Coca-Cola bottler hits by $195 million charge in Russia

Coca-Cola bottles are seen on sale in central St. Petersburg.

In the first half, a one-time hit of 190 million euro, $195.36 million was incurred by Coca-Cola in Russia, after it stopped selling Coca-Cola drinks in the country after the Ukraine war.

The soft drinks bottler, which once counted Russia as one of its biggest markets, expects to sustain financial charges of around 82 million euros in the second half as it depleted all its stocks and would no longer produce or sell Coca-Cola or other brands of the Coca-Cola CompanyCoca-Cola Company in Russia.

HBC is one of the many bottlers of Coca-Cola in the world and holds local Coca-Cola franchises to bottle and sell drinks produced by the U.S. beverage giant. Coca-Cola holds a 20% stake in HBC.

The London-listed firm had a 34% fall in net profit at 153 million euros for the six months ending July 1, hit by the charges.

It forecast that the operating profit for 2022 would be between 740 million euro and 820 million euro.