Carlsberg said third-quarter sales stagnated as poor summer weather held back volumes in Europe and Russian sales slid.
"We have faced headwinds from rising input costs, adverse weather conditions and soft trading conditions in our largest market," chief executive Joergen Buhl Rasmussen said in a statement.
The volume of beer sold slid 9 percent at the Eastern European unit in the quarter compared with a year earlier, when sales were boosted by warm weather. Russia approved a law this year to prohibit beer sales from kiosks by 2013 and to restrict advertising. Carlsberg maintained its forecast for annual operating profit, excluding some items, of about 10 billion kroner ($1.85 billion).
(Bloomberg)