Coca-Cola European Partners Q3 Profit Declines; Affirms FY Outlook

(RTTNews) - Coca-Cola European Partners plc (CCE) on Tuesday reported a 7 percent decline in profit for the third quarter from last year on lower revenues.

The company's third-quarter profit after taxes was 304 million euros or 0.62 euro per share. On a comparable basis, earnings per share for the quarter were 0.68 euro and include a negative currency translation of 0.01 euros.

Operating profit for the quarter was 427 million euros, down 5.5 percent from the year-ago period.

Revenue for the quarter totaled 2.96 billion euros, down 1.5 percent on a reported basis from last year. On a comparable and forex-neutral basis, revenue was down 0.5 percent.

Revenue per unit case was up 3.0 percent on a comparable and forex-neutral basis driven by favourable price, promotion, and package mix.

Third-quarter volume decreased 3.5 percent on a comparable basis, reflecting strong prior year hurdles, unfavorable weather conditions, and the impact from customer disruptions as we focus on maintaining gross margins.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2017, CCEP reaffirmed its outlook for low single-digit revenue growth and operating profit growth at the top end of the previously stated high single-digit range.

CCEP expects full-year comparable earnings per share in a range of 2.10 euros to 2.13 euros, including currency translation at recent rates. At recent rates, currency translation would reduce 2017 full-year diluted earnings per share by approximately 2 percent.

CCEP said it remains on track to achieve pre-tax savings of 315 million euros to 340 million euros through synergies by mid-2019.

The CCEP Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of 0.21 euro per share. The dividend is payable 4 December 2017 to those shareholders of record on 20 November 2017.