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Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC on Tuesday backed full-year guidance after reporting first quarter sales growth amid ‘challenging’ market conditions. The soft drinks bottler in over 30 markets including Australia, Germany, Great Britain and Spain said revenue rose 6.7% to €5.00 billion in the first quarter of 2026 from €4.69 billion the year prior, or by 9.4% at constant exchange rates. Underlying growth was a modest 0.8%. At CER, revenue in Europe increased 9.8% to €3.55 billion, with APS sales up 8.6% to €1.45 billion. Sales in Europe benefited from the earlier Easter and market share gains. The APS region includes Australia, Pacific, and Southeast Asia. Chief Executive Damian Gammell said: ‘We’ve had a good start to the year with more balanced topline delivery. Although stronger volumes benefitted from calendar phasing and an earlier Easter, we delivered solid comparable volume growth and share gains driven by great execution.’ Gammell said the consumer environment remains ‘challenging’ and the ‘full impact of the situation in the Middle East is uncertain.’ Nonetheless, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners stuck with guidance for the full-year, for revenue growth of 3% to 4% and operating profit growth of around 7%. In 2025, the company reported revenue of €20.90 billion and operating profit of €2.79 billion. It expects share buybacks to total €1 billion over the year with €500 million completed to date. In addition, the firm declared a first half interim dividend per share of €0.82, up from €0.79 a year ago, and reaffirmed full-year guidance for an annualised total dividend payout ratio of around 50%. Shares in Coca-Cola Europacific Partners rose 2.3% to 7,285.00 pence each in London on Tuesday. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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