Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the H1 Financial Statement Conference Call. Today, I am pleased to present CEO Cees 't Hart and CFO Heine Dalsgaard. For the first part of this call, all participants will be in listen-only mode, and afterwards, there'll be a question and answer session. Just to remind you, this conference call is being recorded, and a transcript of the call will be made available online. Speakers, please begin your meeting.
Good morning, everybody, welcome to Carlsberg's H1 2019 conference call. My name is Cees 't Hart, I have with me CFO Heine Dalsgaard and Vice President of Investor Relations, Peter Kondrup. Let me first briefly summarize the key headlines for the first six months of the year. We delivered strong financial performance with healthy top-line growth and strong profit and margin improvement. We see good growth coming from our SAIL'22 priorities, and we increased our 2019 earnings outlook last week after a strong H1 and a solid start to Q3. I will go through the highlights of the first half year, our strategic progress in the regions, and Heine will take you through the financials and 2019 outlook. Please turn to slide two. Let me evaluate the financial, strategic, and organizational health of our company. Financially, the company continues its very positive trajectory.
For the first six months, we delivered solid top-line growth of 4.2% and operating profit growth of 17.7%. Consequently, we saw good margin progression in addition to a strong ROIC improvement of 110 basis points and a very healthy cash flow of 5.2 billion DKK. Our golden triangle is still a very important performance tool, and we are satisfied with the overall balance in the first half. We are very pleased that we have been able to make a substantial cash return to shareholders of 5.2 billion DKK so far this year. Strategically, we are making good progress on our priorities with strong growth in our Asian region, as well as for craft and specialty and alcohol-free brews. For our core beer business, we also saw good momentum, and we achieved good traction of our digital initiatives and sales and marketing activities.
Our growth in markets such as China and India and the earnings growth in Western Europe means that the robustness of the business has strengthened, enabling us to offset the challenges in Russia. We view the long-term strategic health of the business as very good. In May, we took the temperature on the organizational health in the group when we carried out a biannual employment and employee engagement survey. Results were very good with an improvement for the overall engagement score, which means that it is now even further above benchmark than last time. We were very pleased to see high scores related to performance and change culture and for questions related to SAIL'22. Slide three, please. A few comments on the progress of some of our important strategic priorities.
Our craft and specialty portfolio delivered growth of 70%, this particularly strong growth rate being achieved in Asia and Eastern Europe. 1664 Blanc remained a key driver, supported by growth of our local craft brands. Our portfolio of alcohol-free brews continued to significantly outperform the beer market, delivering growth of 16%, this very strong growth rates being achieved in markets such as Russia, Poland, and the Nordics. Our alcohol-free brews mainly consist of local brands such as Baltika 0 in Russia, Munkholm in Sweden, and Nordic in Denmark. We continue to see very interesting long-term volume and value growth opportunities for craft and specialty and alcohol-free brews in all three regions. Our core beer business that remains the largest part of our business delivered solid growth in spite of the bad weather in several Western European markets.
As part of SAIL'22, we have significantly improved the way we work with our local power brands, applying our demand space segmentation and growth story approach for each brand. Core beer grew volumes by 1% and even more importantly, by 4% in revenue. The 3% price mix was a result of value management and premiumization efforts. Lastly, the very strong growth in Asia continued, driven by solid volume growth also for our international premium brands. Slide four, please, and a few words on our sustainability agenda, which is an important priority in our SAIL'22 strategy. As part of Together Towards ZERO, we have set ambitious targets within the areas of carbon emissions, water usage, responsible drinking, and health and safety. Much work across our value chain goes into realization of these targets, for which we report our progress once a year.
An example of activities during the first six months is our initiative to reduce plastic waste at many music festivals this summer and across Europe in markets such as France, Switzerland, Norway, Latvia, and Denmark. Using Denmark as an example, we replaced more than two million single-use cups with reusable ones, washing these in a 13.4-meter long dishwasher with a washing capacity of more than 9,000 reusable plastic glasses per hour. We also continued the rollout of our other consumer-facing sustainability innovations, including the new Cradle to Cradle inks used on the Carlsberg brand, which is now available in 19 markets. Please turn to slide five and an update on our international premium brands. 1664 Blanc continued its strong performance. The brand grew by 29%. This growth should be seen in light of the impressive 49% growth achieved in 2018. We saw good progress in many markets.
