Coca-Cola bottler details £160.2m hit from Russia sales suspension
Coca-Cola HBC has revealed it took a hit worth £160.27m after suspending the sale of its beverages in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
In interim results, the soft drink bottler said it anticipated charges of around £69.17m in the second half of the year after depleting its stocks and suspending production and sales of products in Russia.
Net profits plunged by 34.4 per cent to £128.49m, in the six month period.
“Pricing, mix and cost efficiencies helped to mitigate input cost increases, underpinning successful conversion of revenue growth into profits and cashflow,” Coca-Cola HBC’s CEO Zoran Bogdanovic said.
Despite facing “a period of macro-economic and geo-political uncertainty,” the company had “high confidence” it could continue to create value, Bogdanovic said.
The bottler stated it was reinstating guidance for 2022 and expected to generate comparable EBIT in the range of £625.3m – £692.9m.
The firm acknowledged its recent acquisition of the Greek beverage firm Three Cents, and said the takeover “strengthens premium brand offering.”
The company’s share price was elevated by more than three per cent on Thursday afternoon.
Shares in the London-listed company have tumbled by almost 25 per cent in the past year.