Coca-Cola HBC AG, a growth-oriented consumer products company and strategic bottling partner of The Coca-Cola Company, today announced its trading update for the third quarter of 2026.
Third-quarter performance highlights
Our relentless focus on strategic priorities drove organic growth of 9.0% in net sales revenue
- Strong volume momentum, with organic growth of 5.4%, driven mainly by performance in carbonated soft drinks (+4.5%) and energy drinks (+24.7%).
- Organic net sales revenue per case increased by 3.4%, reflecting targeted revenue growth management (RGM) initiatives.
- Reported net sales revenue increased by 9.6%, reflecting strong organic growth and a small benefit from the translation of results into the Group’s reporting currency.
- Our value share of ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages has increased by 70 basis points year to date.
Strong organic growth in volume and net sales revenue across all three of our business segments
- Developed markets: Organic net sales revenue increased by 8.0%, with volume up 5.6%, reflecting strong execution of our in-market strategy during the peak demand period.
- Developing markets: Organic net sales revenue increased by 8.7%, driven mainly by higher revenue per case, while volume rose by 3.7%.
- Emerging markets: Organic net sales revenue increased by 9.8%, with strong volume growth of 5.8%, driven mainly by performance in Nigeria.
Continued investment in our 24/7 portfolio and specialist capabilities
- Strong performance from the Coca-Cola brand, supported by innovative products, FIFA World Cup-related promotions and local partnerships around key music- and meal-related consumption occasions, in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company.
- Launch of refreshed Coca-Cola Zero Sugar packaging in most of our markets, supported by targeted promotions and focused execution.
- Further acceleration in the momentum of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine, which recorded triple-digit volume growth.
- Powerade continued to perform strongly, benefiting from promotions in July linked to the FIFA World Cup and local sports partnerships.
- Strong growth in energy drinks was supported by product innovation from Monster and local promotions.
- Coffee recorded strong growth in the out-of-home channel, our strategic priority.
We remain on track to complete the acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa by the end of 2026.
- Five of the six required approvals have been received from local competition authorities to date, with Tanzania still pending.
Mr Zoran Bogdanovic, Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola HBC AG, commented:
“We are very pleased to have delivered strong performance for another quarter, with net sales revenue increasing by 9.0% on an organic basis. This reflects our continued focus on effective execution of our strategy, which drove broad-based volume growth across our 24/7 portfolio.
Through exciting innovations, strong brand activation and excellent execution of our strategy during the important summer season, we continued to capture growth opportunities across our markets. These actions, together with ongoing investment in our portfolio and specialist capabilities, underpin the consistency of our performance and drive continued market share gains.
Despite the ongoing uncertain and dynamic macroeconomic environment, we enter the final quarter of the year well positioned to deliver our full-year targets. I would like to thank our teams, our customers, The Coca-Cola Company and all our partners for their continued commitment and support.”
Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025 – Change (%)| Change (%) | Net sales revenue | Volume | Net sales revenue per case |
|---|
| Organic | Reported | Organic | Reported | Organic | Reported |
|---|
| Group | 9.0 | 9.6 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| Developed markets | 8.0 | 8.1 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Developing markets | 8.7 | 9.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 5.7 |
| Emerging markets | 9.8 | 10.5 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 3.8 | 4.5 |
Business outlook
We delivered strong performance in the first nine months of the year. We expect the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment to remain dynamic. Nevertheless, we remain confident in our 24/7 portfolio, our specialist capabilities, our people and the growth opportunities across our diverse markets. We are upgrading our 2026 financial guidance as follows:
- Organic net sales revenue growth is now expected to be slightly above the 6% to 7% range (previously at the top end of the 6% to 7% range).
- Organic operating profit growth of 8% to 10% (unchanged).
Technical guidance
Foreign exchange: We expect the impact of foreign exchange translation into the Group’s reporting currency on comparable operating profit to be positive, at €0-10 million (unchanged).
Restructuring costs: We do not expect significant restructuring costs (unchanged).
Tax: We expect the comparable effective tax rate to be between 26% and 28% (unchanged).
Net finance costs: We expect net finance costs to be €35-45 million (previously €40-50 million).
Selling days: We had four additional selling days in the first quarter (equivalent to a positive impact of around six percentage points on Group volume), while we will have four fewer selling days in the fourth quarter compared with the previous year.
Developed markets: Greece
In Greece, volume increased by a mid-single-digit percentage. Carbonated soft drinks volume rose by a mid-single-digit percentage, driven by strong performance from the Coke and Sprite brands. Energy drinks recorded strong single-digit growth despite a high comparison base, while non-carbonated soft drinks posted mid-single-digit growth, driven mainly by water and sports drinks.