KUALA LUMPUR: Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd (Carlsberg Malaysia) today announced a final single-tier dividend of 25 sen per share for its financial year 2022 (FY22) after holding its 53rd annual general meeting.
At the meeting, the group saw all eight resolutions passed, including the payment of a final single-tier dividend of 25 sen per share, which brings the total paid and shareholder-approved dividends for FY22 to 88 sen per ordinary share, representing 85% of its net profit for FY22.
Meanwhile, CFO Vivian Gun Ling Ling hopes that the surge in demand for consumer post-pandemic will “stabilise”, as it will have a stabilising effect towards the overall supply demand.
In July last year, she observed that the commodity prices had decreased, but a spike was seen in April 2022. However, she noted that it “still remains high, but wasn’t as high as it was before”.
“I’m hoping that it will gradually come down and maybe hit back to the lower pre pandemic levels. But given the global situation, tension in Ukraine and Russia, there’s still a bit of uncertainty,” she told reporters at the press conference after the group’s FY22 performance and business outlook for 2023 briefing.
In terms of trends, managing director Stefano Clini said that their beer products continue to be the biggest part of the alcohol industry in Malaysia, based on local and global research studies.
He said that the beer market continues to hold the lion’s share in the Malaysian alcohol industry, driven by population growth and high disposable income over the next three years and beyond.
Recently, the group announced its financial results, where its net profit surged 57.7% to RM317 million for its full financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 compared with RM201 million recorded in its corresponding quarter last year, as it thrived in business recovery, premiumisation and revenue management.
Revenue rose 36.1% to RM2.4 billion from RM1.8 billion in the same period in the prior year.
Commenting on the FY22 results today, Clini said it was a “stellar” performance and was better compared with its FY19 results.
“This is a record year for the performance of the company. 2022 has been even better than our previous record, that was 2019,” he said.
Clini added that the group will continue to strengthen its mainstream core beer and step up in premium, while further build on alcohol-free and beyond beers to drive category and sales growth.
On the sustainability front, the group has evolved to an enhanced environmental, social and governance programme, together towards zero and beyond, which addresses a broader set of material ESG topics through a more holistic approach. To note, the group has made significant progress in reducing its environmental footprint, with water consumption reducing from 4.0hl water per hl beer to 3.4hl water per hl beer for the year 2022 against 2021 and achieving zero waste to landfill status since November 2022.
In addition, it has taken concrete steps towards reducing packaging waste, and one of the recent campaigns was CarlsBot, a glass bottle recycling and community empowerment programme in East Malaysia.
It has also received a Morgan Stanley Capital International ESG ratings of “AA” and rated ‘A’ from the Carbon Disclosure Project for transparency and action on climate.
Building on a strong foundation for its SAIL’22 strategy, Carlsberg Malaysia has embarked on a new five-year corporate strategy SAIL’27 beginning this year and will guide the group in delivering sustainable long-term value creation for shareholders.
As the group evolves to SAIL’27, it remains steadfast in its commitment to brewing excellence and sustainability, while it gets ready to face the headwinds ahead due to subdued consumer sentiment resulting from the rising cost of living.
