Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company

Coca-Cola HBC AG

Company type	Public
Traded as	LSE: CCH Athex: EEE FTSE 100 Component
Founded	1969; 55 years ago (1969), in Athens, Greece (as Hellenic Bottling Company S.A.) 2000; 24 years ago (2000) (as Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A.) 2013; 11 years ago (2013) (as Coca-Cola HBC AG)
Headquarters	Steinhausen, Zug, Switzerland[1]
Key people	Anastassis G David (chair­person)  Zoran Bogdanović (CEO)
Products	Alcohol-free beverages
Revenue	€10.184 billion (2023)[2]
Operating income	€953.6 million (2023)[2]
Net income	€635.7 million (2023)[2]
Owner	The Kar-Tess Group (23.3%) The Coca-Cola Company (23.2%)[3]
Website	www.coca-colahellenic.com

Coca-Cola HBC AG also known as Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company^[4][5] or just Coca-Cola Hellenic is the world's third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler in terms of volume with sales of more than 2 billion unit cases. Coca-Cola HBC's shares are primarily listed on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing on the Athens Stock Exchange. The company is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Coca-Cola HBC has been named the industry leader among beverage companies in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Index^[6] and is also included in the FTSE4Good Index.^[7]

History

Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (Greek: Ελληνική Εταιρεία Εμφιαλώσεως) was incorporated under the laws of Greece in 1969, with headquarters in Athens. The Coca-Cola Company granted to the company its bottling rights in the country in 1969.^[8] In August 2000 Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. acquired Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd, the former European operations of Coca-Cola Amatil, and formed Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A.^[9]

In October 2012, the company announced that it was moving its operational headquarters to Switzerland and would switch its main market listing to London. This was a major blow to the Athens stock market, as Coca-Cola Hellenic was its largest listed company by value. Reasons for the move included better access to financing and a move away from crisis ridden Greece, which had prompted ratings agencies to downgrade its credit over the summer to three notches above "junk" level.^[10]

On 29 April 2013 Coca-Cola HBC AG, now a Swiss holding company, was admitted to the London Stock Exchange’s main market.^[11]

On 11 September 2013 Coca-Cola HBC AG announced its inclusion into the FTSE 100 and FTSE All-Share indices. Coca-Cola HBC was named the industry leader among beverage companies in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.^[6]

On 24 July 2014 Coca-Cola HBC AG announced its delisting of its American depositary receipts (ADRs) from the New York Stock Exchange, the termination of its ADR programme, and the deregistration and termination of its reporting obligations under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934.^[12]

In October 2017 the company's chief executive officer, Dimitris Lois, died after a period of illness.^[13] On 7 December 2017, Zoran Bogdanović was appointed as new chief executive officer by the board of directors.^[14]

In January 2019, the Coca-Cola HBC announced that its carbonated water brand Valser would use captured carbon from the direct air capture company Climeworks,^[15] and in 2021, a Coca-Cola HBC official stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that 30 percent of their production was done with captured carbon from Climeworks.^[16]

On 18 February 2019, the company announced a deal valued at €260 million to acquire Serbian food company Bambi from Mid Europa Partners.^[17][18]

Operations

Coca-Cola HBC operates in 28 countries in 3 continents; its well established markets include Greece (its headquarters before 2013), Cyprus, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, its developing markets include Poland, the Baltic States, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Croatia. Its emerging markets include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Belarus, Montenegro, Armenia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Nigeria and Egypt.^[19]

The company's stock is 23.3% owned by the Kar-Tess Holding (a Luxembourg company) and 23.2% by The Coca-Cola Company. The remaining 53.5% are in free float, of which about two-thirds are held by UK and US institutional investors.^[20]

Coca-Cola HBC in Russia

On 26 August 2022, it was announced that the Russian division of Coca-Cola HBC would be renamed "Multon Partners".^[21][22][23]

References

1. "Service Depantments Info Lines Contact – Coca-Cola HBC". coca-colahellenic.com. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
2. "Preliminary Results 2023" (PDF). Coca-Cola HBC AG. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
3. "Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company". Athex Group. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
4. "Coca-Cola bottler gains fizz in emerging markets". The Times. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
5. "Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company sales volumes pick up". Financial Times. 15 February 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
6. "Coca-Cola HBC AG named industry leader in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Index". coca-colahellenic.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
7. "Sustainability ratings". coca-colahellenic.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
8. "Coca-Cola bottling firm returns to growth". The Guardian. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
9. "Commission clears Merger between Hellenic Bottling Company and Coca-Cola Beverages plc, subject to undertakings". European Commission. 8 February 2000. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
10. Ball, Deborah; Stamouli, Nektaria (12 October 2012). "Bottler Spills Out of Athens". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
11. "Coca-Cola Hellenic lists on London Stock Exchange". London loves business. 29 April 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
12. "Coca-Cola HBC AG Intends to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and deregister its shares with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission". coca-colahellenic.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
13. Curry, Rhiannon (3 October 2017). "Coca-Cola HBC chief executive dies". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
14. "Coca Cola HBC appoints Zoran Bogdanovic as new CEO following death of Dimitris Lois". City A.M. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
15. Kotecki, Peter (January 15, 2019). "A Coca Cola-owned brand will sell sparkling water made with carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
16. "Coca-Cola's and Microsoft's Latest Gamble: A Giant CO2 Vacuum Cleaner". The Wall Street Journal. News Corp. August 31, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
17. Scully, Jules (18 February 2019). "Coca-Cola HBC acquires Serbian company Bambi for 260m euros". foodbev.com. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
18. Dimitrioski, Zarko (18 February 2019). "Serbian Condiments Producer Sold For €260 Million To Coca-Cola HBC". forbes.com. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
19. "Where we Operate". Coca-Cola HBC AG. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
20. "Shareholder structure". Coca-Cola HBC AG. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
21. "Coca-Cola будет продавать в РФ напиток под брендом "Добрый кола"". Interfax.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-08-27.
22. DiNapoli, Jessica; Marrow, Alexander; DiNapoli, Jessica (2022-08-27). "Coca-Cola bottler starts making 'Dobry Cola' in Russia". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
23. "Coca - cola suspend Russia business".

External links

• Official website