Coca-Cola HBC AG sees rate of decline in volume shipments slow in the fourth

Coca-Cola HBC AG (), the bottling partner of Coca-Cola, said the rate of the decline in like-for-like volumes slowed in the final quarter of 2020.

Fourth-quarter volumes were down 0.7% year-on-year on a like-for-like (LFL) basis, resulting in full-year volumes being 4.6% lower than the year before.

Revenue per case stabilised (after stripping out foreign exchange fluctuations) in the second half of the year; revenue per case over the whole year was 4.1% lower year-on-year, having been down 6.1% on the year before at the halfway stage.

Full-year like-for-like revenue declined 8.5% on a constant currency basis, while reported net sales revenue declined 12.7% in 2020 to €6.13bn from €7.03bn in 2019.

Profit before tax fell to €593.9mln from €661.2mln the year before while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) slid 7.6% to €660.7mln from €758.7mln. Because EBIT declined less than revenue, the EBIT margin improved to 10.8% from 10.2% the previous year.

Basic earnings per share fell 14.9% to €1.14 from €1.34 the year before.

“The improved second-half trading was driven by a return to growth in the at-home and greater resilience in the out-of-home, despite a resurgence of infections in many of our markets towards the end of the year,” said Zoran Bogdanovic, the chief executive.

“Partnering closely with team on rigorous prioritisation of our joint market investments, coupled with our rapid adaptation of the route-to-market and excellent execution, resulted in strong value share gains in both Non-alcoholic ready-to-drink and Sparkling across the majority of our markets,” he added.

The chief executive said the economic outlook remains uncertain, and added the company would continue to invest to drive “a strong recovery in FX-neutral revenues, along with a small increase in EBIT margin”.

The board has proposed a dividend of €0.64, a 3.2% increase compared to last year.