What were the results of 2023 and their impact?

In 2023 we produced a total of 431 million litres of beverages, of which 396.1 million litres came from our plant in Prague-Kyjy and 34.8 million litres from Teplice nad Metují. Part of our production was exported and we also imported beverages from other CCHBC countries. We sold 438 million litres of beverages on the Czech and Slovak markets, including a record 25 million cups of coffee and 1.1 million litres of premium alcoholic beverages.

Corporate governance and ownership structure

Our Company is a subsidiary of Coca-Cola HBC AG, a joint stock company based in Zug, Switzerland. The shares are traded on the London and Athens stock exchanges. In 2023 the Company paid dividends of EUR 0.78 per share to shareholders.

Coca-Cola HBC AG’s shares are 21% owned by The Coca-Cola Company, 23% by the founding company Kar-Tess and 56% are freely traded by other retail owners. More information is available in the Investor Centre here.

Company strategy

Risk management

In 2023 we also continued to integrate our internal ERS – Enterprise Risk Management system. The system relies on the prompt identification of potential risks that could prevent the Company from achieving its objectives. We see these risks not only as threats, but also as opportunities that can be exploited if addressed in a timely manner. The system is part of our holistic resilience programme and is led at Group level by the Chief Risk Officer, who is in close contact with designated colleagues in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This team presents identified risks to the Senior Leadership Team on a monthly basis and enters them into a shared register where risks are prioritised and trended and then addressed. Twice a year, the entire resilience team attends a conference where the most important trends and key risks are discussed. The ERS is followed by the IMCR – Incident Management and Crisis Resolution programme, which is a set of rules for anticipating, monitoring, communicating and resolving crisis situations affecting our society.

In 2023 we addressed 2 important risks within the IMCR, both successfully. As a preventive measure regular meetings of the IMCR team were held and databases of potential situations that could result in an IMCR incident were monitored.

Innovation and quality

Innovative automated traffic control in Prague-Kyje

Our broad portfolio has seen a large number of product innovations. In total, we launched an incredible 45 new flavours and product variants. The acquisition of Finlandia was important news. This brand of vodka is the leader in its segment on the Czech market and provides great possibilities within the mixability of the portfolio. The launch of a new brand in the coffee segment, Caffè Vergnano, had an equally big impact. In addition, this premium Italian brand with 140 years of tradition has brought a connection with the Woman in Coffee project, which supports small communities of women coffee producers.

Our processes also need to be regularly innovated. That’s why we launched the Oxygen project in 2023, where we are simplifying and streamlining our work processes. Among other things, we managed to create an electronic output sheet in the human resources department, thanks to which we digitised and optimised this process, as one of many, and got rid of physical paperwork.

Good nutrition and product labelling

The category of low-calorie and no-calorie soft drinks played a significant role in our business trading. In the carbonated soft drinks segment, low-calorie variants such as Coca-Cola Zero represented 18.8% of the volume of beverages sold. Zero was a significant part of the product news in 2023.

In the Czech Republic, the calorie indicator for an average 100 ml of carbonated soft drinks decreased year-on-year from 31.14 kcal/100 ml to 30.56 kcal/100 ml. In Slovakia, it was a slight increase from 33.09 kcal/100 ml to 33.58 kcal/100 ml.

We do business ethically

Employees can report violations of the Code of Conduct using the on-line form, the Legal Department or HR Department. In addition there is an anonymous Speak-up! help line for them. There were 5  incidents reported on this line in 2023. All of them were investigated in detail, but none was found to have violated the Code.

In 2023 there were 2 lawsuits in the Czech Republic and 1 lawsuit in Slovakia, in which our Company was involved. Both of these Czech disputes remained unresolved at the end of the year. The Slovak one was closed with a positive result.

Personal data is maintained in our Company in accordance with the GDPR and we have a standard operating procedure in place in the event of a data breach. Information on the handling of employees’ personal data is available to our people on our intranet. There were no data protection incidents in 2023. Compliance with GDPR principles is the subject of regularly updated training.

Responsible marketing

Our suppliers

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2023, we used 805 Czech, 184 Slovak and 227 foreign suppliers. This represents a share of 81% local and 19% foreign suppliers. Supplier selection is also strongly influenced by their sustainability certification, as described in the environmental section of this report.

