Message from the Chairman
and Group Managing Director

Since the launch of our first Sustainability Report last year, CCA has changed in many positive and significant ways.

In the past 12 to 18 months we have managed to deepen our commitments to local communities, make our workplace even safer and put in place a number of projects which will deliver ongoing environmental protections, including crucial water and energy savings – at the same time as broadening our product portfolio and delivering record profits and growth.

In 2007, CCA achieved a record result, delivering net profit after tax of $366.3 million before significant items, an increase of $42.8 million, or 13.2 per cent over 2006. The result capped five years of growth in net profits, earnings before interest and tax, and in dividends per share for CCA and its shareholders. The momentum continued in the first-half of 2008, with CCA delivering a record net profit after tax of $171.9 million, an increase of 22 per cent on the first half of 2007.

We believe our success is due in part to the way in which we have integrated social and environmental considerations into our core business. These have ranged from small projects, like giving mosquito nets to all our employees in Papua New Guinea which resulted in the reduction of absenteeism from malaria by 23 per cent, to the construction of two large underground rainwater tanks for water- saving projects in our Northmead, Sydney operations.

We are working with community stores in the Northern Territory to provide incentives and opportunities for people to choose water, sugar-free and nutritious beverages. This sales strategy is working hand-in-hand with a unique community project, the “Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds” project, which we are running over three years in Tennant Creek.

Our philanthropic Foundations in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea distribute in total more than $1.5 million dollars annually to projects which assist local communities. In Indonesia these include micro-loans for people to start their own businesses; in Papua New Guinea we are building safe water supplies and funding an intensive HIV/AIDS prevention program; and in Australia we fund grassroots organisations working with disadvantaged young people in the arts, literacy and the environment.

Our workplace giving program in Australia, “Thirst for Giving” encourages and facilitates our staff to give from their own salaries, and distributes funds, matched by CCA, to 11 charities.

Our brands are working hard too. Mount Franklin has delivered $550,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for breast cancer research and 250,000 trees for Landcare Australia to plant across the country. Nature’s Own, our water brand in Papua New Guinea, is delivering funding and awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention.

In July 2008 hundreds of volunteers descended on Kuta and Sanur beaches in Bali to launch the inaugural Coca-Cola For Bali Coastal Clean Up Day. With our environmental partners, Reef Check Indonesia and Yayasan GUS, we will help keep Bali’s beautiful beaches clean all year round.

Water and energy savings in our manufacturing plants, combined with projects to reduce the carbon footprint of our fridges and fleet are important factors in our commitment to sustainability, however the everyday issue of post- consumer waste remains one of our biggest challenges. We take seriously our responsibilities as a manufacturer, and we are continuing to tackle the issue by making our containers lighter, using less material, and investing more resources into recycling projects. However, we cannot do this alone, and we are helping consumers to “Do the Right Thing” when they’re out and about and recycle their used beverage containers in our Public Place Recycling bins. Recycling is the key to better management of used beverage containers – they are not waste, but a valuable resource which can be turned into textiles, building materials and more beverage containers.

We have already made some significant capital investments in environmental initiatives in our manufacturing operations, such as water savings technology and rainwater harvesting tanks. We will always look for opportunities to incorporate best practice environmental options into investments while ensuring the returns we get for our spend meet our hurdle rates.

We have suggested to governments that they must provide more incentives like accelerated depreciation for business to invest in environmental technology and renewable energy options, and we will continue to lobby for these changes.

We have begun to embed sustainability strategies across our business. We’re launching an annual information event for our employees called “Sustainability September”, and we are working with our customers on projects to improve performance. By doing this, we are stimulating innovation, lowering costs, growing our business, engaging our own people and our customers, as well as ensuring our local communities are healthier and wealthier.

We will continue to contribute to best practice in our industry, and continue to take an active part in the national and global debate as to how business can promote sustainable development.