COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Carlsberg A/S reported a 9 percent jump in first-quarter sales on Thursday as the Danish brewer sold more expensive beer, and maintained its full-year guidance for 2019.
Sales came in at 13.89 billion Danish crowns (£1.6 billion) for the first quarter ended March, according to a company statement, above the 13.56 billion Danish crowns forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.
The company, which did not disclose earnings figures, said it still expected operating profit to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019, well below last year's 11 percent.
"We had a good start to the year, with particularly strong volume growth in Asia and continued solid progress of our craft and speciality and alcohol-free portfolios," Chief Executive Cees 't Hart said in the statement.
($1 = 6.6609 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
