For H1 2023, the Carlsberg Group delivered 0.8% organic volume growth, organic revenue growth of 11.2% and organic operating profit growth of 5.2%.

Due to the continued solid business performance year to date and based on our expectations for the remainder of the year, we upgrade our earnings expectations for 2023 to:

• Organic growth in operating profit of +4% to +7%.

The new outlook replaces the previous guidance of 27 April 2023 for organic operating profit development of -2% to +5%.

Update on other assumptions

Based on the spot rates at 14 August, we assume a translation impact on operating profit of around DKK -900m for 2023 (compared to around DKK -800m at 27 April).

Financial expenses, excluding foreign exchange losses or gains, are expected to be around DKK 700m (compared to the previous expectation of around DKK 650m).

Other relevant assumptions remain unchanged:

• Reported effective tax rate of around 21%.
• Capital expenditure at constant currencies of around DKK 5.0bn.

New quarterly share buy-back to be initiated

Based on the above, the Group will launch a new quarterly DKK 1bn share buy-back tomorrow.

As planned, the H1 2023 interim financial statement will be published at 8.00 a.m. (CET) on 16 August.