Provisional, unaudited operating profit of EUR 158 million
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements of the AGRANA Group for the period to 28 February 2023 reveals a provisional, unaudited operating profit of EUR 158 million, which is therefore significantly higher than the Company’s own guidance (“up to + 50 % compared to prior year”).
The provisional consolidated earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)* for the 2022/23 financial year (1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023) amount to EUR 88 million (2021/22: € 24.7 million). EBIT takes into account impairment charges taken against assets and goodwill in the amount of EUR 91 million which were recognised in the half-year financial statements (prior year: net exceptional items expense of EUR 70 million). Group revenue will amount to EUR 3.6 billion (2021/22: EUR 2.9 billion).
AGRANA’s Management Board currently forecasts a very significant improvement in EBIT during the ongoing 2023/24 financial year (more than + 50 %). The assumption is that consolidated revenue will increase significantly (by more than + 10 % and up to + 50 %). Key uncertainties however remain the war in Ukraine and its consequences.
The 2022|23 annual results and the 2022/23 annual report will be published as scheduled on 17 May 2023.
*After exceptional items and share of results of equity-accounted joint ventures
The Coca-Cola Company announced that Jennifer Mann will become president of the company’s North America operating unit effective Jan. 1, 2023. Mann succeeds Alfredo Rivera, who will step down Dec. 31. Rivera, who has led a successful restructuring of the North America operating unit, will remain with the company as a senior advisor through March 2023.
Mann, 49, currently serves as corporate senior vice president and president of Global Ventures. Her team is responsible for globally scaling acquisitions and brands, including Costa Coffee and Coca-Cola’s investment in Monster Beverage Corp. A new leader for Global Ventures will be named at a later date.
Rivera, 61, has led the North America operating unit since August 2020.
About Jennifer Mann
Mann joined Coca-Cola in 1997 and went on to hold a number of roles of increasing responsibility. She became president of Global Ventures in 2019.
Prior to her role with Global Ventures, Mann served as chief people officer for the company and as chief of staff for Quincey. From 2012 to 2015, she was vice president and general manager of Coca-Cola Freestyle, where she accelerated the global expansion of Freestyle and led its development across the Coca-Cola system.
Mann’s first role with the company was as a manager in the National Customer Support division of North America. She went on to hold various customer and operational roles, including director, McDonald’s Customer & Consumer Operations; director, Good Answer; and vice president, Foodservice & On-Premise Strategy and Marketing for Coca-Cola Refreshments.
Mann is a member of the board of directors of Coca-Cola Consolidated. Mann holds a degree in accounting from Georgia State University.
Company to establish new operating units and global beverage category leads, supported by new platform services organization
Workforce to be aligned to focus on growth; reductions expected through voluntary and involuntary separation program
The Coca-Cola Company announced strategic steps to reorganize and better enable the Coca-Cola system to pursue its Beverages for Life strategy, with a portfolio of drinks that are positioned to capture growth in a fast-changing marketplace.
The company is building a networked global organization, combining the power of scale with the deep knowledge required to win locally. The company will create new operating units focused on regional and local execution that will work closely with five marketing category leadership teams that span the globe to rapidly scale ideas.
This structure will be supported by the company’s newly created Platform Services organization, which will provide global services and enhanced expertise across a range of critical capabilities.
“We have been on a multi-year journey to transform our organization,” said Chairman and CEO James Quincey. “The changes in our operating model will shift our marketing to drive more growth and put execution closer to customers and consumers while prioritizing a portfolio of strong brands and a disciplined innovation framework. As we implement these changes, we’re continuing to evolve our organization, which will include significant changes in the structure of our workforce.”
Operating units
The company’s nine new operating units will help streamline the organization by replacing current business units and groups. The operating units will be highly interconnected, with more consistency in structure and a focus on eliminating duplication of resources and scaling new products more quickly.
The company’s current model includes 17 business units that sit under four geographical segments, plus Global Ventures and Bottling Investments. Moving forward, the operational side of the business will consist of nine operating units that will sit under four geographical segments, along with Global Ventures and Bottling Investments.
The company’s operating leaders will report to President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Smith.
Global category leads
Innovation, marketing efficiency and effectiveness are top priorities for the company. The Coca-Cola Company is conducting a portfolio rationalization process that will lead to a tailored collection of global, regional and local brands with the potential for greater growth. To drive these initiatives and support the operating units, the company is reinforcing and deepening its leadership in five global categories with the strongest consumer opportunities:
- Coca-Cola
- Sparkling Flavors
- Hydration, Sports, Coffee and Tea
- Nutrition, Juice, Milk and Plant
- Emerging Categories
The leaders of these categories will work across the networked organization to build the company’s brand portfolio and win in the marketplace. Global category leads will report to Chief Marketing Officer Manolo Arroyo.
Platform Services
The company announced the creation of Platform Services, an organization that will work in service of operating units, categories and functions to create efficiencies and deliver capabilities at scale across the globe. This will include data management, consumer analytics, digital commerce and social/digital hubs.
Platform Services is designed to improve and scale functional expertise and provide consistent service, including for governance and transactional work. This will eliminate duplication of efforts across the company and is built to work in partnership with bottlers.
Platform Services will be led by Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Integrated Services Officer Barry Simpson.
Aligning the company’s workforce to new priorities
The company’s structural changes will result in the reallocation of some people and resources, which will include voluntary and involuntary reductions in employees. The company is working on this next stage of design and will share more information in the future.
In order to minimize the impact from these structural changes, the company today announced a voluntary separation program that will give employees the option of taking a separation package, if eligible.
The program will provide enhanced benefits and will first be offered to approximately 4,000 employees in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico who have a most-recent hire date on or before Sept. 1, 2017. A similar program will be offered in many countries internationally. The voluntary program is expected to reduce the number of involuntary separations.
The company’s overall global severance programs are expected to incur expenses ranging from approximately $350 million to $550 million.
