CCHGY (CCHGY) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Coca-Cola HBC Conference Call for the 2026 Half Year Results. [Operator Instructions]. I must also advise that this conference is being recorded today, Wednesday, 5th of August 2026. I now pass the floor to one of your speakers, Jemima Benstead, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Thank you.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining the call. I'm here with our CEO, Zoran Bogdanovic; and our CFO, Anastasis Stamoulis. Zoran will begin with the strategic highlights from the first half. Anastasis will then take you through our financial performance and outlook in more detail. We will then open up the floor to questions. Please keep to one question and one follow-up, waiting for us to answer the first question before moving to your follow-up. We have about an hour for the call today, which should give plenty of time for a good discussion. I will also remind you that this conference call contains various forward-looking statements. These should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our results press release this morning and at the end of our slide deck. With that, I will turn the call over to Zoran.

Thank you, Jemima. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. I'm very pleased with the progress we have made in the first half of 2026. We delivered broad-based, volume-led growth, continue to gain market share and invested behind the opportunities that will support our future growth. Let me highlight 3 key takeaways from the period. First, we continue to deliver high-quality top line growth. Organic revenue increased by 9.6% with organic volume growth of 7.5%. Volume growth was led by Sparkling and Energy, two of our strategic priority categories with marketing campaigns, innovation and execution, all playing a key role. While Q1 benefited from 4 additional selling days, we saw an acceleration in our underlying performance in Q2 to 5.8% growth with all 3 segments contributing, making it the 13th consecutive quarter of volume growth. Second, we translated this top line performance into strong profit delivery. Gross margins expanded strongly, which allowed us to step up marketing investments and still deliver strong organic comparable EBIT growth of 15.2% with margins up 60 basis points. Comparable earnings per share also grew 15.2%. This strong performance has allowed us to upgrade our guidance for 2026, which Anastasis will share more on later. And finally, we continue to invest in our 24/7 portfolio and bespoke capabilities, which underpins our long-standing growth trajectory and enables us to win in the market and consistently gain share. Overall, a strong first half despite the challenging backdrop. I would like to sincerely thank all our teams, customers, suppliers and partners for their ongoing efforts and support. Let me start with a major highlight of the last few months. FIFA World Cup program delivered in partnership with the Coca-Cola Company. From special edition Coca-Cola and Powerade packs, to immersive brand experiences and market-specific activations, we brought the excitement of the tournament to millions of consumers across our footprint. Key highlights included our value-added promotion with Panini collectible stickers, which resonated strongly with consumers and our AI-enabled penalty kick challenge, an innovative experience developed by our digital innovation hub that allowed consumers to test their skills by recreating famous football penalty. We also launched Powerade FIFA Playstyles, a special edition range with football-inspired players for the World Cup. Overall, the program has delivered strong results, supporting the positive Trademark Coke and Powerade performance in the period and contributing to share gains for both brands. The value of an activation like the FIFA World Cup extends beyond the immediate volume impact. It is also about strengthening the long-term relevance and equity of our brands by connecting with consumers and being present at moments that matter most to them. I'm very proud of the quality of execution in each of our markets and how our teams took this powerful global platform and translated it into locally relevant experiences, creating value for us and our customers. Let's move to category performance. Starting with Sparkling, which continues to be the core driver of our growth. Organic volumes grew 6.4% in the first half and 4% in the second quarter. Again, volumes accelerated on an underlying basis Q2 versus Q1. Throughout the period, we continue to bring excitement to the category creating unique consumer experiences through focused execution of our campaigns and our innovation pipeline. Trademark Coke grew mid-single digits with Coke Zero up mid-teens. And I'm pleased that Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine continued its momentum, achieving triple-digit growth and accelerating further in the second quarter. This reinforces the strength of the proposition and the positive consumer response to the new visual identity we rolled out across 18 markets. We remain very excited about the opportunities ahead for Coke Zero Zero, including leveraging greater consumption in the evening occasion. Flavor innovation also continued to play an important role. Sprite's ongoing momentum with volumes up high single digits was supported by the launch of the new Lemon Mint Chill flavor in 12 markets. Schweppes volumes grew high single digits, supported by the launch of Schweppes Cherry Pepper, supported by dedicated in-store displays and activations. Energy continued its exceptional growth trajectory, with volumes up over 25% in the first half. Growth was strong across all 3 segments despite tough comparatives. Monster continued to benefit from a strong innovation pipeline with key launches in the period being Viking