Coca-Cola HBC Romania, the domestic bottler of Coca-Cola products, has recently launched a stock purchase programme through which each employee is eligible to buy Coca-Cola Hellenic shares at half price, within the limits of a certain percentage of his or her wage.
"This programme has stirred employees' interest right from the start," stated Calin Dragan, general manager of Coca-Cola HBC Romania, who did not provide any further details. Dragan is also a minority shareholder in the Greek company and believes that offering company stock to employees at preferential prices is a way to motivate them.
Moreover, turning employees into shareholders adds to the general manager's responsibility.
The bottler's biggest shareholders are currently Kar-Tess Grup (30%) and The Coca-Cola Company (24%), according to information displayed on the company's website. Coca-Cola Hellenic is listed on the stock exchanges in Athens, New York and Australia. Coca-Cola Hellenic operates in 28 countries, with the Romanian market being the third largest in terms of sales, behind Russia and Italy.
Last year, Coca-Cola HBC Romania posted 23% higher sales in terms of volume compared with 2006, which exceeded the threshold of 1 billion litres registered at the end of the year. This is the highest sales increase the company has witnessed in 7 years. An important driver was domestic consumption, according to the manager, who also mentions internal factors related to the company's domestic organisation.
In 2007, the company reorganised its production and distribution activities in Bucharest. Dragan said that it was unlikely that the company would relocate other Romanian Coca-Cola plants to Ploiesti. Still, the company's plans also entail boosting the bottling capacities of the Ploiesti unit, with investments likely to start this year.
Dragan also says he does not foresee any cannibalisation between carbonated and non-carbonated drinks, and specified that the two segments generally follow different trends in consumption.
The company operates on the mineral water segment with Dorna, Izvorul Alb and Poiana Negri.
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