Arca Continental, the second Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, reported that during this year it will make an investment of more than 12,000 million pesos, aimed at strengthening and innovating its production, distribution and execution capabilities, as well as promoting digitalization and sustainability projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and the United States, the countries where it has a presence.
The Monterrey-based company detailed in a statement that, of the total investment figure, 50% will be allocated to initiatives aimed at strengthening its operations in Mexico, and the other 50% to different projects in the United States and South America.
Last year, the company estimated investments of 11,000 million pesos; however, it only executed 7,176 million, which was spent on the acquisition of refrigerators, returnable containers and execution capacities in the market.
“In 2022 we will seek to strengthen our leadership in the market through continuous adaptation to change, with the determination to capitalize on opportunities for improvement and innovation, to promote social welfare and sustainable development”, said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Jorge Humberto Santos Reyna, quoted in the statement.
Since the pandemic, Arca Continental has focused its efforts on boosting sales in the traditional channel, that is, the little stores, and for this reason, since last year it has extended the AC Digital platform, a channel aimed mainly at the traditional channel. Through this platform, shopkeepers can buy the different products in the company’s portfolio, from soft drinks to Bokados snacks.
At the end of last year, the Arca Continental Digital division accelerated the expansion of services, managing to capture 79,000 clients in 2021, reaching 8% of total orders, with this it has been possible to invest more time in the execution in the market and development of New customers.
“In order to continue strengthening the competitiveness of the business, we will continue promoting the digitization agenda that we have undertaken, convinced of the potential that data analysis and information technologies offer us to serve more efficiently, get to know the consumer better and adapt our portfolio to their dynamic needs,” said Arturo Gutiérrez Hernández.
The company will also strengthen attention to the point of sale in all distribution channels, with a focus on the expansion of direct service models to the consumer, such as direct sales to the home, as well as the expansion of technological solutions in the Traditional Channel.
For this year, the second Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America has goals for 2022: to increase sales between 6 and 8% through “inorganic growth”, according to the information that executives shared during the call with analysts to comment. the results of the last quarter of 2021.
The company closed 2021 with a growth in net profit of 19.5%, which went to 12,282 million pesos from 10,276 million pesos the previous year, according to the data in its financial statement.
The bottler registered a revenue 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%.
