STOCK WATCH

IT’S not always enough to beat market expectations, as Coca-Cola HBC has found.

The company, which bottles and distributes the fizzy drink, reported a 9.6pc rise in profits before breaking the bad news: growth is set to slow in some of its markets.

Added to this, its financing costs look set to almost double this year as a line of debt approaches maturity.

The shares, which have more or less marked time over the last year, fell by 231p, or 8.6pc, to 2463p.