Romania brings growth but overall Coca Cola Hellenic's profits drop by 12 % at the end of Q3

Bottling company Coca Cola Hellenic saw a 12 percent fall in both net and EBIT profits for the first nine months of 2012, but Romania still managed to post growth. The company, which operates a large portfolio of brands in Romania, recorded EUR 265 million in net profits during the first three quarters of 2012, 12 percent down on the EUR 302 million seen in the same period last year.

But it was a different story in Romania, where sales volumes of most of the company's brands grew by double digits. Romania is included among Coca Cola Hellenic's Emerging Markets reporting group (also includes Russia, the Ukraine and Nigeria, but not EU neighbors Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland). Overall, the Emerging Markets group saw sales volume climb by 3 percent and net sales revenue go up by 12 percent this year against the first nine months of 2011. Meanwhile operating profit rose to over EUR 220 million at the end of September this year for the Emerging Markets group, an increase of 36 percent on the same period in 2011. At a group level net sales revenue grew by 3 percent, while volume fell by 1 percent in the first nine months of 2012. The 3 percent Emerging Markets increase was more than offset by a 5 percent volume decline in Established Markets (Western Europe, Greece) and a 2 percent volume decline in Developing Markets (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary etc). Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com