Maybe the Nigerian consumer is not tapped out after all. Or perhaps Nigerians just love their sugar high.
Shares in Coca-Cola HBC AG surged after the second-largest bottler of Coke products said strong sales in Nigeria, Romania and Ukraine were more than making up for its struggles in Russia, the company’s biggest market.
Coca-Cola HBC’s share price has closely tracked the ruble since the start of the year, a phenomenon that’s also affected Carlsberg A/S, Russia’s largest brewer. “Russia counts for about 80 to 90 percent of our FX negative impact,” Chief Financial Officer Michalis Imellos said on a conference call.
The bottler buys concentrate from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. and sells the products in Europe, Russia and Nigeria.
It is listed in London and Athens and has a market value of 7.5 billion euros.