- The Swiss-based firm is the world’s third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler
- Shares in Coca-Cola HBC climbed by more than 9% during morning trading
Coca-Cola HBC shares hit a record high on Thursday after the bottling firm defied currency headwinds to achieve rising earnings.
Shares in the Swiss-based company, the world’s third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler, soared more than 9 per cent during the morning before retreating to be 7.1 per cent up at £31.82 just before trading closed.
The firm reported its comparable net profits grew by 8.5 per cent to €828.8million last year, while operating profits jumped by almost a quarter to €1.2billion.
This was despite significant adverse impacts from the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira, Russian Rouble and Egyptian Pound currencies.
Net sales revenue increased by 5.6 per cent to €10.75billion, partly because of price hikes and the roll-out of Finlandia vodka, which Coca-Cola HBC bought in 2023 from Jack Daniels owner Brown-Forman.
Most turnover growth came from developing markets, which cover much of Eastern Europe, where it jumped by 14.2 per cent to €2.4billion thanks to rising volumes of Sprite, Coke Zero, and Monster Energy.
Under scrutiny: Coca-Cola HBC shares hit a record high on Thursday after the bottling firm defied currency headwinds to achieve rising earnings.
However, the company also enjoyed a healthy result in established markets like Greece on the back of a booming tourism market, and double-digit percentage volume expansion in coffee and energy drinks.
Zoran Bogdanovic, chief executive of Coca-Cola HBC, said: ‘2024 demonstrated that we can achieve a consistently strong financial performance even in a range of market conditions.’
He added: ‘While we expect the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment to remain challenging, in the year ahead, we are confident that our portfolio, capabilities and people will enable us to make progress against our medium-term growth targets.’
On an organic basis, Coca-Cola HBC anticipates revenue growing by 6 to 8 per cent in 2025 and operating profits increasing by 7 to 11 per cent.
Coca-Cola, which owns a 21 per cent stake in HBC, warned on Wednesday that it could sell more drinks in plastic bottles if its aluminium cans become more expensive because of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Trump announced a 25 per cent import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US earlier this week under measures to boost domestic manufacturing.
The company has been the world’s largest plastic polluter for six years, according to campaigning organisation Break Free From Plastic.
Yet while firms are expecting to see added cost pressures from the tariffs, Zoran Bogdanovic said any effect on commodity prices would be ‘immaterial’ to the bottler.
Coca-Cola HBC sells dozens of brands ranging from Schweppes to Fanta, Campari, Powerade, and Costa Coffee to customers in 29 countries.
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