Kofola has grown in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Adriatic region. Continued investment in a healthy lifestyle.
Kofola’s revenues stagnated last year. The EBITDA economic indicator reached EUR 36 million yet decreased by 10.7%. The company performed well on the CzechoSlovak market as well as, growing strongly again in the Adriatic region. Despite the previously announced decrease in Poland, the company y has succeededs in building new pillars. The Kofola Group reaffirms a clear direction towards healthy natural foods and their share in total sales is growing sharply.
"The economic activities in the last quarter of the year have shown a year-on-year improvement. From a strategic point of view, we are doing well, but I have to admit we expected more," says the Kofola Group's CFO Daniel Buryš, and he continues: "In CzechoSlovakia we have retained the position and growth, in addition, new brands have been added to our portfolio, of which I am very happy about. In the Adriatic region we have succeed in achieving our belief of strong growth. And in Poland? The decline is slightly smaller than the previous year. Above all, we have succeeded in making changes towards a healthy business model. But we have are not out of the woods yet. We are convinced that our long-term investments towards attaining the most natural foods possible are correct and we will continue in this trend."
Kofola, excluding Poland, has increased its annual sales by 8.6%. With the inclusion of Poland, the sales of the group decreased by 0.5%. The domestic Czechoslovak market has had a major influence on the overall result, with sales rising by 3.2%. Higher sales were recorded mainly by brands such as Kofola, Rajec and Vinea.
In addition to the production and sale of its own branded drinks, Kofola also reinforced its position as a distributor in the CzechoSlovak market last year. At the beginning of 2017, it became the exclusive distributor of the traditional brands of spa spring waters of Bílinská kyselka, Rudolfův pramen and Zaječická hořká. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, the company was also active in expanding its business, as evidenced by the recent acquisition of LEROS, a traditional Czech company and, one of the largest traditional producers of high quality herbal teas from medicinal herbs. "Along
with the UGO brand, the largest network of Freshbars and Salateries in Central Europe, LEROS products from medicinal herbs contribute to another key part of our redirection to healthier products. This company will be an important source of quality herbs for Kofola as well as Rajec," declares Jannis Samaras, the Group’s CEO.
The company's performance in the Polish market has recorded a year-on-year decrease in sales by 28%, mainly caused by a decline in the private brand segment and the establishment of a new business. A positive signal from the Polish market is the fact that the year-on-year decrease in sales has been despite the costs of modernization and production concentration lower than in the previous year and also the fact, that the company has been successful in making changes that support business in the local market. For example, Kofola has been distributing Nestea beverages on this market since the beginning of this year, but it also wants to promote new products. That is why, during the last year, it agreed to purchase the local, fast growing company of Premium Rosa whose main domain is high quality natural products such as syrups, juices and jams.
The company’s business has also steadily grown in the Adriatic region, where sales have grown by 29.8%. Mainly our flagships – Radenska mineral water and ORA traditional lemonade - have been very successful. This year we are planning to maintain this pace. In Croatia we have built our business team and distribution channels. We have succeeded in integrating the production plant in Lipik into the Group, which we took over at the end of 2016. All of this helped us in 2018 to maintain strong growth of the brands produced in Lipik, namely of Studena and Studenac spring and mineral waters.
