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With “solid” results, Carlsberg raised its profit forecast for 2023, reversing a trend of disappointing beer industry sales in the first half of the year.
The Danish group said operating profit rose 5.2 percent in the first six months of the year, well above analysts’ forecast of 0.5 percent. The brewery, which also owns the Tuborg, Kronenbourg and Somersby cider brands, said year-on-year revenue was up 11.2 per cent and year-on-year volumes were up 0.8 per cent.
Although slightly below analysts’ forecasts for 1.2% growth, Carlsberg’s positive sales contrasted sharply with declines at rivals Heineken and Anheuser-Busch InBev, as well as the broader consumer goods sector, as companies continued to raise prices while trying to maintain sales to offset the cost of inflation.
Dutch rival Heineken, which cut its annual profit forecast last month, said sales fell 5.4 percent in the first half due to “the cumulative effect of pricing behaviour”.
AB InBev kept its forecast unchanged but reported a 1.4% decline in sales. The Belgian brewer’s U.S. sales have plummeted as the brand’s work with transgender influencers drew a conservative backlash.
Carlsberg shares rose 2.3 percent on the news before paring gains.
The group raised its forecast for operating profit growth to between 4% and 7% from an initial contraction of 2% to 5% ahead of its half-year earnings on Wednesday.
CEO Cees ‘t Hart faces a series of questions on tomorrow’s earnings call about the status of the brewer’s Russian subsidiary, Baltika Brewery, which was seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control last month . An old Putin friend, Taimuraz Bolloev, who ran Baltika in the 1990s, has been named director.
The brewer announced in June that it had found an unnamed buyer for the business, warning that the sale would cost it $1.4 billion. Carlsberg is more known in the Russian market than any other international brewer.
Heineken has also found a buyer for its Russian business and recently said it had incurred impairment losses totaling 201 million euros to date as a result of its partial exit from the Russian business.
Carlsberg also announced a DKK 1 billion ($147 million) share buyback program.
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