Berry, Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red and the new Zero Sugar flavor with Valentino Rossi. We also continue to leverage MotoGP Formula 1 and football partnerships to deliver powerful activations. And our affordable offers in Africa also continued to perform well, particularly Fury in Egypt, supported by local marketing campaigns and the launch of a new 250ml can. In coffee, our strategic focus remains the out-of-home channel. So I'm pleased that volumes increased 24.5% in this channel in the first half. Both Costa Coffee and Caffè Vergnano grew strongly, supported by growth in existing outlets and the addition of more than 1,300 new out-of-home outlets. In line with our deliberate shift in focus total coffee volumes declined in the first half, but grew in revenue. We expect the overall category to return to volume growth in the second half of the year. Stills volumes increased 5.2% in the first half with high single-digit growth in water, led by emerging segments. Sports drinks continue to stand out with growth of around 25%. In the first half, we introduced Powerade Active Water in 7 markets, a new range with a diversified proposition aimed at bringing new consumers to the category and as well as the FIFA World Cup, we continue to leverage other local sporting events. Premium Spirits volumes declined 1.5% in the first half on tough comparatives and impacted by retail challenges with Finlandia in Poland that have now been resolved. Excluding this impact, the overall category volume would have been in growth and Finlandia would have grown low double digits. As I have said before, investing in our bespoke capabilities is critical to sustaining our strong track record of volume, revenue and EBIT growth and continuing to gain share. I want to call out a few highlights from the first half. Through our leading RGM framework, we continue to drive improvements in mix through targeting each local market. An important part of this framework is to grow volumes and ensure profitability. Over the past few years, we have consistently enhanced our promotion capabilities and tools to create more value with our customers. At the end of last year, we began rolling out Promo360, a single end-to-end promotion management capability across pilot markets. This transformative approach brings together people, processes and technology into one integrated platform, leveraging advanced analytics and AI to help our teams improve promotional effectiveness and drive stronger return on investment. It is now live in 7 markets and will be rolled out further this year. We also made continued progress on packaging mix with single-serve mix improving by 110 basis points in the first half. This was supported by the launch of new packs, including 500ml PET bottle for Trademark Coke in Egypt, a 500ml Supercan in 3 markets and the introduction of 250ml pack for Fuze Tea across 8 markets. HoReCa remains a key channel for us and here as well, we are constantly evolving our approach to capture the most value. Our new end-to-end channel approach is data-led and provides greater visibility of opportunities across the outlet universe, enabling us to focus on the highest value opportunities and tailor the right portfolio to the right outlet. Another highlight was the opening of our new DigitalHub in Cairo, marking another important milestone in our group digital transformation journey. This strategic hub reflects our commitment to developing digital talent and building leading expertise to further enable innovation, operational excellence and support sustainable growth. All of our actions are driving clear results. As we continue to execute strongly and jointly create value with our customers, we further increased our value share year-to-date gaining 80 basis points in NARTD and 40 basis points in Sparkling. Moving on to CCBA where we are carefully planning for integration so we can hit the ground running after we complete the acquisition. We continue to make good progress towards completion, working through the customary regulatory filings and antitrust approvals and preparations for the secondary listing of our shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. As I mentioned at Q1, we have obtained antitrust clearances in 4 of the 6 jurisdictions. The latest development is that in July, the South African Competition Commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approved the transaction subject to conditions as expected. We welcome this latest milestone, and we look forward to the competition tribunal decision. Overall, we remain on track to complete the acquisition during the second half of 2026. Turning to sustainability. I am pleased that our performance continues to be recognized externally. In the first half, Coca-Cola HBC was confirmed for the ninth time as the world's most sustainable beverage company in the 2025 Dow Jones Best-in-Class indices. We also achieved the highest ESG score in the beverage industry in the FTSE Russell assessment, successfully maintaining inclusion in the FTSE4Good Index Series. We continue to invest in local communities across our markets. This included the completion of EUR 4.1 million water infrastructure project in Bulgaria, helping support the long-term well-being of people and local businesses. In addition, the Coca-Cola HBC Foundation committed EUR 1.5 million to support a fire protection program in Greece and the nature restoration project in Switzerland. Partnerships remain a key driver of our progress, creating both business and sustainability value, following the successful launch last year of sustainable linked business plan together with Carrefour, and The Coca-Cola Company in Romania. This year, we have rolled it out to Poland. The plan focuses on emission reduction, logistics optimization and packaging collection. Let me now hand over to Anastasis to take you through the financial results.

