Carlsberg Malaysia Group brews sustainable economic impacts

Shah Alam, April 20, 2017 – Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad (the Group) hosted approximately 2,300 shareholders at the 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, KL. All 12 resolutions set out in the Notice of AGM dated 20 March 2017 and tabled at the shareholders meeting held today were duly passed by the shareholders. The Group has appointed Messrs PricewaterhouseCoopers. in place of the outgoing Auditors, Messrs KPMG PLT.

The meeting was chaired by the Group’s Independent Non-Executive Chairman Dato’ Lim Say Chong and Managing Director Lars Lehmann, and saw the presence of the other three Board of Directors (Board). In conjunction with the Carlsberg’s 170th anniversary celebration this year, 200 shareholders were invited to a tour to Probably the Best Brewery (Carlsberg Malaysia’s registered office).

At the business review presentation made by Managing Director Lars Lehmann, he commented that “Amidst the challenging headwinds in 2016, we are pleased to deliver a solid underlying performance and continue to deliver respectable shareholder returns with a total declared and proposed dividends of 72.0 sen per share. This translates to a payout of 104.5% of the Profit After Tax (PAT) of 2016”.

“Revenue of the Group grew by 1.2% to RM1.68 billion year-on-year mainly driven by higher export sales and a price increase in domestic market last year. Profit before tax (PBT) was relatively flat at RM283.8 million as higher profit from operations was narrowed by a share of loss of RM5.1 million from Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC (LBCP) compared to a share of profit of RM16.1 million in 2015. PAT was lower by RM9.6 million or 4.3% to RM210.7 million due to one-off tax adjustment relating to prior periods and a higher deferred tax expense,” Lehmann explained.

The Group’s net cash generated from operating activities improved by 18.0% to RM263.4 million (2015: RM223.2 million) as a result of better management of working capital.

As an established brewer with over 45 years in operation, the Group continues to support the F&B industry as well as generate commercial activities throughout its value chain from research and development to packaging, logistics, sales and marketing.

In 2016, the Group contributed to society by creating jobs for 1,926 people in Malaysia and Singapore as well as generating government revenues by RM 754 million in excise duties for its products brewed and sold in both Malaysia and Singapore. In the year under review, the Group has borne RM66 million in corporate taxes and collected RM 55 million in Goods and Services Tax (GST) on behalf of the Malaysian and Singapore government.

On the community front, the Group has also, via its community engagement programme, successfully accumulated and channelled approximately RM17.3 million charity donations to education institutions and various causes in Malaysia.

“As we enter 2017, both our Malaysia and Singapore operations expect softer markets with prolonged weak consumer sentiment. Despite the macroeconomic challenges and intense market competition, we remain positive that our strategy SAIL’22 will help steer our businesses and we are committed to continue investing, innovating and growing our brands and people to deliver sustainable business growth”, Lehmann elaborated.