Carlsberg is well underway in its long term strategic direction, SAIL’22, which was implemented in March this year. Cees ‘t C. Hart, CEO of Carlsberg Group, revealed in an Trading Conference Call last week that two of the three major key performance indicators (KPI) for the business performed favorably in the last six month. Gross profit after logistics margin increased by 1.4% and operating profit growth was at 8%. The third KPI, market share decreased due to an organical volume decline over all regions by 1%. “This decline is partly due to some deliberate decisions to go out of margin-diluted volumes in support of margins,” as Cees ‘t C. Hart explained.
Especially Carlsberg’s Chinese business underperformed with a volume decline of 8% (total Chinese market -6%) for the last six months. which was mainly a result of the closure of 11 sites, with a few more still under evaluation, and the sale of two incomplete sites.
Carlsberg’s Russian division saw a volume decline of 2% which was in line with the total market. In Ukraine the business was down 6% as the economy remains in a deep recession. Despite of the alcohol ban in the Bihar State, Carlsberg showed in India a growth of 17%. Growth in Vietnam was distorted by a recovery of lost business from destocking last December.
