Australia's Coca-Cola Amatil misses profit target on wet weather, floods
Australia's top soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola Amatil (ASX: CCL) said severe floods and lower consumer demand had hurt its second half earnings.
"The impact of the colder and wetter weather across the Eastern seaboard, in particular the flooding in Queensland, will result in EBIT growth of 5 to 5.5 per cent for the second half which will be below the 7 to 8 per cent previously advised target," the company said on Thursday.
Despite this, CCA said it still expects 2010 net profit to show 10 percent growth.
According to the soft drinks bottler, "second half net profit growth which benefited from lower interest and tax costs is expected to be 9 to 10 per cent and is ahead of target."
CCA managing director Terry Davis said, "Trading conditions throughout the summer period have been challenging with unseasonal weather and lower consumer demand affecting CCA's major trading zones across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
"Overall, our expectation of delivering 10 per cent NPAT growth for the full year is a strong performance given the result also includes a $9.3 million one-off tax expense in New Zealand from the unexpected change in New Zealand tax legislation in the first half."
Shares in Coca-Cola Amatil, which is 30 percent owned by the world's biggest soft-drink maker, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., lifted 1.2 percent yesterday to close at $10.84.
The stock lost 5.8 percent in 2010, more than twice the 2.6 percent slump in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.