
Danish breweries hit after rival’s write-down
Danish breweries Carlsberg and Royal Unibrew faced significant declines on the stock exchange Monday following a billion-euro write-down by competitor Heineken in China. Royal Unibrew’s shares fell by two percent, while Carlsberg dropped by 3.7 percent. Heineken’s own stock traded over six percent lower after announcing a write-down of 874 million euros (approx. 6.5 billion kroner) in its investment in China’s CR Beer. This decision was influenced by a 25 percent reduction in CR Beer’s share value, reflecting concerns over China’s macroeconomic environment and consumer demand. Following the write-down, Heineken is expected to report a loss of 95 million euros for the first half of 2024, in contrast to nearly 1.2 billion euros profit in the same period last year. Despite this, Heineken has experienced an organic revenue growth of 5.9 percent.