or 3.0% taking into account the one less selling day; currencies continued to impact adversely, leading to a 3.4% decline in net sales revenue.
Volume increased marginally on a strong prior-year period; taking into account the one less selling day in Q1, volume grew by 0.7%.