Greece: Coca Cola Hellenic Q2 profit hit by windfall tax

Greek bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH) said on Thursday second-quarter net profit fell 11%, below market expectations, mainly due to a windfall tax in debt-laden Greece.
Greece imposed a one-off tax on large firms' profit for 2009 in a bid to shore up revenues after the country signed a 110 bln euro deal with the EU and the IMF to pull itself out of a debt crisis.
CCH, the world's second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola, reported comparable net profit of 172 mln euros versus an average forecast of 177.9 mln in a Reuters poll.
The debt crisis levy which burdened CCH's second-quarter results was 21 million euros.
First-half net profit came to 201 mln euros, steady year-on-year.
"While economic conditions remain challenging in certain of our key markets, we are encouraged by some early signs of economic stabilisation in a few of our countries of operation," CCH said in a statement.
CCH buys syrup concentrate from Coca-Cola Co and bottles and distributes drinks including Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta in 27 countries in Europe and in Nigeria.
Recession and fiscal tightening in Eastern Europe is hitting beverage consumption, hurting the bottler's single-serve package sales. Sales volume dropped 2% in the second quarter with poor performance in Greece, Italy and Poland more than offsetting a turnaround in Russia after five quarters of decline.