Coca-Cola is flatlining, but European bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic continued its run of effervescent results this week on surging growth in emerging markets.
Coca-Cola HBC reported net sales growth of 5.2% on a constant currency basis. Like the US maker of the brown stuff, CCH is finding growth hard to come by in developed markets with volumes in these territories down 2.2%. But volumes in emerging markets were up 4%, driven by growth in Nigeria and a rebound in Russia while revenue per case (on a constant currency basis) was up 10.3% in these countries, driving an overall price per case increase of 4.5%.
Credit Suisse noted that 5.2% net sales growth was significantly up on consensus estimates of 3.1%, adding: “Importantly, the beat was driven by both better volume and FX neutral revenue per case performance, as emerging markets are proving resilient despite significant price realisation.”
The shares were flat by Thursday lunchtime at 2,185p, but the stock has risen by 23% so far in 2017 and by 56% year-on-year.
Also on Thursday, Dutch packaging giant Refresco reported strong growth in Q1 2017, with volumes up 26.4% to 1,674 million litres and rising by 2.3% on an organic basis. Revenues rose from €448m to €524m in the quarter on the back of this volume growth. However, group EBITDA margin fell from 7.6% to 7%, which Refresco blamed on the seasonality of the acquired business in the US. Société Générale commented: “The first quarter performance looks like a slow start to the year, and consensus forecasts may come down”. The shares fell to €17.40 in early trading, but were back to flat at €17.72 by lunchtime.
Premier Foods’ retention of its Mondelez cakes contract initially failed to make a dent in its suppressed share price on Monday, but by Thursday the Mr Kipling maker was up 5.9% for the week to 45.25p - back to touching its highest level since its January profits warning and share price slump. Shore Capital said the deal “removes uncertainty” after “a torrid 12 months”.
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