Costa Coffee could be sold by Coca-Cola as the soft drinks giant looks to review a potential sale of the popular coffee chain with investment bank Lazard
A UK high street staple with more than 2,000 stores nationwide could face being sold under a £2 billion deal.
Loved by coffee drinkers across the nation, popular coffee chain Costa Coffee could be sold by soft drink giants Coca-Cola. It’s reported that the company are working with investment bank Lazard to review a potential sale of the British coffee chain, which they bought back in 2019, Sky News reported.
However, this isn’t set in stone, with offers for the chain due in the autumn. It could be that Coca-Cola doesn’t go ahead with the sale.
Costa Coffee was founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa. In 1995, it was sold to Whitbread for £19 million, holding less than 40 sites at the time. Now, analysts believe that the chain could sell for around £2 billion, amid increased financial pressures.
In 2022, Costa revealed that financial pressures had affected the business, ranging from “the economic environment and inflationary pressures.” In conclusion, there was a “restructuring programme to address the scale of overheads and invest for growth.”
During the 2019 acquisition, Coca-Cola’s chief executive, James Quincey, described Costa as capable of providing the company with “new capabilities and expertise in coffee,” while also exploring opportunities to “grow the Costa brand worldwide.”
Last month in an earnings call, Quincey revealed Coca-Cola was looking into Costa and what it wanted to do with the chain.
He said: “We’re in the mode of reflecting on what we’ve learned, thinking about how we might want to find new avenues to grow in the coffee category while continuing to run the Costa business successfully. It’s still a lot of money we put down, and we wanted that money to work as hard as possible.”
It comes as a loyal Costa Coffee fan has raged over the closure of his local branch – only for a life-changing twist to emerge.
For many, a trip to a branch of the iconic UK coffee chain is often the highlight of the day. However, for one lover of the maroon-coloured chain, that dream died earlier this month when a branch of Costa closed in Hampton Hill, London.
Posting on the Costa Coffee (customers) Facebook group, the user wrote: “Sad news this week when my Costa closed down . . . . I’ve sat outside here a 1,000 times before work, gym or with friends. It’s okay as there is another Costa literally across the road and its run by the same people but this one was always my Costa…I’m lucky to have the other one though.”
He accompanied the post with a series of images of the exterior as well as inside with staff members.
The post was swarmed with comments expressing disgust at the closure, with many hoping the staff were given jobs elsewhere, while one said: “Oh no hope Costa not struggling it’s the only coffee I like.”
However, also buried in the comments is an image of the now-closed store taken a few hours later with a sign over the the top of the windows that gives hope to the sadden coffee lover that reads: “Costa Coffee, 100 yards.”
It includes an arrow pointing at the nearest branch, just down the road, and underneath that was another poster that said “under refurbishment”.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
#CocaCola #buy #high #street #coffee #chain #stores #mammoth #deal
