Danske Bank: Carlsberg – Q3 21 trading update

Carlsberg (MW): Carlsberg is out with the Q3 21 trading update (Carlsberg does not provide full Q1 and Q3 results). Q3 21 sales were DKK19.7bn vs. Bloomberg consensus of DKK19.26bn (3% beat), revenues were up 14.4% reported, with organic growth of around 7%. Geographically, Carlsbergs volumes grew by 7.9% in Asia, 2.6% in Central and Eastern and were roughly flat in Europe. As a result of the strong development, Carlsberg is upgrading the FY 2021 EBIT guidance. The group now sees organic operating profit growth of 10-12% (vs. 8-11% previously). Overall, we see the trading update as credit positive, however we doubt that it will have much effect on Carsberg credit spreads, especially as share-buy backs will be raised to DKK1.25bn in Q4.