Thank you, Zoran, and good morning, everyone. In the first half, we delivered a strong financial performance. Organic revenue grew 9.6%, led by organic volume growth of 7.5%. Comparable EBIT increased by 15.2% organically to EUR 760 million, our margins improved by 60 basis points. This resulted in strong earnings per share growth of 15.2%. Finally, free cash flow was robust at EUR 216 million, slightly lower year-on-year, reflecting a planned step up in capital expenditure as we continue to invest in growth. So let me start with the top line performance. As mentioned earlier, organic revenue increased 9.6% in the first half, while organic volume grew 7.5%, underpinned by a strong underlying performance and the benefit of 4 additional selling days in quarter 1. In quarter 2, volume grew 5.8%, a further improvement on an underlying basis. Organic revenue per case increased 1.9% in the first half. In line with our plans, we delivered an improvement in quarter 2, which saw an increase in revenue per case of 2.1%. Overall, the lower revenue per case trends compared to previous years reflect more moderate pricing dynamics in a low inflation environment, particularly in Africa. It's also driven by adverse country mix as we continue to see faster growth from our African markets, which have lower revenue per case. However, we continue to implement targeted revenue growth management initiatives, supporting positive category and package mix in the period. Comparable EBIT increased by 15.2% organically and 17% on a reported basis to EUR 760 million. The main driver of this was gross profit. Our comparable gross profit margin improved by 110 basis points to 37.8%, benefiting primarily from strong recovery in the Emerging segment. We benefited from good top line leverage and easing COGS inflation in the period, helped by a good hedging position and efficiency initiatives despite the recent macroeconomic volatility. The strong progress in gross margins enabled us to intentionally step up direct marketing investments behind key events and innovations, including FIFA World Cup and Winter Olympics and the launch of the new visual identity for Coke Zero Zero. This resulted in operating expenses as a percent of revenue increasing by 50 basis points, but overall, our comparable EBIT margin still increased by a very strong 60 basis points to 12.2% on both an organic and reported basis. Let's now look at the drivers of performance by segment. I'm going to discuss these figures on an organic basis and for the first half of the year, unless I say otherwise. In the Established segment, revenues grew by 6.2%, volumes grew by 4.8%, with an underlying acceleration to 3.4% growth in quarter 2 and a good start to the summer season. Sparkling grew mid-single digits, supported by Coke Zero, Coke Zero Zero and Sprite. Energy continued with its strong momentum and Stills grew mid-single digits, driven by good performance in Water and Sports Drinks. On a country basis, I'm very pleased with the improved performance in Switzerland with volumes up high single digits and the continued good momentum in Ireland. Revenue per case increased 1.3%, reflecting targeted pricing and positive category mix with an improvement in quarter 2. Established segment comparable EBIT increased 6.9% with good operational leverage, offsetting higher marketing expenses leading to 10 basis points of margin expansion. Turning to the Developing segment. Revenues grew 9%. Volumes grew 5.3% with 3.7% growth in quarter 2. Sparkling grew mid-single digits, driven by Trademark Coke and Sprite. Energy grew strong double digits, and coffee grew strongly in the out-of-home channel. In terms of country performance, Czech continued its strong momentum, delivering high single-digit volume growth despite a tough comparative. In Poland, volumes grew low single digit in half 1, supported by an underlying improvement in quarter 2. Revenue per unit case increased 3.5%, supported by pricing actions and positive category in package mix. Single-serve mix improved by 210 basis points. Developing comparable EBIT grew 1.8% with higher marketing expenses, leading to a decline in margins of 70 basis points. In the Emerging segment, revenue grew by 12%, Volumes grew 9% with 7.2% growth in quarter 2. Sparkling volumes increased high single digits, including strong double-digit growth in Coke Zero and high single-digit growth in Fanta and Sprite. Energy grew strong double digits despite tough comparatives and Water grew strongly. In terms of countries, the performance of both Nigeria and Egypt has been strong in the first half of the year, with volumes up low double digits and low teens, respectively, continuing the momentum of 2025. It was great to host investors and analysts in Cairo last month for the latest bite-size investor event where we proudly shared Egypt's growth and investment journey since our acquisition in 2022. Revenue per unit case increased 2.8%, a moderation compared with recent years, this reflects both lower pricing to address lower inflation and limited currency headwinds in the period as well as adverse country mix as African markets which have lower revenue per case compared to the CCH average grew faster. Comparable EBIT in Emerging grew strongly, up 23.9%, driven by strong operational leverage and growth in gross profit, offsetting higher marketing expenses. Moving to the group P&L. We saw comparable earnings per share grow 15.2% to EUR 1.51 supported by the strong EBIT delivery, partly offset by higher net finance costs year-on-year. The finance costs were impacted by higher interest expense related to the new bonds issued for the CCBA acquisition, partially offset by higher finance income on our cash balances. The first half saw a year-on-year step-up in CapEx of over EUR 100 million as we invested in growth-driving initiatives, including new production lines in Nigeria and Egypt, supply chain automation, digital and data solutions and energy-efficient coolers. CapEx as a percentage of revenue was 6.1%, ahead of the prior year period, but slightly lower than our targeted range of 6.5% to 7.5% in line with our planned phasing. With a strong growth in EBIT, we generated solid free cash flow of EUR 260 million, with a decrease year-on-year reflecting the planned step-up in CapEx, as I just mentioned. Moving to the outlook for the year. As we progress into the second half, we expect the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment to remain both challenging and unpredictable. Having said that, we have high confidence in our unique 24/7 portfolio, in our bespoke capabilities, in the growth opportunities across our diverse markets and in our people. Reflecting our strong first half performance, consistent with our planned phasing for the year and considering the challenging environment, we now expect to deliver full year 2026 organic revenue growth around the top end of our 6% to 7% range, an organic EBIT growth of 8% to 10%. We have also updated our finance cost guidance and FX translation guidance for the year. Let me now hand back to Zoran to conclude.

