KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, the locally-listed unit of the Danish brewer, confirmed the price increases for its beer products starting this month.

The company’s priority is to preserve margin, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia managing director Stefano Clini told at a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting. The last time the company raised the prices of its beers was in 2022, he noted.

“There was a price increase,” Clini said. “The details, however, we cannot talk about.”

Last month, The Petaling Jaya Coffeeshop Association chairman Keu Kok Meng said retailers received official notices of the price increases from Carlsberg and Dutch rival Heineken by around 5%.

Carlsberg’s full-year net profit was rose 5.11% to a record high of RM333.24 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) against RM317.05 million a year ago, mainly in the absence of the RM21.6 million prosperity tax incurred last year.

Full-year revenue however declined 6.28% to RM2.26 billion compared with RM2.41 billion in FY2022, dragged by lower sales on the back of softer market sentiment and inflationary pressures.

At 2.40pm, the share price of Carlsberg rose six sen or 0.3% to RM18.46, bringing the brewer a market capitalisation of RM5.64 billion.