Coca-Cola HBC
Coca-Cola HBC saw their third quarter results hit by a decline in demand in austerity hit countries (Reuters)

Austerity-hit markets in Europe impacted the third quarter revenues of Coca-Cola HBC, the world's second largest bottler of the soft drink.

Sales revenue in net terms declined by 5% to a sum of €1.9bn ($2.5bn, £1.6bn) for the third quarter as tough economic conditions in Greece, Hungary, Italy and Romania and Russia, the bottler's biggest market, saw a slowing of sales growth.

The number of unit cases sold dropped by 3% to 575m from 594m for the previous quarter in 2012.

Furthermore, the volume of sales for the third quarter declined by 4% for emerging markets and 2% in developing markets.

"The volume decline in our established and developing markets reflects the ongoing difficult macroeconomic environment in Europe," said the company in a statement.

"Our emerging markets were characterised by varying levels of performance. We anticipate that the trading conditions will remain difficult for the rest of 2013," it added.

However, in the nine months of 2013 so far, the company said it generated free cash flow of €345 million.

Coca-Cola HBC, which is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, joined the FTSE 100 in September.