COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - Carlsberg AS (CABGY.PK) said it delivered strong first half results, with healthy top-line development, strong margin improvement and continued solid cash flow. The company said the increase in net profit was mainly driven by operating profit growth and the disposal of the Trondheim site in Norway.
For the first-half, reported net profit was 3.08 billion Danish kroner compared to 2.47 billion kroner, previous year. Reported earnings per share (excluding treasury shares) were 20.2 kroner compared to 16.2 kroner. Adjusted net profit increased to 2.88 billion kroner from 2.51 billion kroner, while adjusted earnings per share (excluding treasury shares) were 19.0 kroner, a 15.6% improvement.
First-half net revenue improved to 32.99 billion Danish kroner from 30.97 billion kroner, prior year. Organic net revenue growth was 4.2%, for the period. Total organic volume growth was 1.4%.
For the full year, the company expects high-single-digit percentage organic growth in operating profit.
On 6 February 2019, the company announced its intention to buy back shares worth 4.5 billion Danish kroner over a 12-month period. On August 15, the Group initiated the second tranche of the share buy-back programme at a value of 2.0 billion kroner with a maximum of 12 million Carlsberg B shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX