Coke Hellenic Reports Drop in Profit
ATHENS, Greece: Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company SA on Tuesday
said net profit tumbled 93 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008
compared with the same period a year earlier because of the economic
situation and bad summer weather.
The company reported net profit of euro2.6 million (US$3.32 million)
for the quarter, despite a 9 percent rise in revenue to euro1.59
billion
CCHBC said net profit for the full year was euro425 million, down 10
percent.
"For the full year, deteriorating economic conditions and
unfavorable summer weather led to softer-than-expected volume
growth," Coca-Cola Hellenic Managing Director Doros Constantinou
said.
"These factors together with higher commodity costs resulted in
lower comparable operating profit for the full year. We expect the
business environment in 2009 to remain highly challenging."
CCHBC is one of the world's largest Coke bottlers and has operations
in 28 countries.
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