ATHENS, May 10 – Athens-based Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling (CCHBC) reported on Thursday a net loss of 28.4 million euros ($37 million) in the first quarter of 2012, up from 8.9 million a year earlier.
CCHBC, Coca-Cola’s regional subsidiary and one of the largest bottlers of non-alcoholic beverages in Europe, operates in 28 countries in Europe and Africa and employs a workforce of more than 41,000.
Sales fell by two percent to 425.5 million euros while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell by 27 percent to 82.6 million euros. Net sales revenue rose by 1 percent to 1.44 billion euros.
“We managed to deliver revenue growth ahead of volume performance amidst a challenging external environment,” CCHBC chief executive officer Dimitris Lois said in a statement.
“We also continued to win in the marketplace, growing or maintaining our market position in most of our markets, with trademark Coca-Cola products growing in all three reporting segments,” he said.
But Lois warned that the company continues to witness macroeconomic uncertainty in all its EU markets.
