SHAH ALAM: Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd’s net profit in the second quarter climbed 18.6% from a year ago to RM60.9mil, helped by a strong performance by its premium brands.
Higher sales volume and a one-off trade discount adjustment in its Singapore-based operations led the group to record a higher overall revenue of RM412.14mil, up 4.1% from RM395.83mil a year earlier.
Carlsberg managing director Lars Lehmann said that the group remained positive of achieving an improved financial performance this year despite the anticipated soft consumer sentiment, buttressed by the brewer’s strong premium brands line-up.
“While the market in general is expected to be flattish this year in terms of sales volume, we are confident on our performance as we continue to be supported by our premium brands,” he said.
As for the first half of the current financial year, Carlsberg saw its bottom line increase by 12.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM128.31mil, amid a soft consumer sentiment in both Malaysia and Singapore.
The improvement in net profit was driven by stronger revenue, which rose by 7.4% y-o-y to RM914.8mil for the first six months period.
“In the first half of this year, our premium brands saw a sales volume growth of 22%, amid the softer market conditions. We expect a similar double-digit growth for the rest of the year as well,” Lehmann said at a press briefing on the company’s second quarter results.
Carlsberg offers four premium brands, namely Somersby cider, Connor’s, Asahi and Kronenbourg Blanc.