Financial highlights
- Organic net revenue growth of 2% (Q4: +5%) driven by strong Asian performance. In Q4, all regions contributed positively to organic net revenue growth of 5%.
- Total price/mix of +5% (Q4: +6%).
- Organic operating profit decline of 7% (Q4: -23%) in line with expectations. Q4 organic decline of 23% reflecting phasing differences, restructuring costs and higher central costs.
- Reported operating profit decline of 8% to DKK 8,457m (Q4: DKK 1,409m) affected by a negative currency impact of DKK -130m.
- Adjusted net profit down 17% to DKK 4,557m (Q4: DKK 603m).
- Special items of DKK -8.7bn, mainly related to impairment and restructuring, leading to a reported net loss of DKK -2.6bn.
- Significantly improved cash flow, with free operating cash flow of DKK 10.1bn and free cash flow of DKK 7.5bn, of which DKK 1.1bn related to disposal of non-core assets.
- Net interest-bearing debt down DKK 5.7bn to DKK 30.9bn.
- For 2015, Carlsberg A/S proposes a dividend per share of DKK 9.00.
Operational highlights
- Group beer volumes declined organically by 4% due to continued decline in Eastern Europe.
- Strong performance of our international premium brands – Tuborg (+15%), Kronenbourg 1664 (+5%), Grimbergen (+15%) and Somersby (+21%) – while the Carlsberg brand declined by 2% in its premium markets.
Preparing for the future
- In November, we announced the Funding the Journey programme, which is expected to deliver net benefits of DKK 1.5-2.0bn in 2018. The programme is well on track. Also announced were impairment and restructuring charges of DKK 10bn, of which DKK 8.5bn was charged in 2015 (Q4: DKK 0.8bn).
- The revised strategy, SAIL'22, will be communicated on 16 March 2016.
2016 earnings expectations
- The Group expects to deliver low-single-digit organic operating profit growth and a further reduction in financial leverage.
CEO Cees 't Hart says: “2015 was a mixed year for the Carlsberg Group. While our Asian business continues to perform strongly, our businesses in Western and Eastern Europe had a challenging year. As a consequence of the strong Asian results, however, 2015 marked the inflection point when the growth markets of Asia accounted for a larger part of the Group than Eastern Europe.
“I'm confident that the strengths of our business in terms of leading market positions, an attractive geographic profile, well-balanced portfolios of strong international and local brands, and committed employees provide us with a strong base upon which to build a organically growing business. The combination of Funding the Journey, which is well on track, and the upcoming evolution of our strategy, which leverages the strengths of our business, will enable us to capture growth opportunities and get into a positive spiral of growing profits and returns.”
[1] Net profit adjusted for special items after tax.
Contacts
Investor Relations:
Peter Kondrup +45 3327 1221
Iben Steiness +45 3327 1232
Media Relations:
Anders Bering +45 4179 1217
Kasper Elbjorn +45 4179 1216
