Costa Coffee’s post-pandemic recovery boosted its American owner, the Coca-Cola Company, after the chain reopened its UK estate.
Coffee sales at Coca-Cola rose by 27% in the three months to April 1, an increase “primarily driven” by the fact that Costa’s UK stores were closed during the same period of 2021, as well as the chain’s “continued expansion” worldwide, The Times reports.
Net revenue within the group’s global ventures division, which houses Costa, rose by 28% to $729m. The unit’s pre-tax profit doubled to $56m.
Coca-Cola, which has a market value of more than $280bn, bought Costa from Whitbread for $4.9bn in 2019. The chain, founded in 1971, has more than 4,000 shops globally.
Higher prices and robust demand lifted sales at The Coca-Cola Company by 16% to $10.5bn in the last quarter, exceeding expectations on Wall Street, as disruption wrought by Covid-19 faded.
The world’s largest drinks company reported a 24% rise in net profit to $2.78bn as it moved to reassure investors over the impact of its suspension of operations in Russia.
James Quincey, chairman and chief executive, said that the group was watching for any “spillover effects” from the Ukrainian war. “We are pleased with our first-quarter results as our company continues to execute effectively in a highly dynamic and uncertain environment,” he said.
