Carlsberg sales hit by Russian move to limit bottle sizes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Danish brewer Carlsberg says its profits and sales fell last year, partly because of weakness in its key Russian market, where a law limited the maximum size of plastic bottles.
Carlsberg said Wednesday that its 2017 net profit fell to 1.26 billion kroner ($210 million), from 4.49 billion kroner a year earlier. Revenue dropped to 61.8 billion kroner from 62.6 billion kroner.
The company said that sales volumes in Russia, which accounts for a fifth of its revenue, fell 14 percent and its market share dropped to 31.9 percent from 34.6 percent. It also booked a 4.8 billion kroner ($800 million) impairment charge for its Baltika brand following the change to the size in the popular so-called PET bottles.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fourth quarter sales dropped marginally to 23.6 billion kroner ($4 billion).