Dubai Refreshment Company PJSC

A local bottler, not the global brand owner

As of: 2026-08-30

Dubai Refreshment Company PJSC, identified on Dubai Financial Market as DRC, manufactures, bottles, cans and distributes soft drinks and related beverages. The company was established in Dubai in 1959, entered its Pepsi bottling partnership in 1962, became a public shareholding company in 1994 and listed on DFM in 2007. Its business combines production assets with a distribution network: owning a recognised brand is not the same as holding local rights to manufacture and sell its products.

DRC purchases ingredients, concentrates and packaging, converts them into finished products, holds inventory and delivers to customers. Earnings depend on beverage demand, selling prices, package and channel mix, production efficiency and collection of receivables. PepsiCo brand recognition supports demand but does not remove the bottler’s own costs, investment needs or contractual dependence. This profile concerns the Dubai-listed company, not PepsiCo worldwide or another regional refreshment company.

Brand rights have different territories

As of: 2026-06-30

The interim accounts describe bottling and selling Pepsi Cola International products in Dubai, Sharjah and the other Northern Emirates. They separately identify 7Up and Aquafina rights for the whole UAE. Exports of Pepsi Cola International products require its authorisation. A warehouse in another emirate therefore does not prove unrestricted nationwide rights for every product, and export activity does not establish an unlimited overseas franchise.

The annual portfolio includes Pepsi and its diet and zero variants, 7Up, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Shani, Aquafina, Gatorade, Rockstar, Ceres, Evervess and Britvic, alongside selected snacks. Brand names identify the commercial portfolio, not subsidiaries owned by DRC. The selected public disclosures describe the rights but do not establish a complete current contract timetable, renewal price or termination conditions. It would be misleading to describe those rights as perpetual or cost-free.

Company perimeter and related parties

As of: 2026-06-30

These are the financial statements of the company itself, not consolidated accounts for a newly enlarged subsidiary group. Annual reporting identifies a single segment covering canning, bottling, distribution and trading of soft drinks and related beverages. Regional warehouses are operating locations, not automatically separate subsidiaries. The accounts do not provide an individual profit statement for each brand, packaging format or sales channel.

Oman Refreshment Company appears as a related trading counterparty, not a subsidiary whose entire revenue can be added to DRC’s sales. Half-year transactions included AED2.855 million of sales and AED2.302 million of purchases. Management describes transaction terms as substantially comparable to unrelated-party terms; that is the company’s assertion, not an independent pricing benchmark. Quoted equity investments and bonds are financial assets and must likewise remain separate from the operating-company perimeter.

Shareholders and oversight

As of: 2026-08-30

The major-shareholder table is explicitly dated 31 December 2025. It identifies holdings of at least 5%, not a continuously updated register. The company has 90,000,000 issued shares with a par value of AED1, also shown on its current DFM profile. No single majority holder is identified by this table. The remainder must not be treated automatically as stock that an investor can freely buy or sell.

The current issuer website and exchange profile identify Ahmad Bin Eisa Al Serkal as chairman and Ali Humaid Al Owais as vice chairman. Board membership and shareholder ownership are different concepts: another company appearing in a director’s biography is not thereby a DRC asset. For minority shareholders, oversight of related-party dealings, investment of surplus cash and the balance between reinvestment and distributions matter more than the number of prominent names on a board list.

Plant, packaging and distribution network

As of: 2026-08-30

Dubai Investment Park 2 combines the main plant, warehousing and management functions. The official website describes a site of 140156 square metres, with 70000 square metres of built area and five large production lines. It can handle glass and plastic bottles and aluminium cans, including ambient and hot-filled products. These website specifications describe capabilities, not the amount actually sold or a verified utilisation rate.

The annual sustainability report records 339876451 litres of production in 2025. Production is not the same as sales volume: inventory movements, product mix and traded goods can separate output from revenue. Regional warehouses and the delivery fleet bring products closer to customers, but also require fuel, labour, route planning and stock control. Their value is reliable availability and efficient delivery, not merely a larger number of locations.

Annual earnings and their cash counterpart

As of: 2026-02-10

The 2025 annual financial statements received an unmodified KPMG audit opinion. Management attributes improved profitability to higher beverage volumes, favourable mix and raw-material efficiencies. The figures below are company amounts in AED millions, converted from source thousands. Annual revenue and cost of sales exclude excise tax. Domestic sales of AED783.736 million and exports of AED93.464 million together make up the annual revenue figure.

Profit increased, but operating cash flow fell. The cash-flow statement shows inventory absorbing AED23.229 million and receivables absorbing AED27.402 million, partly offset by AED3.898 million from payables. Cash purchases of property, plant and equipment were AED13.347 million; they are not a certified estimate of recurring maintenance needs. For longer historical comparisons, the chairman’s report separately excludes a one-off gain of about AED220.2 million from the 2023 profit comparison. That gain must not be treated as repeatable beverage earnings.

Half-year results: separate excise and restatement

As of: 2026-07-29

The half-year ended 30 June 2026 is the latest financial report visible in the issuer-filtered DFM disclosures checked on 30 August 2026. KPMG performed an IAS 34 interim review, not an annual audit. DRC early-adopted IFRS 18 and changed presentation, including excise in both revenue and cost of sales. The comparative half-year was restated; net warehousing income was also presented gross in the respective revenue and expense lines. This is more than a simple relabelling of tax.

