Carlsberg tweaks guidance as revenue grows

Danish brewer Carlsberg on Thursday tweaked its guidance for 2023 as first-quarter sales grew, driven by higher prices and volumes.

For the full year, Carlsberg expects operating profit to be between a two-percent fall and a five-percent rise, compared to its previous guidance of between a five-percent fall and five-percent growth.

From January to March, turnover amounted to 16.4 billion kroner (£1.94bn), a 9.8 per cent increase compared to a year earlier.

Carlsberg, which now only publishes its net income every six months, reported a 2.4 per cent increase in the volume of sales in the quarter, with a 2.1 per cent rise in Central and Eastern Europe and 4.9 per cent in Asia, though the sales volume in Western Europe declined by one per cent.

“The first quarter of the year showed a strong improvement in revenue per hectolitre, covering the significant increase in our cost base,” CEO Cees ‘t Hart, who will retire by the end of the third quarter, said.

It is not yet known when his successor, Jacob Aarup-Andersen, will take up his post.