Sales volume maintained a positive trend in the second quarter, increasing 6.8%, excluding bulk water sales, driven by increases of 8.3% and 6.7% in the water and soft drinks categories, respectively.
The cost of sales, however, increased 18.9%, mainly due to the increase in the prices of raw materials, such as PET, while administrative and selling expenses increased 13.4% to 15,696 million.
Although Arca recognizes that it is now more expensive to produce and sell its products, the rise in prices has allowed it to keep its income safe. Between January and June, the company reported revenue of 99,428 million, 15.2% more compared to the first half of 2021.
Only in the second quarter of the year, sales amounted to 53,363 million pesos, an increase of 16.5%, compared to 45,808 million in the same period of 2021. The company explained that the result is due to the good performance in the markets of Mexico and USA.
The EBITDA of the bottler increased 11% to 10,436 million pesos in the period, from 9,399 million, a figure that represents a margin of 19.6%. This one, however, fell 90 basis points. Net income for the quarter was 4,222 million, 34.9% more compared to 4,222 million in the second quarter of 2021.
Since the beginning of the year, the company has promoted a strategy to diversify its versions and sizes of packaging, which generated good results in the second quarter of the year. The category of ‘personal packaging’ showed an increase of 1.1 percentage points in the quarter, as a result of a good performance of launches made in the quarter in the category of soft drinks, with a 250-milliliter non-returnable packaging and a universal bottle in packaging. of 500 milliliters.
The universal bottle continues to be a growth driver as it continues to roll out in more territories. The universal bottle now represents 9% of the sales volume mix within the returnable portfolio, which means an increase of 5 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Its snack division, Bokados, had double-digit growth in sales and EBITDA, as a result of segmented price adjustments and a focus on increasing coverage in the traditional channel. The modern channel (supermarkets) shows the highest growth in sales as a result of better promotional strategies.