Britvic continues to boost Carlsberg growth

Carlsberg has reported that strong volume growth in the three months to 30 September 2025 continues to be driven by its £3.3b Britvic acquisition, which completed in January.

The Danish brewer cited the buyout as positively impacting revenue, which reached DKK24.1b (£2.8b) in Q3, up 18% on the same period in 2024. Plus, expected cost savings from the merger have now risen from £100m to £110m.

The group expects a £250m full-year operating profit contribution from the division.

The two business’s integration remains on track and is “progressing very well”, according to Carlsberg group chief executive Jacob Aarup-Andersen.

“We recently raised our cost synergy expectations and are very pleased with the momentum of the business,” he said. “We continue to have strong confidence in the advantages of combining beer and soft drinks and the long-term value creation opportunities offered by the Britvic acquisition.”

Carlsberg’s overall volume increase hit 16.2% in Q3, with growth categories numbering premium beer (excluding San Miguel), which was up 5%, and soft drinks, up 4%. However, the sale of alcohol-free brews shrank by 2% (excluding Ukraine, which was up 6%) and Beyond Beer was down by 10%.

The best performing brands in this quarter were Tuborg (up 2%), Carlsberg (up 3%) and 1664 Blanc (up 6%).

Carlsberg also reported organic growth in operating profit (before special items) of 3%-5%.

Aarup-Andersen added: “We also achieved solid underlying volume and revenue growth in western Europe and saw sequential improvement in Asia, supported by strong performance of our premium portfolio in most markets. These results were achieved despite continued challenging consumer sentiment across our regions and a heightened adverse impact from the war on our business in Ukraine.

“In light of the current soft market conditions and as part of our well-embedded performance management process, we have, since early summer, been taking decisive actions to adjust our cost base. This is being done to protect continued earnings growth and enable uninterrupted investments in our business – particularly in commercial and digital initiatives – to drive long-term value growth.”

Previously, Britvic delivered strongly for Carlsberg in Q2, after the Danish drinks giant had a ‘soft start’ to the year, 

The Britvic acquisition made the UK the Carlsberg Group’s largest market by revenue in the world, as well as creating the largest multi-beverage supplier in the UK.

Earlier this year, Carlsberg Britvic’s Tim Downes, category, revenue growth management and insights director said the business is “open to exploring emerging spaces” and further expanding in the drinks market.