DENMARK: Carlsberg reconfirms guidance on Q1 sales rise

By: just-drinks.com editorial team

Carlsberg says on-track to meet full-year guidance

Carlsberg has said that it is on-track to meet its full-year guidance after a solid rise in net sales in its first quarter, despite a fall in net profits.

Net profits sank by by 63% to DKK173m (US$33.4m) after suffering against a one-off gain of DKK390m in the first quarter of 2010, which inflated profits in that period, Carlsberg said today (11 May).

Despite this, the Denmark-based brewer reconfirmed its guidance of a 20% rise in underlying profits in 2011 and also a high single-digit increase in operating profits.

For the three months to the end of March, operating profits leapt by 38% to DKK1bn. Net sales jumped by 14% to DKK12.5bn on a positive price/mix of 2% for the quarter.   

Carlsberg's CEO, Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, said: “We are satisfied with the group's performance in Q1, while at the same time acknowledging that, in most of our markets, it is a small quarter."

Rebounding consumption in Russia, which suffered from heavy destocking in the same period of 2010, helped Carlsberg's volume sales to rise by 11% over the quarter. Excluding the estimated effects of destocking in Russia, Carlsberg's volumes rose by 2% for the three months, it said.

Asian markets, particularly China, performed strongly for the brewer during the quarter, with volumes in the region up by 15% and net sales up by 30%, to DKK1.2bn. However, volumes fell by 3% in Western Europe as consumer demand for beer in these markets remained sluggish.