Swire's China Coca-Cola business mired in 'subdued' spending

HONG KONG -- Swire Pacific, the Hong Kong conglomerate with interests spanning aviation, food and beverages, and property, said on Thursday that its Coca-Cola bottling business in mainland China is suffering from weak domestic consumer confidence.

The company's interim results released the same day show the beverage division's attributable profit from mainland China for the first half came to HK$543 million ($69.6 million), down 12% year on year, excluding nonrecurring gains last year. The double-digit drop was partly due to the weaker yuan, as the reporting currency is Hong Kong dollars. In local currency terms, the profit from the China Coke business still dropped 7%.