Use revenue before excise to understand the direction of comparable half-year sales, and keep it separate from total reported revenue. The former rose while the latter fell as excise declined. Gross profit and net profit nevertheless increased. The table uses the restated comparative from the same report, not the older half-year release. Annual and interim operating-profit definitions and cash-flow presentation should not be assumed identical or combined into an unadjusted trailing-year series.

Inventory, collections and cash conversion

As of: 2026-06-30

Half-year operating cash flow improved to AED131.579 million from AED57.501 million on the restated basis. The table shows the actual cash-flow movements, not changes inferred mechanically from total balance-sheet headings. Inventory still absorbed cash, but receivables released cash and payables supplied funding. These effects are period-specific and can reverse; a stronger half-year is not a guaranteed full-year cash run rate.

The balance-sheet trade and other payables line includes the special dividend still payable at period end. That liability is not a supplier extension of credit and should not be used to portray stronger procurement financing. Meanwhile, impairment charged on trade receivables within selling expenses increased to AED3.276 million from AED0.276 million. Improving cash collection and a higher credit-loss charge can coexist, so neither metric should replace the other.

No bank borrowing is not no obligations

As of: 2026-06-30

The annual chairman’s report states that there were no outstanding borrowings, and the latest balance sheet contains no separate bank-loan line. But leases, payables, tax and approved dividends remain obligations. The lease total below is the sum of current and non-current lease liabilities, not total non-current liabilities. The annual lease maturity analysis allocates AED13.381 million within one year, AED41.740 million to later than one and no later than five years, and AED50.182 million beyond five years; those buckets are dated to the annual balance sheet, not a fresh interim maturity schedule.

Most cash and bank balances are deposits with maturities longer than three months. They remain assets but are excluded from cash equivalents. DRC also holds quoted equity investments and bonds, including a perpetual bond purchased during the half-year for AED36.725 million and carried at AED37.137 million at period end. Buying a bond is an investment outflow, not issuing debt. Market-value changes and deposit reinvestment rates therefore affect capital allocation alongside the beverage business.

Ordinary and special dividends are different commitments

As of: 2026-06-30

The interim note confirms that the annual general meeting on 2 April 2026 approved the regular dividend relating to 2025, AED1.10 per share or AED99 million, and that payment occurred on 28 April 2026. A further one-time special dividend of AED1.10 per share, also AED99 million, was approved and remained in payables at the half-year end. The report envisages payment in October 2026 through a board resolution. This profile does not present that future payment as completed.

Together, the approved distributions are AED198 million. That exceeds both the preceding annual profit of AED157.873 million and operating cash flow of AED156.695 million. The company has accumulated cash, so a distribution can draw on reserves rather than only current earnings. However, a special payment is not evidence of a recurring dividend rate. The shareholder should distinguish approval, liability recognition, record eligibility and actual cash settlement before calculating income expectations.

Execution priorities and risks

As of: 2026-07-29

Management’s stated priorities include product innovation, stronger market coverage, cost discipline and better use of data following the implementation of SAP S/4HANA in 2025. The sustainability report describes a lighter can lid that passed trials and was scheduled for commercial introduction in 2026. A scheduled introduction is not confirmation of completion or of a quantified financial saving. The board also sees opportunities from the changed sugar-tax framework; that is a management outlook, not an earnings guarantee.

Editorially, the key tests are whether production growth is sold profitably, whether raw-material and packaging costs can be passed through, and whether inventory and customer credit convert into cash. Franchise continuity, competitive promotions, consumer preferences, product quality, logistics and regional disruptions remain risks. The interim report says management found no material impact from regional escalation on asset carrying values at the reporting date; this is a dated assessment, not protection against future disruption. Cash investments introduce market and counterparty risks even without bank borrowing.

Official contacts and how to read the sources

As of: 2026-08-30

The official website is pepsidrc.com; the investor-relations section links to corporate disclosures and financial information. The published investor inbox is investor@pepsidrc.ae and the general corporate inbox is info@pepsidrc.ae. The business telephone is +971 4 8025000. The head office is at Dubai Investment Park 2, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with postal address PO Box 420. These are published corporate channels; no private employee mobile or inferred email is supplied.

The company identity and latest available disclosure list were checked on 30 August 2026. Ownership remains a year-end snapshot, financial amounts retain their annual or interim dates, and the special-dividend status is taken from the half-year report. Different accounting presentations are explained rather than silently combined. Links point to official sources; the underlying reports are not reproduced here. This is a company-information profile, not a recommendation, a current trading-liquidity certificate or a complete audit of every disclosure.

Sources

1. S1 · DRC integrated report and audited financial statements 2025 · 2026-02-11
2. S2 · DRC reviewed interim financial statements, H1 2026 · 2026-07-29
3. S3 · DFM official DRC issuer profile · 2026-08-30
4. S4 · DRC official website: bottling capabilities · 2026-08-30
5. S5 · DRC official investor-relations contacts and disclosures · 2026-08-30
6. S6 · DRC official board directory · 2026-08-30
7. S7 · DFM issuer-filtered DRC disclosures · 2026-08-30