Coca-Cola HBC Share News (CCH)

- Revenue and volumes fall- Timing of Easter impacts results- Full-year expectations unchangedCoca-Cola HBC AG reported a drop in first quarter revenue and volumes due to the timing of Easter and foreign exchange movements.The second largest bottler of the brands of The Coca-Cola Company said volume declined by 4% to 409.6m cases in the three months to March 28th and new sales revenue fell 7% to €1.3bn. The company, which last year joined the FTSE 100, posted a net loss of €35.8m and earnings per share of €0.10."This quarter, Easter phasing and other timing issues combined with one-off items in some of our major markets has resulted in weak performance," said Chief Executive Dimitris Lois. "Given the seasonality of our business, the first quarter is typically small and therefore, not indicative of our expected full-year performance."However, Lois noted that the group had maintained market share in volume and value in 15 markets in Sparkling beverages and in 13 markets in non-alcohol ready-to-drink (NARTD). More specifically, the firm gained or maintained volume and value market share in markets including Austria, Belarus, Bosnia, Ireland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine."We have also continued to focus on our revenue growth initiatives, growing currency-neutral net sales revenue per case for the eleventh consecutive quarter," Lois added." Moreover, we have made further progress on working capital management."While the challenging trading conditions persist in most of our territories, our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."The firm expects the impact of foreign exchange volatility to be in the region of €90-100m for the full year to be €90-100m.In response, the group has started additional pricing and cost cutting initiatives, primarily in Russia and Ukraine, which are expected to mitigate fully the incremental €20-30m impact to the upper end of original expectations for the year.RD