No near-term upside in Indonesia: Amatil

No near-term upside in Indonesia: Amatil

SYDNEY (Reuters): Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd Managing Director David Kennedy said on Sunday he did not see any upside in the soft drink bottler's Indonesian operations for some time.

"I think in the case of Indonesia I would say that our business has bottomed out there and assuming that there's no other social or political shock, that we're about where we're going to be for a while," Kennedy told the Nine Network's Business Sunday.

"I don't see any upside there for some time. In the case of South Korea, that's less clear."

"I don't think South Korea is in the long term a problematic situation that Indonesia is and so I think, one, we have a much better opportunity to grow our business regardless of what the economy does," he said.

Kennedy said he thought the South Korean economy would recover sooner there than some other countries in Asia.

C-C Amatil last week reported a 4.3 percent rise in net profit for the half year to June 30 of A$102.3 million but warned that the depreciation of the Philippines peso, losses in Indonesia and only a small contribution from its newly acquired Korean operations would push second half profits lower.

C-C Amatil, which is about 42 percent owned by Atlanta's The Coca Cola Co [KO.N], said Indonesia's economic crisis and a lower Philippines peso effectively cut A$29.7 million from its first half net profit.

Kennedy said on Sunday the Philippines would represent C-C Amatil's largest market in terms of volume and profitability and would be a key driver of long-term value for the company.

He said C-C Amatil was a market leader in Indonesia and that the company was managing its business there according to the economic situation.

"Our business is cash-flow positive and we'll be able to maintain that for an indefinite period of time so we're adjusting our plans as we go along to the situation," Kennedy said.

"It will take some time, I believe, for that country to adjust," he said.

With its results last week, C-C Amatil also announced it would book a A$478.2 million extraordinary gain from non-cash profits from its spinoff in late June of its European operations into Coca Cola Beverages Plc.