By Jens Hansegard
Denmark's Carlsberg A/S posted on Tuesday an unexpected net loss
in its most recent quarter, saying that revenue from its key
Russian market fizzled out because of adverse currency
fluctuations.
The world's fourth-largest brewer said that net loss in the
three months ending Mar. 31 was 90 million Danish kroner ($13.49
million), compared with a loss of 67 million kroner in the same
quarter in 2014.
Analysts expected first-quarter net profit of 11 million kroner.
Carlsberg shares took a hit, falling 4.0% to 612.5 kroner on the
Copenhagen bourse in early trading Tuesday.
Operating profit before special items was 661 million kroner, up
from 453 million kroner, driven by stronger demand in Western
Europe and continued growth in Asia. First-quarter revenue came in
at 13.47 billion kroner, up 4.4% from 12.90 billion kroner in the
same quarter of 2014.
Excluding acquisitions, operating profit rose 8%, the company
said, adding that it expected a similar increase in organic
operating profit in the full year.
Carlsberg said that revenue fell 30% in Eastern Europe in the
first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. The
company said that it succeeded in offsetting most of a 16% drop in
its sale volumes in the region with price increases. But it blamed
the steep revenue decline on sharp swings in the ruble, which saw
the Russian currency hit all-time lows of about 80 to the dollar in
December before clawing back gradually during the first
quarter.
"The currency impact is less negative now than we had thought at
the beginning of the year, but it is still negative year on year,"
Chief Executive Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen said in a conference
call.
nce seen as a promising land for global brewers, Russia has been
a cause for a headache at Carlsberg in recent years. Even before
Western countries imposed sanctions against the country, Moscow had
introduced tough regulations, restricting sales and the marketing
of beer to lower drinking in the country.
The drop in sales has led Carlsberg to close two of its Russian
breweries, in Chelyabinsk and Krasnoyarsk, in the first quarter.
Mr. Rasmussen said that the Danish company, which has eight
facilities left in the country, has no concrete plans to shut more
breweries in Russia.
Write to Jens Hansegard at jens.hansegard@wsj.com
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