IMO there is a huge difference in taste of coke and the rest. The home branded soft drinks are disgusting. I buy plenty of home brand (ie, sugar, flour, milk, cream, etc) but no way would I buy home brand soft drink again.
CCL will need to be smart in diversification away from soft drinks. They are doing this with beer, lets see how it goes. I personally think they should get some cider in there too (they may well be, im not sure).
Indonesia is a key market. If they manage indo well then we should all be smiling. Its a great license to have. Im sure that mangemet is looking at what drinks are popular with local Indonesians. Just like BU in PNG (they all love the stuff - its made by CCL) there will likely be different tastes in Indonesia that CCL needs to capture. I would also be buying stakes in their competition if allowed (ie, other drink players in the market). CCLs drop in sales in PNG was a result of the merchants getting better deals from Pepsi (ie, margins) than coke and also because pepsi is cheaper. Coke went on a price blitz to get market share back. In Indonesia, price is a big thing and although I agree with keeping coke margins high (as long as manufacturing capacity isn't affected by reduced purchasing volumes) it is important they also take hold of market share in the lower price bracket. By doing so, they can manipulate the market and eventually push the higher margin products.
CCL Price at posting:
$9.25 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held