Athens, June 18 - Coca-Cola Hellenic, the world's second largest bottler of Coca-Cola, told shareholders on Thursday that the poor consumer trend seen in the first quarter continued into April and May.
But CCH chief executive Doros Constantinou told the annual meeting the company managed to gain market share in many countries where it operates, despite a challenging environment.
The bottler posted a 3 percent rise in sales volume in the first quarter thanks to an Italian acquisition which more than offset lower demand for soft drinks.
Recession is hitting consumer spending for soft drinks around the world and weakening foreign currencies are also hitting CCH's profit.
"Despite tough economic conditions in all our markets and falling overall consumption in some of them, we are not losing share," Constantinou said. "On the contrary, in many of them, our soft drinks share has been improving."
CCH is investing in its brand and has increased prices to cope with the global downturn.
Analysts have said their focus was on the crucial summer season and the impact of the expected weak performance of tourism on CCH's major markets Greece and Italy.
The firm's shareholders also approved a 0.28 euro dividend on 2008 results.
CCH stock trades 13.0 times estimated 2009 earings compared with 13.9 times for rival Pepsi Bottling.