Coca-Cola has confirmed it will retain full ownership of Costa Coffee, following months of speculation over a potential divestment of the UK-based café chain.

The company had previously explored a possible sale of Costa, which it acquired in 2018 for around $5 billion. Reports last year suggested Coca-Cola was weighing strategic options for the business amid a broader shift towards healthier innovation, with talks later facing uncertainty as discussions with TDR Capital stalled.

However, the company's chief financial officer, John Murphy, told Bloomberg on Tuesday that it will keep Costa within its portfolio.

“We have decided to continue to have Costa 100% owned inside our portfolio,” Murphy said in the interview. “There are no immediate plans to do anything with Costa other than to get it performing even better.”

Murphy said Costa continues to perform well in core markets including the UK, Ireland and parts of Western Europe, but acknowledged that the business in China has underperformed expectations.

Describing China as "more challenging than we expected," Murphy said the market remains under review. When asked whether Costa could exit China, he said no decision had been taken.

“It’s one aspect of the portfolio that we continue to review,” he said. “We will be looking closely at the China business throughout 2026.”

Murphy also addressed Costa’s "express concept" – its self-serve touchscreen coffee kiosks. While the format has seen success in the UK and Ireland, scaling the model internationally has proven more complex.

Although the concept is "consumer-friendly," Murphy said supply chain and logistics expansion had been "more difficult than we thought".

The confirmation comes amid wider developments at Coca-Cola, including the recent appointment of current EVP and COO Henrique Braun as the company’s next CEO.