(Reuters) – Soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC AG raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday, as increasing prices helped the soft drinks bottler to keep up the fizz for its sodas.
Sky-high inflation has pinched household budgets and forced consumers to cut down spending, but packaged food makers have so far seen steady demand for their products despite raising prices.
The company, which is one of Coca-Cola’s many bottlers worldwide, holds local Coca-Cola franchises to bottle and sell drinks produced by the U.S. beverage giant.
Coca-Cola holds more than 20% stake in HBC.
“So far, we have seen limited evidence of changing consumer behaviour, but are alert to this possibility and can adapt quickly if needed,” Chief Executive Officer Zoran Bogdanovic said in a statement.
HBC said its organic revenue was up 19.6% in the third quarter, which excluded revenue from Russia and Ukraine. The bottler now expects to generate double-digit organic revenue growth at a group level in 2022.
In August, HBC started making a local drink, Dobry Cola, in Russia after stopping production and sales of Coca-Cola Co products, following the mass exodus of Western companies earlier this year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The soft drinks bottler said it expects comparable operating profit for 2022 to be between 860 million euros and 900 million euros ($860.43 million and $900.45 million), up from an earlier forecast of 740 million euros and 820 million euros.
($1 = 0.9995 euros)
(Reporting by Amna Karimi and Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
