Coca-Cola’s Irish profits fizz with a rise of 19%

The Irish arm of Coca-Cola put the fizz back into its financial performance here in 2017 with pre-tax profits increasing by 19 per cent to €13.5 million. This was in spite of revenues remaining flat at €162.37 million.

Coca-Cola HBC Ireland Ltd reported the jump in profits after reducing its costs base by €2 million.

In Ireland, the company offers almost 20 brands and more than 40 products.

Coca-Cola has held on to the position of the country’s number one retail brand for more than a decade, with other products including Fanta, Diet Cola, Sprite, Deep Riverrock and Schweppes.

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Numbers employed by the business reduced from 300 to 271 and staff costs increased marginally from €19.36 million to €19.75 million. Directors’ pay totalled €1 million.

The increase in profits came about in spite of restructuring costs totalling €1.23 million.

As a result of the restructuring, staff are no longer engaged in production with 213 engaged in sales and marketing, 37 in administration and 21 in warehousing and distribution.

Dividends

The Irish operation paid dividends totalling €15 million. The profits take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.84 million. Its lease charges declined from €2.1 million to €1.9 million.

The company’s cost of sales totalled €96 million while distribution costs amounted to €10.28 million. Sales and marketing expenses totalled €30.38 million.

The directors state that “the company continues to both expand the reach of established brands to consumers and launch new brand extensions and continued package innovation”.

At the end of December 2017, accumulated profits totalled €9.7 million, while shareholders funds totalled €13 million, including cash of €2.67million.