Drinks giant Coca-Cola has experienced a rebound in its sales in Australia, from bottled water and energy drinks to Coke No Sugar and its portfolio of alcoholic beverages, as consumers enjoy more socialising and events flowing from an ending of lockdowns.
But Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, which last year wrapped up a $9.8bn takeover of local bottler Coca-Cola Amatil, has also warned that it expects inflationary pressures to continue this year, with commodity inflation expected to be in the high-teen range.
The giant international bottler released its first quarter trading results in London, shedding light on the performance of the bottler across the regions CC Amatil once controlled, including Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
Sales of Coca Cola, along with other soft drinks and popular beverages, are also typically a good indicator of economic activity and consumer confidence, with many of its drinks consumed at parties, social events, sport events, concerts and other functions.
And in a sign of improving conditions, volume growth in the Asia Pacific is now ahead of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
In its quarterly update, Coca-Cola Europacific said total sales in the Australia Pacific market lifted 13.5 per cent to €904m ($1.33bn).
“Volume growth reflects solid trading in Australia and New Zealand, despite cycling tough comparables, fewer restrictions and Ramadan buy-in in Indonesia.
“Strong performance in both the away from home (AFH) and home channels, with volume growth ahead of 2019,” the company said.
Coca-Cola Europacific said Coke No Sugar continued to outperform in Australia and energy drink Monster volumes grew in all markets. Each market delivered solid price/mix with strong improvement in Australia.
In the bottled sparkling water category, Coca-Cola Europacific said there was solid growth in Australia, up 17.5 per cent against 2021 and better by 47.5 per cent against 2019 before the pandemic hit. This was driven by multi-pack can format sales and flavoured water in the at-home consumption channel.
Alcohol delivered strong growth in Australia, up 14.5 per cent against 2021 and up 21 per cent against 2019 bolstered by RTD alcohol sales.
Earlier this year some of Australia’s most famous beverage brands, including 157-year old Queensland soft drink Kirks, together with Mount Franklin and Deep Spring bottled water, were sold to US giant Coca-Cola, with the bottler also ratcheting up prices in Australia to deal with inflationary pressure and disrupted supply chains.
The London-based beverage conglomerate Coca-Cola Europacific offloaded the Australian drink brands less than a year after splashing out $10bn for ASX-listed Coca-Cola Amatil, which owned them.
Extracted from The Australian