Carlsberg expects brighter days in second half of year

After rain comes sunshine, or so they believe at Carlsberg. The brewer is raising expectations for this year, despite disappointing sales in the first semester.

Dark clouds over China

In the past quarter (from April to June), Carlsberg sales went slightly up to 21.64 billion Danish kroner (2.9 billion euros), but that was less than analysts had forecast. Culprits are the sharp slowdown in the Chinese market and the poor weather in June, which made volumes sold fell 3 % in the quarter.

For the first six months, net profit was 3.74 billion Danish kroner (half a billion euros) on a revenue of 38.8 billion kroner. Although this also meant profits were again slightly higher than a year earlier, analysts were counting on a net profit of 3.95 billion kroner. On all fronts, the brewer consequently fell short of forecasts.

Nevertheless, the Somersby producer is raising its full-year profit forecast. CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen refers to solid execution and good cost control. He now expects operating profit to grow between 4 and 6 % organically, up from the 1 to 5 % previously forecast.