Carlsberg looks to the Far East as Europe disappoints
Danish brewer Carlsberg has reported a fall in profit before tax to 7.8bn (£800m) Danish krone for the year to 31 December. The result was marginally down from last year's 8.1bn krone. The company was impacted by a decline in European and Russian markets of two per cent and eight per cent respectively.
However, Carlsberg did see a boost in profit before tax in the fourth quarter to 1.59bn krone, from 394m krone in 2012. With fourth quarter revenue from Asia rising to 2.3bn krone – up 14.8 per cent – the company is increasingly looking to the Far East to provide future growth.
Last year, Carlsberg began construction of two new breweries in Asia – one in China and the other in Myanmar.
Chief executive Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen commented:
We will focus on further strengthening our Russian business; develop our Asian business to capture the growth potential of the region; and change our Western Europe business model and organisation, including the continued roll-out of BSP1 [a "business standardisation project" to slim down some operations].
Looking to future, Carlsberg forecasts operating profit to increase organically by high-single-digit percentages, and reported adjusted net profit to rise by mid-single-digit percentages.