KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd (Carlsberg Malaysia) is most concerned about consumer sentiment, which is being weighed down by worries over tightening disposable income and uncertainties about the future, which could impact demand for the group's products, according to managing director Stefano Clini. 

“The only thing that worries me the most is the consumers’ sentiment, which is partially driven by tightening on disposable income, which is real, and [the consumers’ sentiment is also] partially driven by psychology [factors, such as] worries about the future uncertainties around us, [for example] recessions...and all these things. 

“This is the one factor that worries me the most in the short term, and this will impact consumption of our beers across all categories,” he told a press conference after the group's annual general meeting.

Clini did not rule out the possibility of beer consumption normalising after the Covid-19 reopening last year, although it is too early to tell at this stage.

“We have data for two to three months this year, so it is a bit premature for us to draw conclusions. But, that could happen as consumption goes down a little bit as a whole,” he explained.   

Clini said 2023 will remain another challenging year due to the risk of a global recession, escalating commodity prices, and rising local and global inflationary pressure.

For the full FY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, Carlsberg Malaysia's net profit jumped 57.7% to RM317.05 million from RM200.99 million in FY2021, driven by top-line growth and higher profits in both its Malaysia and Singapore operations, combined with a higher share of profit in Lion Brewery (Ceylon) plc (LBCP) in Sri Lanka. 

Annual revenue increased by 36.1% year-on-year to RM2.41 billion compared to RM1.77 billion. Carlsberg Malaysia also said the previous year was a lower base due to various lockdown restrictions then including the suspension of brewery operations from June 2 to Aug 15, 2021. 

At 3.30pm, shares in Carlsberg fell six sen or 0.27% to RM21.90, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM6.7 billion.