Thanks, Anastasis. To close, let me reiterate the key messages from today's results. First, we delivered a strong first half performance with broad-based, volume-led revenue growth, continued share gains and good momentum across our priority categories. We converted this top line growth into a strong profit delivery with double-digit comparable EBIT and EPS growth. This strong performance allowed us to upgrade our guidance for 2026, as Anastasis just mentioned. Finally, we continue to invest behind the opportunities that will support our future growth strengthening our 24/7 portfolio, our bespoke capabilities and developing our people. Looking ahead, we remain confident in the strength of our business, the diversity of our markets and the capabilities of our teams to continue creating value for all our shareholders. Thank you once again to all our colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners for their ongoing efforts and support. Thank you for your attention. And let us now open the call up to your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And now we're going to take our first question. And the question comes from line of Aron Adamski from Goldman Sachs.

Congrats on the results. So my first question is on the EBIT outlook. The midpoint of your guidance appears to imply low single-digit organic EBIT growth in the second half, probably some margin contraction. So could you please help us bridge the key moving parts behind that, including the impact of fewer selling days? And more broadly, does the outlook assume any moderation in the underlying profit growth for the second half? That's my first question.

So let me first start by saying that I'm very pleased with our strong first half of the year because we delivered high-quality organic revenue growth with both volume and pricing across all our segments and that translate to a strong EBIT delivery. Now as you said, looking ahead for the second half of the year, and in line with our phasing expectations, maybe you recall what we said back in our call for quarter 1, we do expect the half 2 to grow at a lower level than half 1 did. And correctly, this reflects 4 fewer selling days in the last quarter of the year. Now on top of that, I have to say that we are also factoring in higher energy-related cost pressure for the second half of the year in relation to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. But overall, I have to say that we are confident in narrowing the guidance range to 8% to 10%, which reflects both the strong first half but also allow us to be prudent and capture the current unpredictable environment, especially considering that we still have 5 months ahead of us to go.

Okay. My second question is on the pack mix, which continues to improve strongly. Could you please remind us of the remaining runway to increase the single-serve mix across your business? And where do you see the largest opportunities to drive that growth? Also, it would be great to hear if you can please give us some color on how does the 110 bps improvement in package mix translates into group level price mix? And how accretive is that for the group margins?

Thanks, Aron. I'll start and then Anastasis, add if I miss something. So growing single-serve mix is part of our revenue growth management approach and strategy where we see a number of opportunities across all 3 segments and across all markets, across all categories. And we've been deliberately expanding. And as a priority [indiscernible] serve packages in our key campaigns and in overall programs, marketing programs. So the opportunity is there, as I said, across all segments, especially when we see in Central Europe and more Eastern Europe markets. This is where we see the opportunity for, let's say, wider opportunity for single-serve continuous growth. That's why sometimes you see us intentionally activating certain campaigns only on the single-serves. Also, there is a deliberate effort in creating shopper habit for selling multipacks of single serves in the at-home channel for the in-home consumption. On top of, of course, our stronghold of HoReCa, where continuously, we are having the drives to drive our single-serves. So still a lot of opportunity to drive those.

Yes. And Aron to your question about the contribution of single-serve mix to the overall price mix, I can say that it varies from segment to segment. But for example, in the development segment, you can see that half of the revenue per case contribution is coming from the single-serve mix. Equally, I can say the same to the emerging segment. So it's part of our overall RGM strategy that mix is playing a big role in driving value, which, of course, translates to profit and margin expansion, subject, of course, to the relevant brand portfolio, right? So it's overall accretive, I can say.

The next question comes from line of Nadine Sarwat from Bernstein.

Two for me, please. First, coming back to the guidance, which you've narrowed to the top for both top line and bottom line guidance. Can you provide us some color as to what specifically surprised you in Q2 and gave you the confidence to change your full year guidance? And then my second question is on net sales revenue per unit case growth. I believe that came in lighter than perhaps some were expecting, and I appreciate the color you provided on country mix. But if I look at the 2% organic growth you printed in Q2 for the group, is that a run rate we should expect for the second half? Or are there any reasons why we would see an improvement in that figure?

Nadine, thank you. Look, I wouldn't say that we had any surprise in Q2. We were heading into Q2 with a very strong programs. Most of all, FIFA World Cup, for which, together with Coca-Cola Company, we have prepared extensively really activating consumers through with special edition packs with promotions, with digital activation with consumer experiences. So we have really done excellent preparation, I would say, for any World Cup, best so far. And also, it's already our preseason period. Coupled with that is also innovation that we have been doing in the first half and second quarter, which I mentioned in my remarks. But they clearly had a good impact on both in Sparkling and Powerade and also Energy. So all in all, Q2 was in line with our expectations and with all the programs that we have. And that gave us the confidence to do this upgrade in the guidance that we just communicated. You -- in relation to the revenue per case, you will remember that we said in Q1, and it's still -- and it's valid also for Q2, that after a number of years where we really had a predominant generation of revenues through price mix. This year, we are intentionally more prioritizing and focusing on volume. However, not neglecting revenue per case or price mix which had improvement in Q2. And we do anticipate that in the second half, we will see some further slight improvement in the revenue per case. I just want to conclude, Nadine, to say that this is a year where in our revenue growth management, all 3 drivers of volume, price and mix, simply need to deliver and they will. But in this algorithm for this year, volume is going to be the one that is going to take more weight in our revenue generation.

