The Carlsberg Group reported strong growth in Q3, driven by the Britvic acquisition, solid underlying volume and revenue growth in Western Europe and sequential improvement in Asia. The reported volume growth was 16.2% while organic volume development was -3.0%.
The Group organic volumes excluding San Miguel was -1.7%. The organic volume development in Western Europe excluding San Miguel was +1.3%, Asia -1.2% and Central & Eastern Europe and India (CEEI) -5.2%. The growth categories (organic growth): premium beer (excluding San Miguel) +5%, soft drinks +4%, alcohol-free brews -2% (excluding Ukraine: +6%) and Beyond Beer -10%. As regards international brands, the reported growth was Tuborg +2%, Carlsberg +3% and 1664 Blanc +6%.
Reported revenue growth 17.8%, organic revenue development -1.4%
The organic revenue growth excluding San Miguel was +0.2%. The organic revenue development in Western Europe excluding San Miguel +2.1%, Asia -0.6% and Central & Eastern Europe and India (CEEI) -2.8%. The revenue/hl +2%, with positive contributions from all three regions. The reported revenue DKK 24,139m, positively impacted by the Britvic acquisition.
The expected total cost synergies increased to GBP 110m on 1 October (previously GBP 100m). Carlsberg said that commercial continuity, integration and synergy delivery were on track.
CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen said, “We delivered strong reported growth driven by the Britvic acquisition. We also achieved solid underlying volume and revenue growth in Western Europe and saw sequential improvement in Asia, supported by strong performance of our premium portfolio in most markets. These results were achieved despite continued challenging consumer sentiment across our regions and a heightened adverse impact from the war on our business in Ukraine.
“In light of the current soft market conditions and as part of our well-embedded performance management process, we have, since early summer, been taking decisive actions to adjust our cost base. This is being done to protect continued earnings growth and enable uninterrupted investments in our business—particularly in commercial and digital initiatives—to drive long-term value growth.
“The integration of Britvic is progressing very well. We recently raised our cost synergy expectations and are very pleased with the momentum of the business. We continue to have strong confidence in the advantages of combining beer and soft drinks and the long-term value creation opportunities offered by the Britvic acquisition.”