Organic net revenue was up by 1% to DKK 32.5 billion (+2% in the second quarter) for the half year ending June 30, while operating profit fell from DKK4.7 billion in H1 2011 to DKK4 billion in H1 of this year, a fall of 13.9%.
Carlsberg said its Northern and Western Europe beer market, excluding Poland, declined by an estimated 3-4% while the Russian beer market was up by an estimated 2% and there was organic volume growth of 12% in Asia.
Volumes in Northern & Western Europe were impacted by very bad weather, with declines of around 5% in Q2, said the beer group.
The Russian market share increased to 37.3% in Q2 compared to 37.0% in Q1 with value share increasing by twice as much.
Carlsberg described its performance during the football tournament, Euro 2012, as “successful”, with a 13% growth of the Carlsberg brand across ‘premium markets’, while there were “positive signs” from the roll-out of the Tuborg brand in China, Russia and India.
Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, CEO of Carlsberg said: “Carlsberg achieved positive market share growth in all three regions which shows that the recent years’ significant efforts behind our international premium brands, local power brands, and within sales execution are paying off.
“It is particularly satisfactory to see a further improvement in our Russian market share which is a clear sign that our efforts initiated during last year are beginning to bear fruit.
“Excellent execution of Euro 2012 delivered very strong visibility of the Carlsberg brand. Sales and marketing investments were more skewed towards the first half of this year which, combined with the very bad weather in Northern and Western Europe, impacted profits for the first six months.”