The question comes from line of Matthew Ford from BNP Paribas.

Two for me as well, please. The first one, just on the performance in Egypt and Nigeria. Clearly, the emerging segment was particularly strong from an EBIT perspective. Clearly, the growth in Egypt and Nigeria continues to do well. But my question specifically is on the kind of profitability you're seeing there and the margin expansion. If you could give any kind of color on how that margin expansion developed in the first half in those markets and what the expectation is in H2 and beyond? And I -- yes, I'll follow up with my second question.

Matthew, you're correct. The Emerging segment performance was very strong, both on organic revenue, 12%, and also very strong EBIT growth of almost 24% with margin expansion of 140 basis points. Now as I said on the call, the key driver for that starts with a strong improvement in gross profit which was, of course, helped by the very good top line performance, driving leverage. Cost inflation compared to prior year's first half was following a lower trend that we have seen. We have benefited from our hedging and productivity initiatives in those markets. And there was also a positive FX transactional tailwind, so that allowed us to drive strong profitability while on the same time, we stepped up marketing investments in those markets. So this good performance on the margin is on the back of the incremental marketing spend. Now to your question on the second half of the year, how this will evolve, we do expect EBIT to be, of course, positive. But as I said earlier on the overall phasing, these markets are also impacted by the 4 less selling days in quarter 4. So obviously, half 1 will have a much more -- a bigger weight as we've said. And we do expect, given the current environment, certain pressure when it comes to fuel-related cost pressures compared to what we saw in the first half of the year. But we do expect that those markets will continue to grow profitably, and we are very pleased with the performance.

That's great. And then my follow-up is just on Russia, actually. I think on the volume performance, I think we were up mid-single digit for the half. And obviously, Q1, we saw sort of low single-digit growth, but that was with the benefit of the selling day. So it feels like on an underlying basis, there was an improvement sequentially in Q2. Any color on what was driving that and sort of your expectation, I suppose, for the growth as we go into the second half where I think the comps were fairly soft. And then just staying on Russia, just one quick one. I know I see the Russia cash has just got above EUR 1 billion, I think, in H1. So clearly, that's generated quite a lot of interest income. Given the sort of EUR 8 million interest of net finance costs in H1, just interested to get your feel of exactly what's driving that sort of implied acceleration in the net finance costs in the second half to get to your revised full year guidance?

Thanks, Matt. Look, situation -- performance in Russia, I think it continues in line as in the previous years, nothing different than we see that is locally managed and locally finance business is doing as we just announced in the press release. So really no big changes in the things happening there.

Yes. Okay. A couple of points that you raised there. First of all, on the cash in Russia, yes, it's just over EUR 1 billion now. But we have to understand that the kind of phasing will not follow the same rate of growth throughout the whole year. We had the same discussion last year or the first half, it's more up from the second half. Also, please keep in mind that this cash in Russia is also having a positive tailwind from the currency translation, right? So it's not just only performance. Now to the finance cost question, to be a bit more detailed now. So you've seen that for the first half of the year, the finance cost of EUR 8 million is an increase, but this came better than expected. First of all, on one thing, we have the higher interest expenses that relates to the bond that we issued earlier in the year in March for the CCBA funding. So that obviously is one of the drivers of the incremental finance costs, but at the same time, we are benefiting from 2 elements. One is also a good stronger cash flow generation in markets like Nigeria compared to 2025, which means less need for local financing than it is originally expected. And then there is a benefit from higher finance income, which, of course, includes also the cash in Russia. So the cash in Russia, keep in mind, the benefit there is not all held in ruble. There is an amount which is, let's say, 5% is local currency, the rest is ForEx. And the interest benefit is not as high as you would expect is coming lower than the market trend. And for that, given the good performance of the first half, we are also upgrading the guidance to EUR 40 million to EUR 50 million for the full year. On the second half, there is an implied increase to that cost. But that, of course, has to do with the fact that you will have 6 full months of the bond issuance versus only a quarter in half 1. And of course, it directly correlates to the timing of the CCBA completion. And we also expect lower finance income on the back of lower interest rates in countries like Russia.

And the question comes from of Charlie Higgs from Rothschild & Co.

My first question is on sports drinks, which had a very good performance. Volumes up 25%. I was wondering on what your view is on the advanced hydration opportunity across your markets and how you plan to make the strong growth stick from Powerade, because I imagine quite a lot of the growth came from temporary in-store displays around FIFA and the Winter Olympics.

