Coca-Cola bottlers’ profits soar as pandemic bite eases
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company saw revenues rise 15.5% to £236.5 million last year as it bounced back following the reopening of hospitality.
The business, which operates from a 500,000 sq ft facility at Knockmore Hill in Lisburn, recovered from a tough 2020 during which slipped by nearly 12% to £204.7 million.
Coca-Cola HBC is the authorised bottling partner to The Coca-Cola Company for the island of Ireland, responsible for the manufacture, distribution, sale and channel marketing of its non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage portfolio.
It produces global brands Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Appletiser, Schweppes and the 1783 range, as well as locally-owned brands Deep RiverRock, Deep RiverRock ViTAL and Fruice.
The company’s Lisburn payroll fell over the year from 450 to 420, with small job losses across all four of its employee divisions (production, distribution, administration and sales & marketing).
However, total staff costs still rose by more than £2 million to £23.9m.
Its highest-paid director (general manager Miles Karemacher) had a slight reduction in his salary from £176,314 to £171,939.
In a statement with its accounts, the company said: “We performed ahead of expectations in 2021, impacted by the lifting of Covid-19 related government restrictions sooner than forecast. Our 2022 trading year has started strongly.”
Last year Coca-Cola HBC Northern Ireland became the first soft drinks producer in Ireland to move all its multi-pack cans to more sustainable cardboard solutions, helping it to move closer to its ‘World Without Waste’ vision by eliminating the use of more than 500 tonnes of shrink wrap plastic each year.
