Higher beer prices boost Carlsberg

COPENHAGEN: Carlsberg A/S, the Danish maker of Tuborg and Baltika beers, said second-quarter profit rose 37 percent after price increases and savings from last year's takeover of Scottish & Newcastle Plc outweighed weakening sales in Russia.

Net income climbed to 1.94 billion kroner ($375 million) from 1.42 billion kroner a year earlier, Copenhagen-based Carlsberg said yesterday. That beat the 1.6 billion-krona median estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Sales were little changed at 17.6 billion kroner, missing the 18 billion-krona median estimate and prompting the company to cut its 2009 revenue forecast to 61 billion kroner from 63 billion kroner.