Coca-Cola Hellenic Reports Lower First-Half Sales

Greece's economy has been going through bad time over the past six months. The country has although hammered out the terms of a new _85bn rescue with its creditors, but it seems that consumers are still willing to spend on small luxuries, like a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Hellenic (Coca-Cola HBC), one of the world's largest Coca-Cola bottlers, announced that its sales in Greece rose marginally in the first half of the financial year to July 3, despite tough economic back drop.

Coca-Cola HBC was once the biggest quoted company in Greece but in 2012 it decided to quit the cash-strapped country and pursue a stock market listing in London.

Now, the company said that it is more cautious about its outlook, as Greece has introduced capital controls at the end of June, which has limiting how much people could withdraw from their bank accounts on a daily basis.

But it has been found that the company has faced tough competition in its key Russian market during the first half. Coca-Cola HBC's said its sales by volume in Russia decreased by 'low single digits'.

Decreasing oil prices and western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis have continued to take their toll on the Russian economy, it added.

However, the company enjoyed success in other countries that have experienced political upheaval over the past six months, notably Ukraine and Nigeria. It has been said that the unit case volume at its emerging markets division, which groups together countries such as Russia, Nigeria, Romania and the Ukraine, rose by 5.4 % overall in the first half.