Swiss-headquartered Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) has bought vending-machine company BDS Vending to “enhance its route-to-market capabilities”.
The deal, for 100% of BDS Vending, was completed through Coca-Cola HBC’s Northern-Ireland subsidiary.
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Founded in 1993, BDS Vending is a vending machine supplier and operating service. It also provides online support and physical maintenance for machines.
Dublin-headquartered BDS Vending has depots in the Irish cities of Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Galway, Sligo, Limerick and Wexford. Its owns approximately 2,000 vending machines.
Coca-Cola HBC said the move would “unlock profitable opportunities across its well-rounded cold and hot beverages and snacks portfolio”.
Just Drinks has contacted the bottler for more details of the deal.
The Coca-Cola bottler added the move would give it a “valuable building block” of technology and services that it can use to develop further capabilities across the markets in which it operates.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed and are still subject to approval from the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Coca-Cola HBC said it expected the deal to be completed in the coming months.
In 2021, the group acquired Polish self-serve coffee vending business Costa Express for €5.6m ($6.06m). It acquired a group of assets which have been integrated into its operations in Poland.
In its full-year financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2023, Coca-Cola HBC posted a net sales revenue of €10.1bn up 10.7% year on year. The CSD bottler’s net profit for the year was €764m, an increase of 22.3% on the previous year.
Speaking to investors, Bogdanovic said that pricing would remain an “important driver” of its revenue generation.
“We do see that it will be on a more moderate level than the last two years. However, it will remain a driver,” he said.
“This really depends from market to market.” Bogdanovic added that “There are no countries with negative inflation.”
