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Shares in Coca-Cola HBC AG on Wednesday fell sharply despite strong first half profit and sales growth with the lack of a guidance upgrade a possible culprit. The Zug, Switzerland-based soft drinks bottler said pretax profit rose 24% to €644.6 million in the six months to June 30 from €521.0 million a year prior. Revenue increased by 8.6% to €5.62 billion from €5.18 billion with revenue per case up 5.9% to €3.84 from €3.63. Coca-Cola HBC said organic revenue rose 9.9% with volumes growth of 2.6% and revenue per case growth of 7.2%. The good organic growth was slightly offset by foreign exchange headwinds in the emerging segment due to the depreciation of the Nigerian naira and Egyptian pound, the company explained. Earnings before interest and tax grew 14% to €644.6 million from €566.1 million and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 13% to €861.2 million from €760.6 million. Finance costs improved significantly year-on-year, driven by lower foreign exchange losses in Nigeria and higher finance income, the firm added. Chief Executive Zoran Bogdanovic said: ‘This has been a strong first half with consistent execution of our strategy driving organic revenue growth of 9.9%, including good growth in volumes.’ As a result, Bogdanovic said Coca-Cola HBC now expects to deliver ‘growth in organic revenue and Ebit at the top end of our guided ranges for 2025.’ Coca-Cola HBC targets organic revenue growth of 6% to 8% in 2025 and organic Ebit growth of 7% to 11%. ‘Given there was an expectation that this metric would be raised, this will likely be seen as disappointing today,’ Citi analyst Simon Hales said. In 2024, the company reported revenue of €10.75 billion, including organic sales growth of 14%, and Ebit of €1.19 billion, including organic growth of 13%. Shares in Coca-Cola HBC fell 9.0% to 3,570.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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