With particularly strong growth seen in Russia, China, Ukraine, France, and some export markets. Grimbergen grew by 4%, with markets such as France, Denmark, and Russia being the main drivers. Tuborg, our largest brand, grew by 4%, mainly driven by continued good growth in India and China, while volumes were soft in Western Europe, mainly due to bad weather in a few of the important Tuborg markets, and in Russia, due to our overall market share loss. Net revenue of the Carlsberg brand increased. The brand saw very good growth in Eastern Europe, especially Russia, but overall volumes were hurt by the double-digit decline in the U.K. that was impacted by tough comparables and bad weather. Excluding the U.K., volumes were slightly up. The key focus in the U.K. is the strengthening of the Carlsberg brand.
We started at the beginning of April with the launch of Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, which you can see on the slide with new visuals, packaging, and quite candid communication. We have received a lot of positive feedback from customers and secured listings at most retailers. We have also seen very positive media coverage and recognition on social media, with positive indications of improving brand image among consumers. For all other Carlsberg markets, we are in the process of implementing the new packaging and visuals. Now I will hand over to Heine, who will take us through the numbers.
Thank you, Cees, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide six. One of our key priorities for 2019 is to maintain tight cost control and to ensure that even though Funding the Journey as a project was concluded last year, the culture remains intact so that we continuously become more efficient in all areas of the business. We are pleased that our half year results is a positive reflection of this. Looking at the income statement, net revenue grew by 6.5%. This was driven by volume growth of 1.4%, positive price mix of 3%, the increased ownership of Cambodia, and a positive currency impact. Gross profit was up organically by 3% as we were able to more than compensate for the 4% organic cost per hectoliter increase.
Reported gross margin declined by 110 basis points to 49.5% due to the higher input costs and the consolidation of Cambrew, which currently has a gross margin significantly lower than the group average. Operating expenses declined by 3%, driven by tight cost control. As a percentage of net revenue, operating expenses decreased by 260 basis points as we kept marketing investment flat in absolute terms following last year's increase. OPEX, excluding marketing expenses, declined organically by 4% compared with first half last year. In total, we delivered 17.7% organic growth in operating profit. From a regional perspective, this was driven by very strong growth in Asia and Western Europe, partly offset by challenges in Eastern Europe. In reported terms, operating profit grew by 18.2% due to a positive impact from currencies, partly offset by acquisitions as Cambrew, as expected, was loss-making. Operating margin increased by 160 basis points to 15.7%.
The margin improvement was driven by the factors supporting top line, such as more sales of premium products and value management, including pricing. In addition, the continued cost focus was and will remain a source of margin improvement and top-line investment facilitator. Before turning to the next slide, I just want to mention that the implementation of IFRS 16, which is about the recognition of leases, has an insignificant impact on operating profit. The net impact on operating profit is +DKK 6 million, reflecting a higher EBITDA of 189 and higher depreciations of 183. Slide seven, please, and further down the P&L. Net special items amounted to +DKK 133. They were impacted by the sale of the brewery site in Norway, partially offset by one-off restructuring costs in Western Europe. Excluding currency gains and losses, net financial expenses were flat, amounting to DKK 379 million versus DKK 318 million last year.
Reported net financials amounted to DKK -451, which was an increase of DKK 120 million compared to last year and solely due to currencies. The impact of IFRS 16 on interest expenses was DKK 6 million. Tax was DKK 1.3 billion, corresponding to an effective tax rate of 27%, which is in line with our expectations. Non-controlling interests amounted to DKK 464 million, up DKK 51 million versus last year. They primarily relate to our businesses in Malaysia, Chongqing, and Laos. The Carlsberg Group's share of consolidated profit increased to DKK 3.1 billion. Adjusted EPS of 19 DKK was an increase of 15.6%. This was driven by the strong operating profit growth, a lower tax rate than in 2018, and then supported by the share buyback. Now some comments on the cash flow on slide eight, please.
