MEXICO CITY, July 22 (Reuters) - Mexican bottler Arca Continental on Friday raised its 2022 revenue forecast after reporting encouraging second-quarter results.
Arca Chief Financial Officer Emilio Marcos Charur said during a call that he expects the company to have a low double-digit revenue increase in 2022, compared to the previous outlook of 6% to 8% growth.
Arca's second-quarter net profit climbed 35% from a year ago to 4.22 billion pesos ($210 million), driven by increased sales in Mexico and the United States, the company said in a release earlier on Friday. Arca is one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in Latin America.
Barclays attributed the Mexican firm's stronger performance in part to better volumes and pricing.
Revenue jumped 16.5% from the same period in 2021 to 53.36 billion pesos, backed by increased sales of bottled water and soda. That was above the Refinitiv estimate of 50.69 billion pesos.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 11% in the three-month period to 10.44 billion pesos.
"In the second half of 2022, we will continue to deploy innovative strategies in the market to meet the needs of customers and consumers ... in a macroeconomic environment with high inflation and supply chain disruptions," Arca Chief Executive Officer Arturo Gutierrez said in the release.
Arca said in April it plans to invest more than 12 billion pesos through the year to strengthen operations in the Americas. ($1 = 20.1353 pesos at end-June) (Reporting by Noe Torres, Kylie Madry and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Paul Simao)