THE Coca-Cola bottling business for the UK and Europe has almost doubled its profits for the past year after it was boosted by the reopening of hospitality and acquisitions, new figures show.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) hailed an "extraordinary year" which saw it post a 98.5 per cent rise in profits after tax to €988 million euro (£828.5 million) for 2021, compared with the previous year.
It added that revenues increased by 30 per cent for the year, significantly driven by its acquisition of Australian bottling business Coca-Cola Amatil.
The company rebranded from Coca-Cola European Partners after it snapped up the Australian arm in May 2021.
The drink's giant's Irish division, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC), the bottling partner to Coca-Cola in the north, has yet to report its financial performance for 2021.
But in 2020, which it described as "a tough trading year" due to the impact of Covid, its sales fell by nearly 12 per cent from £232.1m to £204.7m, while its operating profit slipped from £16.4m to £14.6m.
However, the company - which had a major restructuring during the trading year - grew its assets to just shy of £100 million.
Operating since 2010 from a 50,000 sq metres manufacturing facility at Knockmore Hill, the company has had a presence in Northern Ireland for more than 80 years, with its site employing 450 people, producing, marketing and selling a wide portfolio of soft drinks including Coke, Fanta, Sprite and Schweppes.
Two years ago Coca-Cola HBC set aside £9.3 million of capital expenditure for the installation of a new canning line, the second of its kind to be installed at the Lisburn plant, to enable it to start producing a sleek new type of packaging to future-proof its business across Ireland and support its sustainability agenda.
Meanwhile CCEP said yesterday that its like-for-like sales in 2021 were up 4.5 per cent on 2020 levels as customers bought more drinks outside of their homes, following the reopening of pubs restaurants and bars. But this was 5.5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels from 2019.
In Britain, the business said sales of Coca-Cola, Fanta and Monster all reported growth on pre-pandemic levels as they benefited from strong retail sales as well as a rebound from hospitality.
Chief executive Damian Gammell said: "2021 was an extraordinary year for CCEP. We are a stronger, more diverse business, built on great people, great service and great beverages - done sustainably.
"Solid top-line recovery, value share gains, operating margin expansion and remarkable free cash flow generation demonstrate our strong performance in a challenging environment.
"Our results also reflect the successful acquisition and integration of Coca-Cola Amatil, a fantastic business to have acquired at the right time, as we look forward to an even brighter future together."
The group said it is "well-placed" for 2022 and expects a recovery is sales volumes to continue over the short term.
