Despite the economic instability in some key markets like Nigeria, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) has maintained its annual profit and sales forecasts.
According to the company, this was due to the strong demand for its energy and coffee drinks which offsets the expected impact of foreign exchange losses in key markets Nigeria and Egypt.
The company said it expects foreign exchange losses of 50 million-60 million euros ($52.99 million-$63.59 million) to weigh on full-year comparable operating profit.
Commenting on the measure put in place to forestall the free fall of the Naira in Nigeria, Ben Almanzar, Chief Finance Officer at Coca-Cola HBC said, “In Nigeria, the company had done some currency hedging to protect against the impact of the naira’s devaluation for the near term”.
Coca-Cola posted a 3.8% rise in reported revenue for the three months ended Sept. 29.
Demand for packaged beverages and food has stayed resilient, even though companies have hiked prices to pass on elevated energy and input costs to consumers.
HBC’s organic net revenue growth per case in the third quarter slowed to 12.9%, from 19% in the first half, as lower cost inflation reduced the need to raise prices.
In his remarks on pricing in the company, CEO of Coca-Cola, Zoran Bogdanovic said “While pricing has largely contributed to the company’s revenue per case over the year, the company expects a balance of price mix and more volumes to help generate growth going forward”.
HBC, which lifted its annual revenue forecast in August as it benefited from price increases, said sparkling, energy and coffee drinks were facing less pressure from private label competition than other non-alcoholic ready-to-drink categories.
Shares in the company, which operates in Europe, parts of Africa and Ukraine, were marginally down 0.14% in morning trade.
Recently, Coca-Cola raised its annual sales and profit for a second time this year, riding on resilient demand from consumers for its sodas, juices and energy drinks as well as higher prices.
