Arca Continental, the second Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, has goals for 2022: to increase sales between 6 and 8% through “inorganic growth.”
Arturo Gutiérrez Hernández, general director of the company, announced during the call with analysts to comment on its financial results, that the company is preparing to raise the prices of its products, such as Ciel water and Bokados snacks, to respond to the escalation of prices. derived from inflation.
This measure is in line with forecasts by analysts, such as Invex, which calculated an annual growth in the company’s total sales of close to 5% by 2022, thanks to a better mix of products and higher prices to mitigate higher costs in raw materials.
The company closed 2021 with a growth in net profit of 19.5%, which went from 12,282 million pesos, from 10,276 million pesos the previous year, according to the data in its financial statement.
Total sales volume for 2021 grew 5.8% to 2,279.7 million pesos, from 2,154.8 million the previous year, driven by carbonated beverages, whose volume increased 16.1%, and bottled water, which grew 11.1%. The volume of soft drinks increased 5% and that of jug water decreased 1.4%.
The Coca-Cola bottler registered an income of 183,366 million pesos in 2021, from 169,314 million pesos in 2020, which represents a growth of 8.3%. The operating flow for the year closed at 35,406 million pesos, an increase of 10.1%.
During 2021, the investment in fixed assets was 7,176 million pesos, which were used, mainly, for the acquisition of refrigerators, returnable containers and execution capacities in the market.
The Arca Continental Digital division accelerated the expansion of services, capturing 79,000 clients in 2021, reaching 8% of total orders, thereby investing more time in executing on the market and developing new clients.
In the United States, net sales for 2021 grew 4.4% and reached 69,323 million pesos. The volume registered an increase of 3.1% higher compared to 2020, and 0.7% compared to 2019. In South America, sales reached 35,402 million pesos, with a growth of 8.1% compared to 2020.
The last quarter of 2021
Sales in Mexico during the last quarter of the year increased 12.1%, to 78,642 million pesos and volume reached 1,282.2, a growth of 3.5% compared to the previous year. Compared to 2019, the result for 2021 was 1.8% higher.
In addition, during the last quarter of last year, the company opened a distribution center that will serve clients and consumers in different municipalities in Coahuila, for which an investment of 216 million pesos was made, and which has the capacity to store 7,000 pallets. of merchandise and 97 tons of refrigerated product.
The traditional channel -that is, the little stores-, showed resilience during the quarter, with growth of 1.9% compared to the last quarter of 2020, and 10.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, mainly explained by the good performance of the categories colas, purified water and isotonic.
“For 2022, our solid execution at the point of sale and the permanent focus on operational efficiency support our objective of maintaining the positive trend in sales, the growth of the operating flow and the creation of sustainable value for our investors”, said the CEO. CEO of the company, in the 2021 report.