We reported a strong cash flow, which was very much supported by the EBITDA and a positive contribution from trade working capital, although, as expected, at a lower level than last year. Free operating cash flow amounts to DKK 4.8 billion. Trade working capital was plus DKK 741 million. 12 months average trade working capital to net revenue was -16.4% compared to -15.2% end of June last year. All three regions improved their trade working capital ratio. The change in working capital was plus DKK 67 million impacted by a specific reclassification last year and lower VAT and deposits this year due to different payment schedules. Net interest paid were DKK 392 million. That was DKK 81 million more than last year due to the settlement of financial instruments. Tax paid amounted to DKK 1.1 billion, which was DKK 163 million less than last year.
Several explanations for this small decrease, including a capital gain tax incurred last year. Total operational investments amounted to DKK 1.7 billion. CapEx was DKK 2.3 billion. This was higher than last year due to phasing within the year. Disposals, including the brewery site in Norway, amounted to plus DKK 556 million. Financial and other investments net were plus DKK 397 million and mainly due to received dividends. Based on all of this, free cash flow for the first half amounted to DKK 5.2 billion. Slide nine and a few comments on net debt. We continue to have a very strong balance sheet with net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA ratio at a low level of 1.33 times.
Net debt in the half year compared to year-end 2018 increased by DKK 1.6 billion due to the dividend payout to Carlsberg shareholders in March of DKK 2.7 billion, the share buyback, which amounted to DKK 1.7 billion for the first six months, and the implementation of IFRS 16 that increased our net debt by DKK 1.6 billion. In June, we issued a 10-year, EUR 400 million bond with a coupon of 0.875%, as we had a EUR 750 million bond with a coupon of 2.625%, which matured in July this year. Also in June, we entered into a new revolving credit facility of DKK 2 billion. We carried out a few minor acquisitions in the first half and sold the former brewery site in Trondheim in Norway. Slide 10, please, and an update on the share buyback. The program ran smoothly from February 6th through to Wednesday last week.
In total, 2.9 billion shares have been purchased at a total value of DKK 2.5 billion, corresponding to an average share price of DKK 863.8. The daily volume bought represents an average of around 8% of daily traded volumes on Nasdaq Copenhagen. As we continue to see very healthy state of our business in terms of earnings growth, margin improvement, returns, and low leverage, the supervisory board has decided to continue with the second tranche of the share buyback program, which has a value of DKK 2 billion. This will bring the total value of the total share buyback program to DKK 4.5 billion as announced in February. The program will continue to be done in accordance with the EU Safe Harbor regulation and will be executed from today and until end of January 2020.
We still expect to cancel the purchased shares at the next year's AGM, except for those needed to cover share-based incentive schemes. The Carlsberg Foundation has participated in the share buyback program corresponding to the 30% economic interest and has informed us that they will continue to do so. Further details are described in the announcement on page 16. Now please turn to slide 11 and the outlook for the year. As you saw last week, we announced an increase in our earnings outlook for 2019 to high single-digit growth in organic operating profit from previously mid-single-digit expectation. The upgrade was driven by the strong first half performance improvement and a solid start to Q3. We are very pleased to be well on track to deliver this kind of earnings growth in spite of bad weather in some markets in Q2 and the tough comps in Q3.
A few comments regarding the expected second half performance. As you can see from the outlook, we expect less strong earnings improvement in second half compared to first half. In Eastern and Western Europe, we have tough comps in Q3, as last year was very strong due to weather and the football World Cup. Moreover, in Eastern Europe, we don't expect any changes in the competitive environment in Russia and Ukraine, and as we've set up our promotional activities, the pressure on price mix and margins will continue. Finally, we will continue to invest into Asia, and our marketing spend will be more skewed towards second half. Based on the spot rates on August 14, we assume a plus DKK 100 million currency impact. Compared to plus EUR 150 million previously impacted by the Chinese renminbi, the British pound, and the Russian ruble.
Finance costs excluding FX are now expected to be around EUR 700 million. This is slightly less than previously expected, due to the strong cash flow and the refinanced revolving credit facility as well as the bond refi. The expected reported effective tax rate of below 28% is unchanged. Our CapEx expectations are also unchanged at around EUR 4.5 billion at constant currencies. Now back to you, Cees.
