Posted on 08/20/2014 2:43:09 AM PDT by wetphoenix
Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish brewer Carlsberg cut its annual profit guidance on Wednesday and said economic uncertainty in Russia, its biggest market, could prompt it to close some breweries.
Clouds over the outlook in some parts of eastern Europe had cut consumption of beer, the company said.
"Due to the recent macro events the consumer sentiment and the outlook for some of the economies in eastern Europe are becoming increasingly challenging and uncertain," the company said in its quarterly earnings statement.
"Consequently, we believe that the beer category will deteriorate further in the second half of the year," it added.
As a result, the company said it believed reported adjusted net profit would decline by "mid to high" single digit percentages, rather than an earlier forecast of low single digit growth.
The estimate was based on a high single digit sales fall in Russia, while prospects for the beer market in western Europe looked flat or slightly lower this year. The outlook for consumption in Asia was growing "in line with 2013".
The company said: "In order to mitigate the risks as much as possible, several changes have been and will be made in our eastern European business, including structural changes."
"These include considerations related to brewery closures," Carlsberg added.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Let ‘em drinking vodka. They’er all drunken slobs in love with Putin anyway. They might as well burn their brains out on cheap vodka and die young.
Last week, Danes marched into a muzzie enclave in Copenhagen while displaying Israeli flags and chanting against Islamic violence. The muzzies were not amused.
That act deserves our buying a sixpack of Carlsberg, or a canned ham, or some butter cookies.
hmmm- normally sin stocks such as liquor do better in hard economic times. And... I would expect the relatively less expensive beer to do better then the harder more expensive alcohols. So I’m now wondering if this is a buy signal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.