Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has released its first quarterly results, reporting 12 per cent revenue growth vs 2022, with a total revenue of more than €4bn.
In Australia, Pacific and Indonesia (API) the business delivered just over €1bn in revenue, based upon volume sales of 178m ‘unit cases’ (UC) of 5.7 litres.
Volume growth in the region was flat at zero per cent, compared with five per cent in Europe, as strong trading in ANZ was offset by a ‘strategic SKU rationalisation in Indonesia’.
The API region did experience high revenue growth per case, climbing by 13.5 per cent in Q1 2023. The report stated that this performance was ‘driven by favourable underlying price in all markets’, the recovery of the away from home channel and ‘promotional optimisation in Australia’.
Total European and API performance, CCEP’s FXN (foreign currency neutral) revenue growth was 14 per cent.
CCEP’s CEO, Damian Gammell, hailed the results as a strong base for the rest of the year.
“We have had an encouraging start to the year, delivering solid top-line growth as consumers continued to enjoy our portfolio of leading brands across a broad pack offering.
“Our performance reflects great in-market execution with further growth in the home channel and the tail end of continued recovery of the away from home channel,” Gammell continued.
In particular, Gammell highlighted the performance of the Indonesian market despite CCEP’s shift away from juice products in the country.
“Albeit early in its transformation journey, Indonesia delivered volume growth in the core sparkling category.”
The largest growth in Australia and New Zealand came from the non-alcoholic RTD category. The report stated that Coca-Cola Classic, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, and Monster all performed well across API, with Fanta and Sprite delivering double-digit growth in Australia.
“Although our first quarter has set us up really well for the rest of the year, it is typically our smallest. We are building on this momentum supported by fantastic activation plans,” Gammell continued.
The quarterly report also highlighted the organisation’s sustainability performance – flagging the construction of a second PET recycling facility in Australia (part of a joint venture with Asahi Beverages).
Looking ahead, CCEP is forecasting comparable revenue growth of between six and eight per cent, a cost of sales per unit growth of eight per cent and growth in operating profit of between six and seven per cent. The CCEP board declared an interim dividend of €0.67 per share, payable on 25 May for shareholders on record on 12 May.
“We remain focused on driving profitable revenue growth and solid free cash flow, and I am pleased to confidently reaffirm our full-year guidance for 2023, despite a dynamic outlook,” the CEO concluded.
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Written by Seamus May