Coca-Cola Europacific Partners post quarterly revenue rise on strong demand

(Reuters) - Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, a bottling unit of Coca-Cola, reported a 5% rise in fourth-quarter sales on Friday, helped by strong demand for higher-priced beverages, especially in the Australia, Pacific and Southeast Asia markets.

The UK-based company, which bottles Coca-Cola's beverages including Coca-Cola, Sprite and Monster in Western Europe and Australia, also said it would buy back shares worth 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) over the next 12 months.

The company, which supplies beverages to fast-food chains including McDonald's and KFC-owner Yum Brands, also saw a boost from demand for value combo meals, which typically include a beverage.

Volumes rose 1.7% in Australia, Pacific and Southeast Asia regions, but declined 2.6% in Europe as it removed Capri Sun products from its range due to distribution agreements ending.

Overall, the company's adjusted comparable volumes fell 1.1% in the fourth quarter, but was offset by higher prices of its beverages, it said.

The Coca-Cola Company on Tuesday had forecast annual sales growth at the upper end of its long-term target after a surprise quarterly revenue rise.

To attract new customers, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has been investing to roll out new product variants, including Coca-Cola Lime on both the regular and zero variants, banking on the popularity of flavored colas.

For the quarter ended December 31, the company's adjusted comparable revenue rose 5% to 5.25 billion euros.

The company sees annual adjusted comparable operating profit to grow about 7%, compared to an 8% growth in 2024

It also forecast annual adjusted comparable revenue growth of about 4%, compared to a 3.5% rise in the past year. ($1 = 0.9542 euros)

(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)