Mexico City, March 23rd 2018. – Coca-Cola FEMSA announced that, consistent with its fundamental objective of preserving the security and safety of its employees, the Company decided to close indefinitely its operations in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, Mexico, beginning March 23, 2018.
The Company’s decision puts the safety of its more than 160 employees who work at its distribution center ahead of any other interests. The current lack of the necessary conditions to efficiently and safely operate within this part of the State of Guerrero, as exemplified by the recent unjustified assault on one of its employees, led the Company to make this decision.
Coca-Cola FEMSA strongly rejects any violent action against its employees, their families, and the communities where it operates. The Company regrets that, as a result of the prevailing absence of law and order, it must close its distribution center in a territory in which Coca-Cola FEMSA has operated for more than four decades, generating economic and social value for the Company’s customers, consumers, community, employees, and their families.
This year, Coca-Cola FEMSA’s employees at its distribution center in Ciudad Altamirano have received constant threats and acts of aggression from organized crime.
Consistent with the Company’s principles, Coca-Cola FEMSA reaffirms its commitment to operate according to a culture of legality.
About Coca-Cola FEMSA
Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. is the largest franchise bottler in the world by sales volume. The company produces and distributes trademark beverages of The Coca-Cola Company, offering a wide portfolio of 169 brands to more than 381 million consumers daily. With over 100 thousand employees, the company markets and sells approximately 4 billion unit cases through 2.8 million points of sale a year. Operating 64 manufacturing plants and 324 distribution centers, Coca-Cola FEMSA is committed to generating economic, social, and environmental value for all of its stakeholders across the value chain. The company is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index, FTSE4Good Emerging Index, and the Mexican Stock Exchange’s IPC and Social Responsibility and Sustainability Indices, among other indexes. Its operations encompass franchise territories in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Guatemala and, nationwide, in the Philippines, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. For more information, please visit www.coca-colafemsa.com
About FEMSA
FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the worlds leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Retail Division operating various small-format store chains including OXXO, a Fuel Division, operating the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations, and a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related operations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSAs business units and third-party clients.