Of particular importance are the suppliers of our ingredients such as food gases CO₂ and N, sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose and glucose-fructose syrup (HFCS). All ingredient suppliers are subject to approval by our system for the specific manufacturing facility and product. The product must meet the technical specification according to KORE, the quality requirements of our system and receive an LoA – Letter of Authorisation. Ingredient suppliers must have FSSC 22000, ISO 14001, GMP certification.

The purchase of packaging material is managed in accordance with the Purchasing Policy issued by the Purchasing Department at Group level. Packaging is divided into primary and secondary. Again, primary packaging suppliers must meet KORE requirements, have authorisation from our system and LoA including FSSC 22000, GMP and ISO 14001. Suppliers are selected on the basis of tenders, which are carried out every 3 years. They are regularly assessed. The selection criteria are quality, price, delivery conditions and sustainability.

Communication with stakeholders

Our network of sales representatives is in daily contact with our customers to discuss how our cooperation can be developed and grown together. In 2023 we surveyed our customers for the first time about their willingness to recommend our Company. The result of the survey is the so-called Net Promoter Score (NPS), which ranges from -100 to 100%. We scored in the positive part of the scale with 1,011 customers at 30%, which is 4 percentage points higher than the previous year. The most frequent complaints were about the unavailability of products and their pricing. The stability of the Company as a partner and the quality of the products were positively evaluated. The quality of our customer service centre is measured by the so-called Service Level, which shows what percentage of calls we are able to answer within 20 seconds. The service level for 2023 was at an excellent 86.5%. The internal indicator DIFOTAI, which shows the % of correctly composed, correctly timed, correctly imported and correctly invoiced deliveries, stood at 95.44% in 2023. We produced 101.28% of the planned volume and worked with 67.1% accuracy of sales forecasts.

A modern mix of internal communication tools allows us to effectively exploit synergies and respond flexibly. These tools include e-mail, internal television, intranet, Facebook group, bulletin boards, micro- and company-wide events or face-to-face meetings. The Company-wide VOX meeting, where management presents Company news, strategies, plans and priorities in hybrid on-line/off-line mode to all employees, was held 7 times in 2023. At this meeting the management also regularly answered questions collected in advance and live, which can also be sent anonymously. We dedicated one of the VOX meetings directly to our corporate culture – our vision, mission and values. Top management town halls with employees in production and logistics were held four times, and our management set out for sales teams across the Czech Republic and Slovakia at the so-called Roadshow – a total of six times. Management additionally meets regularly with representatives of the aforementioned Employee Council. We also held an annual all-employee conference in 2023 to celebrate achievements and communicate plans for the future. The Supply Chain department also held its own conference for its employees in 2023 – directly at the Prague-Kyje plant.

Natura celebrated 30 years of production in 2023.

Families of employees joined the celebrations as part of Open Up Day. The invitation was accepted among others by representatives of the Prague 14 municipal administration – Mayor Jiří Zajac and Councillor Jan Liška. Open up day was attended by over 1,000 people. Even in Slovakia, employees did not miss the opportunity to meet their families together: The day of employees with their families was in the spirit of the popular Survivor competition.

In the local communities around our manufacturing facilities, we are in regular contact with associations and non-profit organisations, as well as with local government authorities. We get direct feedback on activities that directly affect our neighbours and can help them in their efforts to build sustainable communities. In our communication with the Prague 14 municipality, we mainly use the Council for Public Involvement, where we are represented, and in Teplice nad Metují, we communicate directly with town management.

Audits and reporting

For non-financial reporting, in addition to audits to ISO standards and other external quality and sustainability standards mentioned in the social and environmental pillar sections above , we conduct a number of internal quality audits of the Coca-Cola system. Among the most extensive audits is the GAO audit. Our inputs to the group Integrated Annual Report are also audited on a regular basis. It summarises ESG issues at group level and for 2023 can be viewed here.

For internal reporting we use the integrated Power BI system, which provides up-to-date dashboards with the results of both financial and non-financial indicators. In this way the current results can be evaluated regularly and clearly. For example, the Company’s community activities are also reported on a monthly basis.

ISO and other compliant standards in this area:

• ISO 9001 – Quality management system
• ISO 22000 – Food safety management
• FSSC – Food quality certification