Costa: Britain's biggest high street coffee chain 'set to be sold' by Coca Cola

Costa, Britain's biggest high street coffee chain, is reportedly set to be sold by its parent company Coca-Cola.

The US-based soft drinks company acquired the UK chain six years ago, in a move for the global company to get away from just selling fizzy drinks. The drinks giant has reportedly started talks with some potential buyers as its lawyers start work on the possible sale. Some of these potential buyers reportedly include private equity firms, as an investment bank is thought to be working with Coca-Cola to look at options for the high street giant and see who could be interested in snapping it up.

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Costa sells its coffee, drinks and food from more than 2,000 stores in the UK and more than 3,000 globally - including in countries like Poland, Japan and India. Potential offers for the UK's biggest coffee chain are reportedly due in early autumn, according to Sky News.

Despite this, there is no confirmation Coca-Cola are fully set to sell the high street chain, as they could change their minds at any minute at this stage.

Analysts claimed a sale in the near future could see Coca-Cola lose millions on what it paid for Costa back in 2018, from Whitbread - the London-listed owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain. One person suggested Costa is valued at around £2billion at the moment, which is significantly less than the £3.9billion Coca-Cola paid for the chain.

When Costa was acquired in 2018, Coca-Cola's chief executive, James Quincey, said: "Costa gives Coca-Cola new capabilities and expertise in coffee, and our system can create opportunities to grow the Costa brand worldwide.

"Hot beverages is one of the few segments of the total beverage landscape where Coca-Cola does not have a global brand. Costa gives us access to this market with a strong coffee platform."

Despite this, financial records showed Costa recorded sales of £1.22billion, which is less than the £1.3billion made in 2018. Data for the years after 2023 have not been made publicly available.

Last month in an earnings call, Quincey revealed Coca-Cola was looking into Costa and what it wanted to do with the chain.

He said: "We're in the mode of reflecting on what we've learned, thinking about how we might want to find new avenues to grow in the coffee category while continuing to run the Costa business successfully. It's still a lot of money we put down, and we wanted that money to work as hard as possible."

This comes as Costa has closed several locations this year across the country. Over a dozen branches have shut following a slump in sales over recent years.

Since September 2024, Costa has shut these locations across the UK:

• Shell Highworth Service Station
• Stockton High Street
• Lyndhurst, New Forest
• Bridlington, Yorkshire
• Packhorse Road, Buckinghamshire
• King Street, Maidstone, Kent
• Whitstable High Street, Kent
• Chiswick High Road, London
• Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh
• Rottingdean, Brighton and Cove
• Erdington High Street, Birmingham
• Cheltenham House of Fraser
• Stockton Heath, Warrington
• High Street West, Uppingham
• Fleet Walk, Burnley
• Alexandra Retail Park, Tunstall
• Marlborough High Street, Wiltshire