This is a punishment that costs Carlsberg dearly.
The Danish beer giant recorded a hole of 5.47 billion euros (40.7 billion crowns) in 2023 due to the takeover of its Russian subsidiary Baltika by Moscow last July.
Like many companies, the brewer quickly decided to withdraw from the country following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Then, in June 2023, it announced that it had found a buyer to take over its subsidiary just before the Kremlin suddenly got its hands on it under a decree signed by Vladimir Putin in person (the Russian subsidiary of Danone had suffered the same fate ).
Jacob Aarup-Andersen, the CEO of the Danish brewery, then judged
“undeniable that
(the Russians)
stole our activities in Russia”
.
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Already in 2022, Carlsberg had suffered a net loss - much smaller - of 140 million euros (1.06 billion crowns) due to depreciation linked to Russia.
The heavy losses suffered in 2023 do not prevent the brewer from posting an increase in its turnover of 4.7%, to 9.87 billion euros (73.585 billion crowns).
“We recorded solid results, obtained despite a difficult environment in terms of consumption, significant inflationary pressures and headwinds on currencies
,” noted Jacob Aarup-Andersen.
A performance made possible by price increases, as volumes sold fell slightly (-0.5%) last year.