Labels of Coca-Cola bottles are seen on the production line at the Coca-Cola Europacific Partners bottling plant in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille, France, May 7, 2024. REUTERS
April 28 (Reuters) – Bottling firm Coca-Cola Europacific Partners reported a 9.4% rise in first-quarter comparable revenue and reaffirmed its full-year 2026 outlook on Tuesday, as pricing and product mix supported sales and an early Easter lifted volumes.
The company, which operates across Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia-Pacific, including Indonesia, has relied on pricing and productivity programmes to shield margins from elevated costs and softer consumer spending.
While Coca-Cola’s bottling partner has no operations in the Middle East, it said the full impact of the conflict remains uncertain and the consumer environment challenging, though it described its business “resilient.”
“We continue to actively manage pricing, promotions, discretionary spend and efficiencies alongside bringing excitement to customers and consumers, like the FIFA World Cup,” CEO Damian Gammell said in a statement, without elaborating.
Comparable foreign exchange-neutral revenue for the quarter ended April 3 was 5.13 billion euros ($6 billion), while comparable volumes rose 1.6%.
The company reaffirmed its expectation for full-year 2026 revenue growth of 3%-4% and operating profit growth of about 7%.
Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy
