E-Malt.com News article: Malaysia: Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia to keep its beers prices stable this year

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd (Carlsberg Malaysia) said there will be no more price hikes for its line of beer this year, following an increase announced earlier this month, its managing director Soren Ravn was quoted as saying by The Sun Daily on April, 29.

"It was a small price increase in line with inflation, less than 3% and has been communicated to the outlets…there will be no more increases for this year," he told reporters after its AGM on April, 26.

Ravn said there are also no plans to introduce more premium brands into the market in the near term as the brewer intends to focus on the growth of its current portfolio.

"Our premium brands (numbers) are very small compared with our competitor but they are growing fast. We don't want to bring in too many premium brands because we don't want to dilute the market with too many small brands. There is no immediate plan or need to bring in new premium brands," he said.

Ravn said the premium beer segment was a key contributor to its financial results with a significant growth in sales from locally produced Asahi Super Dry and Kronenbourg 1664.

He said its increasing market share in the premium beer segment coupled with steady growth of its flagship Carlsberg Green Label and new outlets have further strengthened the brewer's position in a highly competitive market.

"We have delivered three consecutive years of continuous growth in profit and revenue. We hope to see the current financial year benefiting from Carlsberg's global sponsorship of the EPL for three years starting in August 2013," Ravn said.

Carlsberg Malaysia expects small, single-digit growth for this year.

For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2012 the group recorded 15.8% growth in net profit to RM193.8 million from RM167.4 million a year ago while revenue rose 6.4% to RM1.6 billion from RM1.5 billion a year ago.

The total dividend payout for FY12 was 63 sen, an increase of 8.1 sen from the previous year and the company's highest payout in the past five years.

On April, 24 the group announced Ravn's move to head operations in Carlsberg Greater China effective July 1. He will be replaced by Henrik J. Andersen, who is currently the regional CEO of Carlsberg IndoChina.

Ravn, who has been with Carlsberg Malaysia for three years, said the handover process has already begun and Andersen will come to Malaysia next month for a board meeting.

"He knows the market here quite well and we know each other. We meet each other five to six times a year. He's also been working with some premium brands that are here…I don't foresee any major changes," he added.

Ravn also said that the change of its managing director would not affect its plans for 2013 which have been in place since Chinese New Year.

"Henrik will develop the business plans for 2014 and after. We usually do our business plans for the next three years around June so Henrik will come in and do that," he said.

01 May, 2013