CCHBC H1 profit falls, Q2 EBIT up

Coca-Cola HBC AG, the second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola Company brands, on Thursday reported a net profit slide of 11 percent in the six-month period ending June 27.

Income fell to 99 million euros from 111 million a year earlier. Net sales revenue declined 6 percent to 3.183 million from 3.381 million in the same period.

“We continue to take action to mitigate the impact of the difficult trading conditions caused by depressed consumer sentiment and foreign exchange headwinds, while input cost pressures have abated. Our ongoing initiatives produced another quarter of growth in currency-neutral net sales revenue per case, and we are pleased with our efforts to reduce operating expenses as a percentage of net sales revenue in a very challenging volume environment,” CEO Dimitris Lois said in a statement.

Volume declined at a slower pace in the second quarter than in Q1 as a result of an overall improvement in established and developing markets and Nigeria’s return to growth.

The Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Romania and Russia drove the decline in net sales compared to the prior-year period.

The gross profit margin increased on the prior year both in Q2 and the half-year. Operating expenses as a percentage of net sales improved by 50 basis points in Q2. Comparable EBIT and EBIT margin demonstrated solid growth in Q2 compared to the first quarter and prior-year quarter, of 8 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.