Carlsberg is set to report its full-year results next Tuesday (23 February).
Here, just-drinks takes a look at the highs and lows for the brewer in the three months to the end of December.
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- Back in November, Carlsberg signed a deal to take full control of Hué Brewery in Vietnam, by acquiring the 50% stake it did not yet own from the the Hué People’s Committee for an undisclosed sum.
- Russia has dominated Carlsberg’s thoughts for the bulk of last year. In November, we looked at how the brewer had been lobbying the country’s government ahead of a vote on tripling the excise on beer. Later that same month, however, the authorities voted in favour of the increase.
- The following month, the brewer said it expected its full-year earnings for 2009 to benefit from distributor stockpiling ahead of the Russian tax rise. While the stock building would have a positive one-off impact on profits in the fourth quarter, Carlsberg warned that it is expected to wipe the same sum off profits in the first quarter of 2010.
- Back to Vietnam, and in December, Carlsberg sold on its Kronenbourg business in the country to Japan’s Sapporo Holdings. The Japanese firm paid US$25,4m for Carlsberg’s 50% stake in the Kronenbourg Vietnam joint-venture. Sapporo also acquired 15% of Vietnam National Tobacco Corp’s holding.
- Finally, last month, Carlsberg confirmed that Søren Lauridsen would replace Pradeep Gidwani as its managing director in India. Lauridsen, who was previously deputy MD of Carlsberg’s JV Lao Brewery Company, assumed the role on 1 February, with Gidwani leaving the firm “to pursue opportunities outside the Carlsberg Group”.
