Recently, Chongqing Beer Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chongqing Beer Co., Ltd.") released its report for the first quarter of 2024, with comprehensive growth in sales, revenue and profit, achieving a good start to 2024 and maintaining a comprehensive and sustained growth momentum since 2018. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, Carlsberg Tianmu Lake Beer (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd., Carlsberg Beer (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. and Carlsberg Beer (Anhui) Co., Ltd. are all subsidiaries of Heavy Beer Co., Ltd.
According to the report, from January to March 2024, the company achieved beer sales of 866,800 kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 5.25%, operating income of 4.293 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.16%, a net profit attributable to the parent company of 452 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.78%, and a net profit of 446 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.91%.
Li Zhigang, President of Heavy Beer Co., Ltd., said that the company achieved an all-round growth in sales, revenue and profit in the first quarter through continuous investment in the brand, actively promoting the planning of large cities and high-end, laying a solid foundation for the realization of "driving innovation and rapid growth".
Premiumization: Driving revenue growth
In order to meet the growing demand of Chinese consumers for high-quality beer, Heavy Beer Co., Ltd. has continued to promote high-end in recent years relying on the brand portfolio of "international high-end brand + local strong brand", which includes local brands such as Wusu, Chongqing, Shancheng, Xixia, Dali, Fenghua Xueyue, Tianmu Lake, Jing A, and international brands such as Carlsberg, Lebao, 1664, Greenburg, Brooklyn, and Summerfun.
In the first quarter of 2024, new progress was made in the high-end of heavy beer shares, with high-end products accounting for 61.56% of the revenue, achieving revenue of 2.57 billion yuan, an increase of 8.28% year-on-year, making an important contribution to revenue growth. Among them, international high-end brands such as Carlsberg grew significantly in the first quarter, and high-end products of local brands such as Chongqing, Fenghua Xueyue and Dali also performed well.
Heavy Beer believes that the good high-end progress in the first quarter benefited from internal and external factors such as big city planning, channel expansion, Spring Festival consumption and tourism market recovery.
Take multiple measures at the same time: promote Chongqing beer to the whole country
Following Wusu, Chongqing Beer Co., Ltd. will position the Chongqing brand as the next national brand to be built, and strengthen the consumption cognition of "eating Chongqing hot pot and drinking Chongqing beer" through the deep bundling of Chongqing beer and Chongqing hot pot.
To this end, the Chongqing brand launched a new product in the first quarter - Chongqing hot pot beer. While continuing to expand its stores, the Chongqing Beer Experience Store project in cooperation with Hou Hot Pot also opened the first store of the new 3.0 model of "Hou Hot Pot & Chongqing Beer", which is more prominent in Chongqing Hot Pot and Chongqing Beer.
There is also new progress in the creation of consumption scenarios for the Wusu brand. The second Wusu barbecue opened on Xinhui Road in Shanghai, continuing to create a consumption scene of "eating barbecue and drinking 'Da Wusu'", building an immersive brand experience space for consumers.
In terms of new products, Fenghua Xueyue launched Qingmei Pu'er flavor and pomegranate roselle flavored sparkling rice wine, opening a new track in the rice wine category, and at the same time continuing to promote the market expansion of Fenghua Xueyue low-alcohol beer. Carlsberg has teamed up with illustrator Hu Yunfeng to launch a limited edition for the Year of the Dragon, and the Summer Fun brand has launched a mini can and a slimming tank to meet the diverse needs of consumers.
Liverpool's legendary stars landed in the live broadcast room
In March, Carlsberg invited Liverpool legend stars to join the company's president Li Zhigang in the live broadcast room to interact with consumers, and the number of views exceeded 7 million. Carlsberg has been working with Liverpool Football Club for 32 years, and this year it has renewed its partnership with Liverpool Football Club for another 10 years, marking a new phase in the Premier League's longest-running partnership.
In addition, the spokespersons of various brands have also ushered in new upgrades: Zhao Lusi has been upgraded to become the global brand spokesperson of Summer, Zhou Yutong has joined the endorsement of Wusu White Beer, and Lebao has officially announced the dual spokespersons GAI Zhou Yan and Ai Zhiheng Asen and announced the "New Blood Brewing Noise" plan to help improve brand awareness and influence.
Foshan Distillery: Trial production will be launched soon
At present, the company's Foshan distillery is debugging equipment and will start trial production soon. Foshan Distillery will be the 27th distillery of Heavy Beer Co., Ltd. to meet the consumer demand in South China and more regions.
Since its launch in 2022, the Foshan Distillery project has achieved more than 2 million hours of safety zero accidents, which is equivalent to 10 years of operation of a 100-person factory without safety incidents.
As a winery that has achieved world-class standards in terms of technical standards, smart manufacturing and ESG, Foshan Distillery will not only become the flagship winery of Carlsberg Group, but will also set a number of firsts. The distillery will not only be the first "sponge distillery" of the Carlsberg Group in the world, but will also set up the Carlsberg Group's first R&D center outside Europe, providing new product development, packaging material design and testing services for the Chinese and Asian markets.
Partnering with WWF: "Hydration" in three regions of China
On April 22, Earth Day, Carlsberg announced a new partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to carry out water feedback projects in Chongqing, Jiangsu, Yunnan and other places in China, which are planned to be completed by 2025.
In addition, the company continues to promote the implementation of the key points of diversity, inclusion and equality through practical actions, and actively participates in the construction of social welfare. In March, the company released a special beer for International Women's Day, which was presented to female employees of the company to pay tribute to the power of women, and participated in one of the series of activities of the Ministry of Commerce's counterpart support for Quannan County, Jiangxi Province, and donated 138,000 yuan to help the Quannan County Mother's Health Express Project, so that rural women can truly benefit.
The "Let's Set Sail for Love and Safety" employee charity donation activity achieved the goal of matching 120,000 yuan, and successfully delivered the donated science package to Yushu Rural Primary School at the end of March, injecting new vitality and hope into the children's scientific exploration journey.
Guided by Carlsberg Group's "Sail 27" strategy, the company's vision is to raise the bar on beer quality and to become a successful, professional and attractive company in the markets in which it operates. While making new contributions to regional economic development, the company fulfills its corporate social responsibility and continues to improve production energy efficiency by saving water and electricity, reducing energy consumption and reducing emissions, so as to achieve the sustainable development goals focusing on "zero carbon footprint", "zero agricultural footprint", "zero packaging waste", "zero water waste", "zero irrational drinking" and "zero accident culture", and inherit the Carlsberg Group's purpose - to brew a better present and future.