Coca-Cola HBC’ Organic Sales Rise 15.3% in Q3

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company’s shares were largely unmoved on Tuesday following the release of forecast-matching third-quarter financials.

At £21.47 per share, Coca-Cola HBC’s share price was 0.2% higher on the day.

Revenues at the soft drinks business — which bottles and sells Coca-Cola’s beverages in European and African regions — rose 15.3% on an organic basis during the three months to September.

Demand was especially strong for the FTSE 100 company’s sparkling, energy and coffee drinks, it said. This led organic volumes 2.2% higher from the same 2022 period.

Volumes of its energy brands like Monster, and coffee drinks including Costa Coffee, leapt 24.8% and 33.5% respectively.

Organic net sales revenue per case increased 12.9% between July and September, though this was down from 19% in the first half.

The business said that this reflected “a lower contribution from incremental pricing, as the need for further price increases in the quarter were limited” because of weaker cost inflation.

Cross-Market Strength

Organic sales in the Footsie firm’s emerging markets rose 21.8% during quarter three, while comparable revenues in its developing markets increased 15.9% year on year. Established market organic sales rose 7.7%.

Coca-Cola HBC said that “our performance in the third quarter was in line with expectations, underpinned by a second successive quarter of organic volume growth and despite tougher trading conditions in some markets.”

On a reported basis turnover was up 3.8% year on year, as solid organic growth offset foreign exchange-related headwinds in the company’s emerging markets.

For the nine months to September, organic sales were up 17% year on year.

Coca-Cola HBC said that it continued to expect “mid-teens full-year organic revenue growth” after updating this target back in August. It also maintained its 2023 forecast for organic EBIT growth of between 9% to 12%.

“Another Solid Performance”

Chief executive Zoran Bogdanovic said that “we’re pleased to have delivered another solid performance, and a second consecutive quarter of organic volume growth. This was driven by our strong execution, underpinned by a continued focus on our strategic priority categories of sparkling, energy and coffee, as well as our focus on bespoke capability development to drive personalised execution for every outlet.”

Bogdanovic added that “we reiterate our guidance for strong growth in 2023 and, despite continued macro uncertainties, we are well placed to deliver on our medium-term targets.”

Earlier this year Coca-Cola HBC raised its annual organic revenue growth targets to a range of 6% of 7%. This was up from a previous goal of 5% to 6%. It also announced its intention to achieve average organic EBIT margin expansion of 20 to 40 basis points per year.

Royston Wild owns shares in Coca-Cola HBC.