ATHENS: Swiss based Coca-Cola HBC, the world's second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks, posted an 11.4 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit, hurt by tough conditions in its key market Russia and the depreciation of the rouble.
The company warned that conditions this year will remain challenging, lowering slightly its 2013-2015 target for free cash flow to between 1.1 and 1.2 billion euros from about 1.3 billion due to the adverse impact of currency depreciation.
Net profit reached 30.4 million euros ($35 million) from 34.3 million in the same period last year.
Russia is CCHBC's biggest market and has been its main growth driver in recent years. But a stagnating economy due in part to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis has squeezed consumer spending, hurting demand for Coke products.
The acquisition of a new juice brand in Russia helped growth resume in the country, with sales volume rising by a mid-single digit percentage in the fourth quarter, it said.
Total group sales volume rose 0.8 percent to 485.1 million unit cases, reversing from a 3.9 percent drop in the nine months to September.
In Greece sales volume grew 2 percent last year, rising for the first time since 2008 as the economy stabilised, but the company said it remained cautious due to fragile economic conditions.
CCHBC said it would continue increasing prices to mitigate the impact of currency weakness, while lower input costs due to the drop in oil prices are expected to help its bottom line.
The bottler said it will pay a dividend of 0.36 euros per shares on 2014 results, versus 0.35 euros the year before.
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