Coca-Cola HBC said on Thursday it incurred a one-time hit of €190 million in the first half of the financial year due to costs related to its business in Russia after it stopped selling Coca-Cola drinks in the country following the Ukraine war.
The soft drinks bottler, which once counted Russia as one of its biggest markets, also expects to sustain financial charges of about €82 million in the second half of the financial year as it depleted all its stocks and would no longer produce or sell Coca-Cola or other brands of the Coca-Cola Company in Russia.
HBC is one of Coca-Cola’s many bottlers worldwide and holds local Coca-Cola franchises to bottle and sell drinks produced by the US beverage giant. Coca-Cola holds more than a 20 per cent stake in HBC.
The London-listed firm also reported a 34 per cent fall in net profit at about €153 million for the six months ending July 1st, hit by the charges.
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It also reinstated its forecast, expecting comparable operating profit for 2022 to be between €740 million and €820 million. — Reuters
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