So Powerade, while we've seen really excellent performance in Q2 and overall first half, this actually is a continuation of strong performance over the last couple of years. This brand proves excellent potentiality and relevance with consumers and with customers. So I'm very, very pleased how we've been activating this with various sporting events. Now it was FIFA World Cup, but overall, we are connecting Powerade with a number of sporting events, whether that's sponsorships with various clubs events or sports facilities. And going forward, exactly as you said, we do see the opportunity together with Coca-Cola Company in the advanced hydration. We think it's an exciting and definitely growing category. And it is an opportunity that we will be going after and doing more and more. So let's just stay tuned in, and we'll see what happens.

And then my follow-up was on energy drinks, which again, continues to perform very well from volumes. Can you maybe just give a bit more color on the various buckets of Monster versus Predator, Fury versus some of the strategic brands like Burn. And then how much innovation is coming from kind of the core range versus some of these new launches like Viking Berry? And then maybe just kind of bolting on for Anastasis, roughly how much of the energy drinks do you do in-house now versus co-packers? And is there maybe scope going forward with the strong volume growth to bring more in-house to boost margins?

Yes, Charlie, Energy continues to really perform very well. This is the first year where contribution of Energy just exceeds 10% in our total volumes. So sorry, well, I fast forward it a bit, I wish it was 10% of the volume -- 10% of revenue, where the proven formula continues to deliver, which is that reformulation introduction of Zero flavors, new innovative flavors like what I said now with Viking Berry. Innovation overall is a very important driver in this category of driving incremental volume and revenue. On top of that, continues very good activation and leverage of the passion points that together with Monster, we are doing across the market, whether that's MotoGP, Formula, Football and also in a number of markets as well music. Good reminder that 1/4 of the energy drinkers have entered the category in the last 12 months. This just also shows that the whole category is growing, and it's present across more and more occasions, and it's quite balanced between the gender. So I'm just giving this flavor to give you more fact of why, a, the category is growing, but also why we are growing faster than the category growth. We are now already in 11 more markets. We are stronger in the value in our shares than Red Bull. And we are positive going forward also with the prospect of the -- this category growth. And for the...

Charlie, our current in-house capacity -- production capacity covers about -- between 50% and 60% of the total leverage.

And the next question comes from the line of Mitch Collett from Deutsche Bank.

I appreciate it's probably quite a small part of the portfolio, but I was really interested in the acceleration in Coke Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine. I think you say you did strong triple-digit growth, which in itself is an acceleration on a strong Q1, where it was, I think, strong double digits. And I guess I'm interested in how big a contributor you think Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine can be. It doesn't look like it has a negative impact on Coke Zero, which is still doing well. And can you comment on the sort of rollout strategy of that under the new branding?

Mitch, yes. Look, the Zero Sugar is really now multiyear continuously faster-growing part of the Coca-Cola trademark, and that's absolutely great. And the first half was no exception with really great mid-teens growth. But this Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine, which we are growing with triple-digit growth has been absolute hit with consumers, tapping really into the occasion. And as [ Enrique ] very well explained also in his call in Q1, this is really understanding the insight of consumers and coming up with this innovation and then creating this intimacy with consumers in every single market and follow with the integrated execution that we are doing. With a number of packs, but also focusing this in this occasion, especially in the -- from late afternoon and evening occasion where the insight is that big number of our consumers are trying to avoid the caffeine. So it is continuously growing in the contribution on the whole Coca-Cola trademark as also in other flavors -- sorry, Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes where we are also reformulating and leveraging this Zero Sugar trend. So we will -- we do expect that this trend is also going to continue and you will see us with a strong focus behind it.

And then my unrelated follow-up is on COGS. Given you called out energy pressure on COGS in the second half, I appreciate it's early, but can you just give us a bit of color on how you might think about COGS in 2027? And I guess linked to that, can you just tell us how hedged you are for '27 at this stage?

Yes. So Mitch, for 2027, I think it's a bit too early to comment right now as a lot depends on the evolution of the current situation that we are all experiencing. All I can tell you is about the hedging status that we have for the full year of '26, we are above 85% covered on key commodity hedging positions. And it's basically, as I said before, the energy-related costs that could have on the noncoverable hedgeable utilities countries, for example, that would have an implication on our cost per case for the second half of the year. And I can say also that in relation to 2027 hedging coverage, we are -- we would expect to be at this time of the year. We will share more details as we come towards the year-end. But just as an indication, we are -- our hedging policy goes up to 36 months. So I hope this helps for now.

And the question comes from the line of Simon Hales from Citi.

So a couple for me. I mean, can I just come back on the COGS discussion. I may have missed it, apologies. But in terms of 2026 guidance on COGS, I think back at the Q1 stage, you were saying low single-digit COGS per case for the full year. Given the higher energy costs in the Middle East that you're seeing now, what is the guidance for this year, and particularly for H2 on that? So apologies if I missed that. And then secondly, I wonder if you could just talk a little bit more about the performance in volumes that you saw through Q2 sort of by region and particularly perhaps what the exit rate was? I'm thinking probably crucially in places like the established and developing markets where perhaps the weather was particularly good at the end of the period and into early Q3. And I don't know, Zoran, whether you would venture a guesstimate as to how much of an uplift perhaps the World Cup activation has given you overall from a volume perspective in the first half?

