Coca-Cola HBC has announced an increase in its revenue-growth guidance for 2023, following stronger-than-expected pretax profit for the first half of the year. The company, which is listed in London and Athens as a bottler for Coca-Cola, revealed that it now anticipates organic revenue growth in the mid-teens, as opposed to the previous target of above 5% to 6%. The rise in revenue was driven by improvements in price and product mix.
Costs of goods sold are also expected to rise, but at a lower rate than previously predicted. The company foresees an increase by a high-single digit, which marks a significant decline from the earlier projection of a low-teens rise due to the moderation of inflationary pressures.
Meanwhile, organic earnings before interest and taxes are projected to grow between 9% and 12%.
In terms of financial performance for the first half of the year, Coca-Cola HBC reported a pretax profit of €527.6 million ($578.2 million), surpassing the previous year’s figure of €234.4 million for the same period. Market consensus forecasts anticipated a pretax profit of €478.0 million.
Net sales revenue climbed to €5.02 billion from €4.21 billion, although it fell just short of the €5.05 billion expected.
The company attributes this increase to its effective execution of price and mix improvements across all categories and segments.
However, there was a slight decline of 1.0% in overall organic volume growth, slightly worse than the anticipated fall of 0.8%.
CEO Zoran Bogdanovic acknowledged that while certain markets are still grappling with a challenging consumer environment, revenue per case has improved thanks to careful price and mix management. He also highlighted the resilience of volume sales, which he believes reflects the company’s commitment to quality execution.