Unless otherwise stated, comments in this announcement refer to H1 performance.
Six months financial highlights
- Reported net revenue of DKK 32.4bn with flat organic development.
- Total price/mix of +5%.
- Organic gross profit declined 1%; 4% organic growth in gross profit/hl.
- Operating profit decline in Eastern Europe and in Q2 also in Western Europe, partly offset by operating profit growth in Asia; organic decline in Group operating profit of 13%.
- Reported operating profit of DKK 3,583m (-12%).
- Adjusted net profit of DKK 1,734m.
- Significant improvement in free cash flow to DKK 2,218m vs DKK 641m last year.
Six months operational highlights
- Group beer volumes declined organically by 5% due to continued decline in Eastern Europe, tough comparables and bad weather in Q2 in Western Europe.
- Our market share increased in the majority of markets.
- Strong performance of our international premium brands: Tuborg (+16%), Somersby (+26%), Kronenbourg 1664 (+2%) and Grimbergen (+19%). The Carlsberg brand declined by 2% in its premium markets cycling tough comparables.
- The remaining four large markets went live on BSP1 in early April.
Revised 2015 earnings expectations
- The Group expects organic operating profit to decline slightly (previously mid- to high-single-digit growth).
- The translation impact on operating profit is expected to be around DKK -300m (previously DKK -400m).
- The Supervisory Board expects to be able to propose to the Annual General Meeting to keep dividend per share unchanged.
CEO Cees ‘t Hart says: “The first half of 2015 has been challenging for the Group with weaker than expected results in Western Europe and market decline in Eastern Europe. In Western Europe, we experienced bad weather in Q2 in Northern Europe and did not achieve the full range of anticipated savings. For the full year, we therefore do not expect that the strong Asian performance will be enough to offset the weaker than expected results in Western Europe and the challenging market conditions in Eastern Europe. Needless to say, we have a heightened sense of urgency to execute the efficiency improvement initiatives we started at the beginning of the year.“
Cees continues: “Joining Carlsberg in mid-June, I’m in the process of getting to know the Group’s opportunities and challenges. While I’m delighted with the enthusiasm and commitment of our employees, I also recognise that we must step up further to achieve the full potential of the Group. To do so, we have initiated a process of revising the Group’s strategy to re-establish and further strengthen our financial flexibility. The results of this process will be announced in the first half of 2016.”
Read the entire announcement on attachment or on www.carlsberggroup.com
