Carlsberg’s new CEO may struggle to measure up to Heineken
By Abimbola Mohammed
Whoever becomes the new boss for Carlsberg Group, the Danish global brewer is likely to face an uphill task in measuring up to Heineken.
The $21 billion Danish brewer revealed recently that Chief Executive Cees ‘t Hart will retire after eight years at the helm. The outgoing boss boosted growth and cut costs, allowing the maker of Kronenbourg 1664 to raise its operating profit margin by some 3 percentage points between 2015 and 2022. The company now trades at nearly 11 times its expected EBITDA for 2023 according to Refinitiv data, a premium to arch rival Heineken.
Hart’s successor has yet to be chosen, although Graham Fewkes, executive vice president of Europe, is viewed as a strong internal candidate. Whoever becomes the new boss will face multiple challenges, not least how to sell the Russia business if ‘t Hart fails to complete the sale before his departure and grapple with soaring bottling and other costs.
More importantly, a new CEO will need to take advantage of the reopening of the China and Asian market, where margins are higher than Europe.
In 2022, Heineken grew revenue in its Asia-Pacific market by 70%, while Carlsberg’s sales in the region rose by 22%. If the new boss can’t keep pace, Carlsberg shareholders will face a painful hangover.
According to Statista, in 2021, Carlsberg’s sales volume was highest in Central and Eastern Europe, amounting to 55.7 million hectolitres, whereas the sales volume of Carlsberg in Asia was around 44.4 million hectolitres.
Carlsberg is currently the third biggest beer company in the world, according to German hop manufacturer BartHaas.
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