Coca-Cola European Partners, subsidiary of manufacturer of non-alcoholic beverages manufacturer The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO) booked an impressive sheet of fundamentals during the first half of 2019.
The Group’s profit before tax jumped 22.0% on a year-on-year comparison against H1 2018, up to €508 million. Their operating profit also spiked 20.0% to €726 million, pushed by revenue growth of 7.0% on-year, to €5.8 billion. Unit case volumes rose 2.0% to 1.2 billion.
Coca-Cola European Partners also presented an appealing offering to shareholders, with H1 diluted EPS jumping 25.5% and the Group declaring an interim dividend payment of 0.62p a share, up 19.0% on-year.
Coca-Cola European Partners
Company Chief Executive Officer, Damian Gammell, offered the following insights,
“We are taking the decisions today to invest in the capabilities that we know we will need to win tomorrow. All underpinned by an aligned relationship with The Coca-Cola Company and a strong sustainability agenda, particularly around packaging, where we are taking action and leading innovation.”
“We have delivered a good first-half performance, reflecting our continued focus on driving profitable revenue growth through price and mix realisation and solid in market execution, alongside the successful closure of our merger commitments. We remain focused on building this momentum, albeit following a strong third quarter last year, including scaling up on some of our exciting innovations like Coke Energy and the recently launched Costa ready-to-drink coffee in Great Britain.”
“We are today reaffirming our full-year guidance for 2019. We remain confident in our annual growth objectives over the mid-term, which make for an attractive investment story underpinned by a strong and flexible balance sheet. This, alongside healthy dividend growth and the continuation of our share buyback programme, collectively demonstrate our focus on delivering sustainable value for our shareholders.”
Investor notes
Its parent Company’s shares have rallied 0.038% or 0.02p to 53.20p a share 08/08/19 10:37 GMT. The Group’s dividend yield is 2.36%, its market cap is $25.77 billion.
Elsewhere, there have been updates from other food and drink retailers; Devro plc (LON: DVO), Greencore Group plc(LON: GNC), NWF Group plc (LON: NWF), Cranswick plc (LON: CWK), Nestle SA (SWX: NESN) and Fuller, Smith and Turner plc (LON: FSTA).