• Coca-Cola Amatil said will focus on its Australian operations in a bid to return to earnings growth.
    Coca-Cola Amatil said will focus on its Australian operations in a bid to return to earnings growth.
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Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) said it plans to embrace sports, energy and water categories, as well as new, emerging beverage categories in a trading update this week.

Its new chief, Alison Watkins who took over from Terry Davis in March, told CCA shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that the company had been "slow to innovate outside our core franchise" of carbonated beverages.

The company also this week made changes at the top and has renewed its Australian focus as it seeks to restore earnings growth.

Watkins said CCA was looking for opportunities to lift revenue, improve productivity and cut costs.

She told shareholders that the company's focus would be on Australia, as it was the group's largest contributor to earnings, and that CCA also needed to make better use of its production and warehousing resources here.

She also said though the company was committed to the Indonesian market, CCA was reviewing its investment plans there.

Last week, CCA announced John Murphy, the managing director of the Australian beverages division, would leave the company at the end of June.

The head of CCA's New Zealand operations, Barry O'Connell, will take on the new role of managing director of non-alcoholic beverages.

The company's managing director Australasia, Warwick White, also left the company earlier this year.

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