Carlsberg has seen its group revenue fall 0.9% in the second quarter but is still 2% stronger across the whole of the first half of the year, thanks to a particularly strong opening three months.
Revenue in the second quarter was DKK 18.06 billion ($2.85 billion), down from DKK 18.23 billion in the same quarter last year.
But revenue of DKK 31.77 billion ($5 billion) for the whole of the first half is 2% higher than 2016, with a strong first quarter more than offsetting the nominal decline this period. The Danish brewer had reported revenue of DKK 13.7 billion ($2.16 billion) – up more than 5% – in the first three months of the year.
It also reported significantly improved margins, with profit before tax of DKK 3.8 billion ($612 million) in the first half.
Commenting on the results, CEO Cees ’t Hart says: “We delivered a strong set of results for the first half-year, improving earnings and cash flow and reducing leverage. The results show that we’re well on track to deliver on our key priorities for this year: achieving a substantial proportion of the remaining Funding the Journey benefits, enabling investments in SAIL’22-related activities to grow the top-line in the future.
“Funding the Journey is now well established and being embedded as normal procedure across our markets and functions.
“Our strong financial results enable us to accelerate our investments in the SAIL’22 priorities to drive sustainable long-term growth of the Carlsberg Group. The growth of Tuborg in Asia, the expansion of Grimbergen and the further development of our fruitful cooperation with Brooklyn serve as excellent examples of SAIL’22 at this point in time.”
‘T Hart was positive about the company’s position, despite seeing volume fall in both the first half of the year and the second quarter.
For the first six months, total volume was down on last year by 3.7% – from 70 million hectolitres to 67.4 million hectolitres – while beer volume fell 4% from 59.1 million hectolitres to 56.7 million hectolitres.
In the second quarter, total volume was 38.5 million hectolitres – a drop of 5.4% – while beer volume was down a similar amount to 32.5 million hectolitres.
The brewer is still in the chase for Vietnam’s Habeco brewery, which is expected to be privatised at some point this year, despite facing fresh competition from Anheuser-Busch.
In July, it acquired UK craft brewer London Fields, at the same time deepening its partnership with Brooklyn Brewery.
Sustainability has continued to drive its agenda in recent months, with plans to completely eliminate carbon emissions at its breweries by 2030. In June, Carlsberg’s Simon Boas Hoffmeyer spoke with FoodBev about the importance of its environmental plan, saying that sustainability is in the company’s DNA.
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