All right. Let me give a bit more clarity on the COGS guidance. Thank you, Simon. So as I said, the overall Middle East situation, I believe that it will be manageable given the strong hedging position we have of 85% on key commodities. But as there is a certain level of energy-related costs that cannot be hedged, as you understand, but that's where we see most of the pressure. And that's where we expect that for the second half of the year, our COGS per case would be expected to be from low towards mid-single digits for the second half, which also would indicate that the full year would be on the same year, low to mid-single digits.

And Simon, to add from my end, it's hard to pinpoint the exact number to contribute to the volume growth. But clearly, FIFA World Cup activation had a very positive boost and impact on our performance on Coca-Cola trademark and Powerade with everything that we've been doing and I explained a bit earlier. So clearly, positive impact and not only during the tournament duration, but we also see that this type of thing also has a positive impact going forward with customer relationships with a strengthened brand equity. And that's why we love these kind of properties as they have positive impact.

And the next question comes from the line of Sanjeet Aujla from UBS.

I'd like to dig into the established markets. We've had a couple of years of soft volume performance. Clearly, '26 is inflected. Can you just help us understand how much of that volume improvement we're seeing is perhaps a function of the weather or just underlying consumer fundamentals a little bit better? And how are you thinking about the second half of the year? Are there any key markets maybe incrementally positive about or incrementally concerned about as we [indiscernible].

Well, very pleased with the performance in the established segment across all markets. Let me just highlight that, particularly -- we've seen Ireland performing really well now continuously. Switzerland, very nice performance in the first half, good bounce back from -- in Austria, you heard me saying last year how Austria was impacted by the [indiscernible] start and now nicely coming back. Greece had a pretty solid mid-single-digit performance and also Italy with -- also with a good performance. So overall, quite well-rounded performance being established by all the markets. And I'm also very pleased to see how our brands have performed in -- myCoke had a beautiful mid-single-digit performance. Energy continues to perform well across all segments, but it's also important to highlight it in the Established segment. And just give us the opportunity to connect the question that Charlie had just a small correction that we are already around 85% production in-house of Monster as a result of the fact that we've been together investing behind in-house capacity as we see that also as very important. So overall, I'm positive that our established segment will continue with a good performance and will be positive on a full year level. I think you asked on the weather. I really can't pinpoint one number that can be given for the weather because we look at it over a multi-month horizon. When you see the first half, beginning of Q1 had really unusually colder weather in a number of markets. Even Q2, it started with a mixed weather with a quite rainy periods in a number of markets. But definitely, we were happy with the warm weather in June. So overall, it did have a positive impact and I regard it as the tailwind, but it's not easy to say what exactly that was for the Q2.

Yes. And my follow-up is just on the revenue per case for Established. We did see an improvement in Q2 versus Q1. I think record Q1 was held back by the skew towards the larger pack formats. But is Q2 a more normalized kind of run rate for revenue per case in Established? And can you just help us decompose that between core pricing and the various mix tailwinds you're getting out of the region?

Sanjeet, correct. Q2 accelerated to 1.9% revenue per case. Now there were a couple of areas. First of all, there was positive category mix. You heard Zoran talk about Energy was up strong double digit. But also, there were certain targeted pricing actions that we took in there. We had also improvement on the single-serve pack mix. 80 basis points, in particular, was the step-up in single-serve mix in quarter 2. And maybe you recall we were saying back in the call for quarter 1 that was a phasing element of the Easter which resulted to more multi-serve packs coming into the first quarter. And now we see the more normalized trend. So on average, the overall half was with single-serve mix of 50 basis points. So I can say that the quarter 2 represent more accurate, let's say, performance of revenue per case.

And the question comes from the line of Fintan Ryan from Goodbody.

Two questions from me, please. Firstly, I guess, probably more technical question for Anastasis. I've noticed in the disclosures, you've exceptionalized EUR 15 million cost in H1 associated, you said with the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the transport costs. Could you provide a bit more context in terms of like what those costs are? And are they just a one-off cost in H1? Or should we be factoring in some recurring exceptional costs going forward?

Yes. Ryan, thank you. So let me provide bit of clarity here. First of all, it's not the first time that we have something under the Russian-Ukraine war as a noncomparable item in line with the APM. This basically has to do with the disruption that was caused in the operations in Ukraine and the plant as a result of the conflict, which resulted to having to source products from our other facilities, mainly coming from Poland and Romania. So that was a one-off disruption that resulted to incremental transportation, you can even call it haulage in this case and some repairs required in the facilities. This all has been normalized. We're fully operational back in place. So it's not a comparable, not repeated item that you should consider as operational.

And my second question, I guess, bigger picture, probably for Zoran. Like you've called out functional Waters and Zero Caffeine Zero Sugar is an area of focus. But one thing that we're seeing consumers across many markets is that protein trend. Just wondering your thoughts on your portfolio, yourselves and the Coca-Cola Company with the Fairlife brand in the U.S., but is there anything that you're currently thinking or planning on bringing into your portfolio or markets to play into the protein trend over the foreseeable future?

