Danish brewer Carlsberg on Tuesday reported full-year sales broadly in line with expectations, helped by stronger sales in Asia, and said it expects to deliver mid-single-digit organic operating profit growth in 2020.
The world's third-largest brewer said sales grew organically by 3.2% for the year to 65.9 billion Danish crowns (€8.82 billion), just below the 66.1 billion expected by analysts in a poll compiled by Carlsberg.
Its price/mix, which indicates whether the company sold more of its expensive beer, was 3% for the full year of 2019.
'Healthy Growth'
“We’re pleased with our results in 2019," commented CEO Cees ’t Hart.
"We saw healthy top-line growth, strong margin improvement and strong cash flow. In recent years, we’ve strengthened our business considerably, and we’ll continue to execute on our SAIL’22 priorities and further reinforce our Funding the Journey culture to support long-term growth and value creation for shareholders.
The brewer said sales in Asia grew organically by 12.3%, with a price/mix of 6% mainly driven by China, where sales grew 8% despite a slightly declining market.
Carlsberg said it will propose to increase its dividend by 17% to 21 crowns per share and initiate a share buy-back programme worth 5 billion crown in the next 12 months.
News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
