News from 

Coca-Cola Amatil sales flat due to cold, wet weather

By: Renzo Ruf, BMG

The bottler Coca-Cola Amatil is voicing concerns about the continuing soft retail conditions.

Unseasonably cold and wet weather has affected sales of soft drinks in Australia and New Zealand, the bottler's chief executive Terry Davis said. "When the weather is cold and wet, people do not go out much to buy that bottle of Coke," Davis said, according to the newspaper The Australian. "Australian consumers continue to spend cautiously as they deal with the cumulative effect of material increases in interest rates and utility costs over the past 12 months." But the company is still on track to deliver "high single-digit" earnings before interest and tax growth for the second half of 2010, with trading tracking at 7-8 per cent EBIT growth. (bmg)