News and current reports

Despite the unfavourable weather conditions, the Kofola Group increased net revenue in the first half year in all regions where it operates. The Group’s net sales rose year-on-year by 3.4%. Excluding the impact of LEROS, which the Group purchased in March 2018, the growth was 2.4%. The positive revenue growth was mainly due to the Adriatic region, where the company Studenac grew the most. The Group continues to focus on further growth opportunities and recently announced the purchase of the Czech company Espresso. This acquisition has helped the Group to expand its gastro portfolio through the inclusion of top-quality coffee brand Café Reserva and the premium tea Dilmah.

The Group’s EBITDA dropped by 7.3% in the first half year. The weather in May, which was one of the coldest and rainiest in a recent decade, was the main cause. The result was also influenced by higher packaging costs, growth in wages and logistic expenses. These factors were partially compensated by the lower sugar price.

In the first half, the CzechoSlovak market achieved year-on-year net sales increase of 1.1%. At the same time, the market shares in the gastro segment are the highest in the history. The greatest success was recorded by a Royal Crown Cola, which has been significantly increasing its market share in the cola-flavoured beverage segment. In the second quarter of 2019, the Group started to sell the mineral water Kláštorná Kalcia, which the Group purchased, including the production plant, in 2018. During the first few months, 1.5 million bottles of Kláštorná Kalcia were successfully sold, reaching a market share of 2.5% in Slovakia.

The Adriatic region delighted the Group’s shareholders again, when it achieved net sales increase of 7.2%. Furthermore, the biggest double-digit sales growth was recorded in Croatia, where the Group became number 2 in the carbonated mineral waters category. This confirms the Group’s strategy of supporting the Croatian market which has started to reap the rewards. The mineral water Radenska, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, recorded a considerable increase in sales and after relaunch of the Oaza brand, the company RADENSKA reached the highest market share in non-carbonated flavoured water segment in the last 3 years.

Jannis Samaras, the CEO of the Kofola Group, said about the future outlook: “The weather in the second quarter of the year really wasn´t good, but despite this adversity, we managed to increase sales compared to last year and I believe we will meet the announced annual plan,” and further comments the Group segments: “The Adriatic region has delighted us. Thanks to investments, it is constantly growing and its net sales keep having a bigger impact on our economic results. Except for small fluctuations, the CzechoSlovak region is stable over the long term, so we will now focus primarily on finding additional growth opportunities. One of the first positive signs is the recent acquisition of the company Espresso, which distributes the top-quality coffee brand Café Reserva and the premium tea Dilmah. This step has helped us to expand our products range considerably. Thus, we can provide our partners in the gastro segment with a complete non-alcoholic portfolio, including premium coffee and perfect service. We definitely want to continue in this trend.”

Net sales on the CzechoSlovak and Adriatic segments together amounted to 89.3% of the Group’s total sales as compared to 90.1% for the same period in the last year. A small percentage drop has resulted from the additional growth in sales in the segment “Fresh & Herbs”, where companies UGO, LEROS and Premium Rosa operate.

Further information can be found in the section Reports and presentations.