Fintan, yes, look, overall, the umbrella of innovation is something that Coca-Cola Company team is really working very hard on that. And I think there are a number of very exciting things in the pipeline. We feel excited about it. And I can only say that protein is on the horizon of looking into that and considering. So that's part of the things that we are discussing together with the Coca-Cola Company. So yes, let's see where that takes us, but it is an important part of the innovation considerations.

[Operator Instructions] And it comes the line of Edward Mundy from Jefferies.

So my first question is really around as you go into a slightly more challenging COGS environment in 2027. To what extent does your richer portfolio today and your stronger RGM toolkit especially given AI, to what extent does that give you more confidence in your ability to navigate a tougher COGS environment? That's my first question.

Look, I firmly believe that the quality and the breadth of the portfolio that we've been developing under our 24/7 vision and strategy umbrella is really putting us in a good place to provide types of beverages and in the occasions that consumers need. But equally important, with well-selected and -- capabilities behind which we are doing continuous investments and constant development. With everything that we've been going through over the last number of years, we've seen that, that combination and blend of a great portfolio and strong capabilities really helps us to go through all types of weather, no matter what happens. And I'm very confident that no matter what happens in '27 that we have necessary skills and knowledge to really go through whatever '27 brings. I think you mentioned AI, I want to emphasize that AI is something that we, as Coca-Cola HBC, has been investing behind and working now for several years, pushing ourselves to really see where it really matters and where is the most meaningful place in our business because today, it's easy to get distracted just to do something in AI, but we try to really push ourselves to be focused and disciplined. That's why also in-house, we have our own AI and digital innovation council, which Naya leads and Mourad, our Digital and Technology Officer colleagues, exactly so that business and digital and technology functions are working together behind prioritized areas where we really want to focus our efforts, all with the intention that we see how we can connect closer and faster with customers, for digital engagement using AI, for our own teams across all the functions to increase productivity and efficiency but also how to complement all our employees in the way how they work and improve decision quality with blending AI and also data insights and analytics. So that overall, this helps how we run the business to be faster, smarter and more responsible.

And my second question is that you've delivered best part of 6% volume growth in the second quarter, quite a lot ahead of your medium-term run rate. And clearly, we had FIFA in there. There's been like a lot of innovation. There's been some good weather. You're clearly already thinking about how you're going to cycle that as you go into 2027, but what gives you excitement as you look to 2027 and how you cycle this very, very strong period of growth. And as part of that same question, how do you ensure that the business remains focused on the core as you integrate CCBA at the same time?

Look, every year, we always -- there is always something to think, okay, how do we do more and better every year, but that starts from doing better every single day. Now we already have very good discussions with our partners, both with Coca-Cola Company in Europe and in Africa about the programs for next year. And I'm very pleased that we are not in shortage of the ideas and programs that we will leverage next year across key pillars, which are food occasions, which are super important for our consumers, music, sports in a number of places. So we see lots of things with which I'm sure we are going to create another set of strong plans. And the second part of the question was -- just remind me.

How do you ensure that the core remains strong whilst you're also integrating a big business like CCBA?

Yes. Clearly. So look, while the regulatory process is continuing, we are working intensively on the integration planning where our functional teams are working with the teams from CCBA on the things that we can do before the closing happens. Secondly, also, CCBA is a company that is really running well. So we see that the opportunity will be that we are going to be a tailwind to really help those teams that are already working on the ground. And I can say, Ed, we just finished one tour that a couple of us went in South Africa, Tanzania and Ethiopia, where we wanted to learn more firsthand from the local teams together with CCBA team, and we came back really encouraged with the level of opportunities and what local teams were presenting to us, just reiterating that our key role will be how to put more fuel in the engine, how to provide more tailwind investments and learnings and capability development. And I believe that with the strength of the talent that we have in the company, that we are well positioned, and we do have capacity and capability to do that from the moment CCBA comes into portfolio.

And the question comes from line of Aron Adamski from Goldman Sachs.

I just wanted to follow up on activation investments. Looking ahead to 2027, should we expect a higher level of marketing investment to continue or is there scope for the ratio to moderate as you lap a particularly busy 2026 pipeline? So in other words, I was wondering was the ramp-up we saw in H1 and one-off related to a very busy calendar? Or is this a new baseline?

Look in our marketing investments, which have stepped up in line with our strategy and with the program that we had with partners, there were some elements which were more one-off like Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup. However, we have seen the step-up of the marketing investments in this year which will be the case for the full year. And we will see more increased level of marketing investments going forward, but they will be tailored and they will be relevant to the programs that we are going to do for the next year, and we will be able to talk more about that soon as we get into -- very soon into '27.

Dear speakers, there are no further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management team for any closing remarks.

Well, thank you, operator. I just want to thank everyone for taking the part in the call and the interest and a good conversation. Thank you very much and wishing you all a very good day.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.