(Reuters) -Soft drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC AG on Thursday forecast lower margins in the second half due to higher costs and inflation, while reporting a jump in first-half profit as people returned to restaurants and cinemas after lockdowns.
The company, which bottles and sells Coca-Cola Co drinks in 28 countries, said comparable operating profit rose 67.8% to 350.3 million euros ($411.25 million) for the six months ended July 2.
“We are encouraged by the strength of the performance, and while conscious of the risks as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our markets, we continue to expect a strong recovery in FX-neutral revenues,” Chief Executive Officer Zoran Bogdanovic said.
HBC, which had managed to save about 120 million euros in operational spending in 2020 due to the pandemic, said it expects 100 million euros in costs to return in the second half.
Higher input costs-led inflation and a Polish sugar tax, which hurt company’s earnings in the region, are expected to have a negative impact on the bottler’s margins, HBC said
($1 = 0.8518 euros)
(Reporting by Priyanshi Mandhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Shounak Dasgupta)
