By Alec Mattinson2021-02-11T09:00:00+00:00
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UK and European Coke bottler Coca-Cola European Partners has reported an 11% drop in annual sales as its away from home volumes have plunged by more than a quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Full year revenues were down 11.5% to €10.6bn, down by 11% on an fx neutral basis.
Comparable volumes were down 10% across the year, driven by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and some customer disruption as a result of its planned pricing strategy (resolved in August), albeit partially offset by growth in Monster & Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
The primarily driver of this drop was adverse away from home, which plunged 27.5% reflecting outlet closures and restrictive measures.
2020 was a challenging year like no other, and I am very proud of how well we have managed through such a rapidly changing environment. That is down to the extraordinary work and commitment of our colleagues, supporting each other as well as our customers and communities, and to all of whom, I am sincerely grateful. The crisis also reinforced the power of our relationship with The Coca-Cola Company and our other brand partners. Our collective belief in continuing to invest in our core brands has served us well, gaining share
[4] both in the home channel and online. We also took meaningful actions to protect our performance, ending the year with strong free cash flow