Carlsberg Looks Beyond Beer For Growth In New Strategy

Danish brewer Carlsberg said on Thursday it would look for growth beyond its core beer market over the next five years to focus on categories like cider, seltzers and alcohol free beer.

The Copenhagen-based company also said it would speed up its existing strategy of selling more of its premium beer brands.

As part of its new strategy, Carlsberg set new financial targets to run until 2027, including average organic revenue growth of 3%-5% per year and growth in organic operating profit outpacing that of revenue.

“Consumers are increasingly looking for beverages outside the beer category, such as cider, hard lemonade, hard seltzers and ready-to-drink cocktails,” Carlsberg said in a statement.

“We see attractive growth opportunities in several of these categories, leveraging brands such as Somersby and Garage,” it said.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard; Editing by Edmund Blair)