Coca-Cola HBC profits slump as cold weather hurts performance

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Coca-Cola HBC, a bottler of The Coca-Cola company, reported a fall in profits blaming unseasonably wet and cold weather conditions in the second quarter.

For the six months ended 28 June 2019, pre-tax profits fell to €260.8m from €290.1m a year earlier, while net sales rose 3.8% to €3.35bn.

The company said volume grew 2.2% in the first half, with 2.4% growth in its sparkling division.

Currency-neutral revenue per case was up 1.2% in the first half, showing an improvement in the second quarter driven by Europe, with positive contributions from pricing, as well as category and package mix, the company said.

Comparable operating profit margin was up 10 basis points to 9.7% while comparable operating profit increased by 4.7%.

'Looking forward, we expect to deliver FX-neutral revenue growth within the range of 5-6%, with another year of margin expansion,' the company said.

At 8:59am: (LON:CCH) CocaCola HBC share price was -42p at 2788p