Denmark’s Royal Unibrew has again updated its revenue and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) forecast for its financial 2024.
The beer and soft-drinks maker now estimates that its net revenue will be at least DKr15bn ($2.24bn), previously forecasting “around DKr15bn”.
Meanwhile, the Faxe beer owner now sees its EBIT rising by 14-19% in 2024, narrowed from its earlier forecast of growth of 9-19% which it revealed in April.
The updated guidance is equivalent to a reported EBIT of between DKr1.95bn and DKr2.03bn, including acquisitions.
Royal Unibrew are expected to contribute to EBIT by at least DKr80m in 2024. The figure was previously estimated to be “around DKr80m”.
The company said: “The current year is progressing according to plan, and following several years with extraordinary external impacts on the business, 2024 is on track to become a normal year without de-stocking, extraordinary weather, etc.”
It also revealed that it is expecting to spend between DKr850m and DKr1bn in capex for the full year.
The drinks company updated its outlook alongside its first-half results, where net revenue grew organically 6% to DKr7.38bn. EBIT increased by DKr156m to DKr866m, compared to the first half of its fiscal 2023.
Volumes increased organically by 3% year-on-year to 8.4 million hectolitres in H1 2024. The organic volume growth was “driven by soft comparable numbers for the Italian On-Trade beer business in the first quarter of the year and a normalisation of the International segment that was negatively impacted by unrest in Africa in Q1 2023”, according to Royal Unibrew.
CEO Lars Jensen said: “I am very pleased that we managed to create positive organic growth in volumes, net revenue, and especially EBIT in the second quarter of 2024. Continued strong commercial execution and great innovations mean that we have really good momentum in our most important brands across all our markets.
“The organisation is doing a good job to secure higher profitability in our business, despite poor weather, and the second quarter is a proof that we are on the right track.”
