Coca-Cola Icecek AS (CCOLA), the bottler of Coke drinks in 10 countries including Turkey and central Asia, predicted sales volumes will climb more than 10 percent this year. The stock rose as much as 3.6 percent in Istanbul trading.<\/p>\n
Sales volumes will increase \u201cat high single digits in Turkey and in the mid-to-high teens\u201d in other countries this year, Chief Executive Officer Michael O\u2019Neill said in an e- mailed response to Bloomberg questions yesterday. \u201cThus we expect to deliver low-teen growth on a consolidated basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola Icecek, in which Coca-Cola Co. (KO) holds a 20.1 percent stake, is the fifth-largest bottler of Coca-Cola Co. in the world, according to an investor presentation on its website. The Istanbul-based company\u2019s Turkish sales totaled 74 percent of the 665.4 million unit cases sold in 2010. Total Sales advanced 14 percent to 2.75 billion liras ($1.7 billion) in 2010.<\/p>\n
Per capita consumption of sparkling beverages is 44 liters a year in Turkey and this is \u201cstill way below that of neighboring countries and the European Union average,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. Bulgaria\u2019s consumption is 89 liters per person a year, he said. \u201cOur long-term guidance for Turkey operations is high single-digit growth and mid-to-high-teens growth in international markets,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola Icecek rose as much as 80 kurus to 22.85 liras and traded 2 percent higher at 22.50 liras as of 12:29 p.m.<\/p>\n
Growth Opportunities<\/p>\n
The company sells products in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, with bottling plants in 20 locations, including eight in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola Icecek expects \u201cthe pace of growth to decelerate in the second half of 2011,\u201d after the \u201chigh growth\u201d in volumes of 17 percent in the second half of 2010, O\u2019Neill said. \u201cWe expect the growth momentum to normalize throughout the year. We also expect net revenue growth to normalize in the second half in line with volume growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 62 percent of people in Coca-Cola Icecek\u2019s market of 363 million are aged below 29 and this presents \u201ctremendous growth opportunities for companies operating in the region,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cYou will see more countries becoming a part of CCI in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we look at the next 10 years, we see a more positive demographic picture,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cThere is no reason\u201d why Turkey can\u2019t match the Bulgarian per capita consumption and no reason Pakistan can\u2019t reach the Turkey per capita figure \u201cover time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Central Asia, Iraq<\/p>\n
The company expects central Asian operations to lead growth this year as consumer spending in these markets is rising, O\u2019Neill said. Central Asian sales volume grew 25 percent in the first quarter, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIraq operations will be an important growth driver for CCI,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. Iraq operations delivered over 30 percent sales growth for the fifth consecutive quarter, he said. Coca- Cola Icecek bought a 70 percent stake in the Iraqi bottler CC Beverage Ltd. for $36.9 million in March, raising its stake to 100 percent.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, which has a population of 185 million and accounts for Coca Cola Icecek\u2019s biggest volume sales outside Turkey, is expected to improve growth this year after floods in 2010, he said. The company\u2019s sales in the country rose 8.3 percent in 2010 and are expected to grow \u201cin the mid-teens\u201d this year, he said. The company will invest $300 million in Pakistan in the next three years, he said.<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola Icecek\u2019s total capital expenditure will be about 12 percent of net revenue this year, compared with 5 percent in the past two years, O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n
To contact the reporter on this story: Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul eersoy@bloomberg.net.<\/p>\n
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net.<\/p>\n
via Coca-Cola Icecek CEO Says 2011 Sales Growth Will Exceed 10% – Bloomberg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Coca-Cola Icecek AS (CCOLA), the bottler of Coke drinks in 10 countries including Turkey and central Asia, predicted sales volumes will climb more than 10 percent this year. The stock rose as much as 3.6 percent in Istanbul trading. Sales volumes will increase \u201cat high single digits in Turkey and in the mid-to-high teens\u201d in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":66059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[846],"tags":[5757],"class_list":["post-35024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-coca-cola"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}