coca cola

CCE is to invest £52m in its UK operations

Coca-Cola Enterprises is to invest £52m in its UK operations this year.

The company said the latest investment – which takes CCE’s total spend in the UK to £227m since 2011 – underlined its “commitment to manufacturing excellence in Great Britain”.

Among the activity funded by the 2014 investment will be:

  • a Combined Heat and Power system at CCE’s Wakefield factory, described as Europe’s largest soft drinks plant by volume. This would save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, a 5.6% reduction for the site, according to the company
  • a new production line at Wakefield dedicated to making the contour Coca-Cola bottle in larger sizes including the 1.25l and 1.75l formats
  • completion of a high-speed canning line at its Sidcup facility that will increase capacity from 57,600 cans an hour to 120,000.

“We are proud to be a truly local business with 97% of our products made at our six factories across Great Britain,” said CCE managing director Simon Baldry. “Our latest funding pledge shows once again our desire to invest significantly in the most innovative and efficient technologies available. It forms an important part of our long-term strategy to continue to grow our business sustainably and make a positive contribution to the British economy.”

News of the investment came as independent research on the economic impact of Coca-Cola in the UK claimed that every pound of value created by Coca-Cola supported an additional £8 elsewhere, bringing £2.4bn annually to the British economy. It also found that each of the 4,000 jobs provided by Coca-Cola supported a further eight jobs across the UK.

Professor Ethan Kapstein, of the US Center for Global Development, who led the research with economists from Steward Redqueen Consulting, said: “There are a myriad of reasons why manufacturing is so important for stability and growth in so-called ‘industrial countries’.

“As well as being a direct source of employment and a driver of innovation that keeps Britain competitive on the global stage, it has a crucial role in supporting an entire web of broader economic activity within Great Britain that generates additional jobs and profits at businesses of varying size.”

See this weekend’s The Grocer for further commentary from Professor Kapstein.

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