Carlsberg Posts Forecast-Beating Rise in 3Q Revenue on Asian Growth

    By Dominic Chopping

Carlsberg AS (CARL-A.KO) on Thursday posted a forecast-beating 5.3% rise in third-quarter revenue as solid earnings from Asia and Western Europe more than offset weakness in Russia.

Revenue rose to 18.53 billion Danish kroner ($2.76 billion) in the quarter from DKK17.59 billion a year earlier, while overall beverage volumes were flat at 38.5 million hectolitres. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected revenue of DKK18.28 billion and total volumes of 38.6 million hectolitres.

Carlsberg doesn't disclose any further financial information in its quarterly trading statements.

The Danish company recently upgraded its full-year guidance, expecting organic operating profit growth of around 10%. This guidance remained unchanged in Thursday's release.

However, the brewer did say it now sees a positive currency effect on operating profit this year of around DKK150 million, from a previous estimate of DKK100 million.

"We're pleased that we've been able to deliver solid revenue growth for the quarter despite tough comparables from last year," Chief Executive Cees 't Hart said.

"In particular the Asia region continued its very good performance."

In Asia, Carlsberg had particularly strong volume growth in China, Laos, Malaysia/Singapore and Vietnam. In China, volumes grew by 6%.

Net revenue in western Europe grew organically by 0.2%. It had good revenue and volume growth in markets such as Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, Serbia, Greece, Croatia and Bulgaria, whereas volumes declined in markets such as France and the U.K.

Volumes in Russia and Ukraine were hit by intensified competition, cool weather and in the case of Russia, tough comparables due to the World Cup last year, it said.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2019 02:59 ET (06:59 GMT)

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