Interim Report for 1 January - 31 March (Q1) 2019

Company Announcement No 17/2019 - 25 April 2019

Interim Report for 1 January - 31 March (Q1) 2019

Solid start of 2019 in line with expectations

Royal Unibrew delivered a solid financial result for the first quarter of 2019. Despite the Easter sales were not accounted for in Q1 in 2019 the results were higher than in Q1 2018. Net revenue increased by 4.8% of which 0.4% was organic. The increase is primarily driven by Western Europe and International due to the acquisition of Lorina. The EBIT margin ended at 13.9% compared to 13.3% for the same period last year. Market shares generally increased slightly.

Royal Unibrew launched a new share buy-back program of DKK 400 million in March 2019. Furthermore, at today's AGM a dividend distribution of DKK 550 million will be proposed, corresponding to DKK 10.8 per share of DKK 2. 

With the solid Q1 result we maintain our outlook for 2019.

Financial highlights Q1 2019

Net revenue for Q1 2019 amounted to DKK 1,521 million compared to DKK 1,452 million last year and was positively affected by the impact from acquisitions, while timing of Easter and last year's loading of RTD (ready-to-drink) in Finland had a negative impact.

EBIT for Q1 2019 was DKK 211 million compared to DKK 194 million last year. The improvement was driven by increased revenue and improved market mix.

Free cash flow amounted to DKK -156 million for the first three months compared to DKK -278 million last year and was positively affected by lower net working capital due to the timing of Easter.

Net interest-bearing debt amounted to DKK 3,047 million, which is an increase of DKK 525 million from year end 2018. Most of the increase is related to the acquisition of Bev.Con ApS (CULT), while the remaining part is seasonally driven.

Acquisitions

The acquisition of CULT was concluded on 28 February 2019 after approval from the Danish competition authorities.

Outlook

The previously announced outlook is maintained as follows:
• Net revenue: DKK 7,400-7,650 million 
• EBIT: DKK 1,340-1,465 million

Selected financial highlights and key ratios

For further information

Hans Savonije, President & CEO, tel. +45 22 20 80 17
Lars Jensen, CFO, tel. +45 29 23 00 44

Financial Calendar 2019
27 August 2019                            Interim Report for the period 1 January - 30 June 2019
13 November 2019                       Interim Report for the period 1 January - 30 September 2019

Attachment

RU_Q1_2019_UK_print FINAL

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