By Elena Vardon
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners' trimmed its full-year guidance and said revenue grew in the third quarter due to the European soccer championships and the Olympics.
The bottling company said revenue for the quarter ended Sep. 27 rose 11.5% on a comparable basis to 5.36 billion euros ($5.83 billion). Comparable volumes for the period rose 19% to 1.01 billion unit cases, it said.
The group saw solid gains in revenue per unit case thanks to its revenue growth management, headline price and promotion strategy, it said Tuesday.
"In the third quarter, we delivered top line growth despite mixed summer weather and softer consumer demand in away-from-home in Europe," Chief Executive Damian Gammell said.
The company now expects comparable revenue to grow around 3.5% for 2024, against around 4% previously, due to two extra selling days in the fourth quarter. Cost of sales per unit case is expected to grow 2.5%, compared with 3% before.
It reiterated the rest of its guidance for the year, including comparable operating profit growth of 7% and free cash flow of at least 1.7 billion euros.
The board declared a second-half interim dividend of 1.23 euros a share, bringing the full-year payout to 1.97 euros a share, 7% higher than 2023.
Shares in London traded flat at market open at 6,000 pence.
Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 05, 2024 03:33 ET (08:33 GMT)
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