Coca-Cola Zero and Schweppes were among the brands that drove the sales growth in 2017, he added.
“Last year was very good, we posted growth for the third year in a row.”
Revenue was up 7%, while sales volumes rose 6% year-on-year. All the company’s brands did well, Jaak Mikkel told ZF. He will be replaced in early May by Jovan Radosavljevic and will move to Poland to run the Coca-Cola HBC operations in that country.
To Coca-Cola HBC Romania, last year was the third in a row when its sales volume increased, and the fourth year of growth in revenue. According to ZF’s calculations, Coca-Cola HBC Romania revenue reached 2.3 billion lei (EUR520 million) last year, the highest in bottler’s more than two decades on this market.
Under Jaak Mikkel’s leadership, Coca-Cola HBC Romania changed its strategy, choosing diversification of its portfolio by number of packaging options and flavors. The plants in Romania turned into a major hub that serves neighboring markets. The company has plants in Ploiesti, Vatra Dornei and Timisoara.
The most important investment last year was the can line in the plant in Timisoara, which stood at EUR7 million and the new cans we well received by consumers. This investment is important for the Romanian market and for exports. The bottler currently exports about 10% of its total production, which makes it the largest beverage exporter in the country, the executive said. Investment will continue this year but will be mostly directed to refrigerating equipment manufactured in the Frigoglass plant near Timisoara. Coca-Cola HBC Romania will also launch new products, Jaak Mikkel added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)