Carlsberg’s chief executive warned of weak consumer sentiment and denounced Moscow’s seizure of its Russian subsidiary as the Danish brewer reported lower than expected beer sales across its key markets.
“There is nowhere we are seeing a buoyant consumer,” Jacob Aarup-Andersen said following his first trading update as chief executive, in which the company reported like-for-like revenue growth globally of 5.8 per cent on the back of price increases.
Sales volumes fell 5.2 per cent in western Europe, lower than analysts’ consensus, while eastern European volumes fell 6.3 per cent. Sales volumes in Asia grew 1.5 per cent, slower than expected, hit by the extensive pandemic lockdowns in China.