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Carlsberg upgrades 2022 earnings expectations, despite war in Ukraine

11 August 2022 By Louis Thomas

The Danish brewing giant has reevaluated its outlook for the rest of the fiscal year as the company’s breweries in Ukraine have been able to operate at a consistent level in recent months.

The group has 1,350 employees and owns three breweries in Ukraine, in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Lviv. The latter is the country’s oldest industrial brewery and produces Lvivske beer, which has been made in the Lviv Brewery since 1715.

However, production was suspended immediately after the Russian invasion in late February of this year. Then, on 21 April, the company announced that any volume and revenue generated in Ukraine would be included in the regional figures, and the related operating result would be reported in special items until operations resumed consistently.

A statement from Carlsberg notes that the decision to increase production at the Kyiv and Lviv breweries in April and May was taken on the advice of employees in Ukraine. By late June the Zaporizhzhia brewery, in the south east, had resumed production.

In July, Carlsberg Ukraine CEO Oleg Khaidakin took part in an online conference about the country’s post-war economic recovery: “Success is only possible if there is effective cooperation between business and the state. We are active participants in such cooperation.” In the same speech he also called for Ukraine to join the European Union.

As operations have remained consistent since resuming, the full-year operating result in Ukraine will be included in the overall operating profit. The upgraded outlook forecasts high single-digit organic growth in operating profit, replacing the previous guidance from April for organic operating profit development of -5% to +2%.

Carlsberg suspended operations in Russia as a response to the invasion five and a half months ago.