(Alliance News) - Coca-Cola HBC AG on Wednesday said volumes and subsequently revenue took a knock in the first half of this year due to Covid-19, emerging markets proved to be the most resilient.
The Swiss-based soft-drinks bottler recorded a pretax profit for the first half of 2020, ended June 26, of EUR167.2 million, down 36% from EUR260.8 million in the same period ended June 28 a year prior.
Forex-neutral net sales revenue for the half was down 16% at EUR2.83 billion from EUR3.35 billion a year prior.
Volumes were down in the half 9.2% to 990.5 million cases from 1.09 billion cases a year prior. The sparkling drinks category showed resilience, Coca-Cola HBC said, with volumes down 4.5%, while energy volumes grew 6.7%, with the Monster doing particularly well. Meanwhile, water volumes dropped 23%, juice by 25% and ready-to-drink tea by 28%.
Established markets volume fell 19% to 245.3 million cases from 303.0 million cases with energy and sparkling drinks performing best, showing low single-digit growth in both cases. Water & juice volumes declined by a mid-twenties percentage.
Developing markets volume fell by 8.9% to 189.7 million cases from 208.2 million cases with energy and sparkling drinks performing the best again. Energy drinks saw growth in the low-teens and sparkling was down in the low single-digits.
Emerging markets saw the smallest drop in volume, slipping 4.1%. This was supported by an increase in volumes in Nigeria over the half, despite entering lockdown later than most other countries and having a relatively high exposure to the out-of-home category, Coca-Cola HBC said. Similarly, energy and sparkling volumes did the best with both volumes growing where water and juice saw declines in the low-to-mid twenties.
Revenue per unit case was down 7.0% to EUR2.86 from EUR3.07 year on year.
The company paid out a dividend of EUR0.62 per share in July 28, amounting to EUR227.9 million.
Looking forward, Coca-Cola HBC expects a weaker consumer environment and a negative impact on the tourist season which could impact sales. Additionally, there is still the risk of an impactful second wave of the virus, leaving the future rather uncertain.
Chief Executive Zoran Bogdanovic said: "Our fast, decisive actions ensured that our supply chain was uninterrupted, and our profitability protected during a very challenging second quarter.
"Our strong performance on market share clearly demonstrates the power of our portfolio of brands and execution in the market; we will capitalise on this advantage now that we are seeing early signs of recovery."
Coca-Cola HBC shares were up 4.2% at 2,118.00 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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Coca-Cola HBC (CCH)