Thank you, Heine. Please turn to slide 12 at Western Europe, where net revenue was flat organically with price mix at +1%. Price mix was positive in most markets as a result of successful premiumization efforts and value management initiatives, including price increases. Excluding the export and license business and adjusted for country mix, price mix was close to 2.5%. Due to the very warm summer last year, Western Europe faced some tough comparables in Q2, which will be even more pronounced in Q3. Following a solid Q1, we therefore saw a soft volume development in Q2, which was exacerbated by bad weather in some markets. For the half year, total volumes declined organically by 0.9% with a decline in Q2 of 2.7%. Non-beer volumes grew by 3% due to good performance in the Nordics. Reported net revenue grew by 0.2% due to a small positive currency impact.
Organic operating profit growth was 10.3% and operating margin improved by 160 basis points to 15.5%. This was driven by premiumization, value management, tight cost control, and a higher contribution from Super Bock. We estimate that our regional market share was largely flat compared to the same period last year. Slide 13, please, and a few country-specific comments. The Nordic markets were impacted by bad weather in the quarter. Nevertheless, the Danish business delivered a good half year, driven by growth of the soft drinks category and market share gains in beer. Price mix developed positively due to volume management and premiumization. In Sweden, total volumes declined slightly due to lower beer volumes. Non-beer delivered solid growth. Price mix improved mainly as a result of price increases. The Norwegian business had a challenging Q2 on the back of difficult comparables. However, the soft drinks business delivered solid growth.
In Finland, volume growth was strong at double-digits. Due to our listing for the summer campaign and the major retailer, our market share strengthened considerably while price mix declined. Alcohol-free brews grew strongly in all Nordic markets. In a flat French market, our volumes were flat. Our craft and specialty propositions, led by 1664 Blanc and Grimbergen and alcohol-free brands, continued to perform well while the mainstream Kronenbourg brand declined. Price mix developed favorably. Our Swiss business was impacted by bad weather in Q2, resulting in a negative volume development. Price mix was positive due to solid growth of our craft and specialty brands and alcohol-free brands. The Polish market declined slightly, and our volumes were down by 4%.
We achieved high single-digit price mix due to price increases and premiumization, the latter evidenced by good results for our upper mainstream brands such as Tyskie and Okocim, craft and specialty brands, alcohol-free brews, and summer beer. In the U.K., a key focus is the strengthening of the Carlsberg brand. This multi-year activity started at the beginning of April with the launch of Carlsberg Danish Pilsner. So far, we have received positive feedback from customers, good media coverage, as well as good results from consumer surveys. However, we need to get into the new year before we can really evaluate the success of the relaunch. Price mix showed strong progress and market share improved compared to the exit level of 2018. Nevertheless, volumes declined by double digits, impacted by tough comparables and bad weather this year.
Development in the rest of the region was mixed, with solid volume and value growth in Germany, led by the Lübzer brand, healthy price mix, and solid volume growth in the Balkans, and good price mix in the Baltics. In Italy and Greece, volumes were down. Slide 14 and Asia, please. Once again, our Asia region delivered a very strong set of results. Net revenue grew organically by 14.5%, driven by 8.5% organic volume growth and 6% price mix. Reported net revenue grew by 23.6% due to a positive currency impact from all countries in the region and the acquisition of Cambrew in August 2018. The price mix improvement was a combination of strong growth for our international premium brands and price increases, and was delivered in spite of a negative country mix. The organic volume growth was broadly based with particularly strong growth seen in Vietnam, China, and Laos.
Reported total volumes grew by 16.6% due to the consolidation of Cambrew. Organic operating profit grew strongly by 35.5%, driven by revenue growth and good cost control. Reported operating profit growth was slightly lower due to a small currency impact and the consolidation of Cambrew that, as expected, recorded a loss for H1. Operating margin improved by 180 basis points to 22.1%. Slide 15, please, and a few country-specific comments. We continued our strong performance in China, growing volumes by 9% in a flat market. The volume growth was driven by several factors. Firstly, we saw 9% growth of our premium portfolio due to the ongoing premiumization trend in the market. Secondly, our expansion into big cities outside our western footprint showed good progress. Thirdly, our local power brands, Wusu and Dali, achieved double-digit growth rates due to good weather, market share gains, and more tourism.
The growth of the Carlsberg brand was curbed by reduced volumes in the night entertainment channel that was impacted by the government's anti-crime campaign. Price mix was 10% plus as a result of premiumization and volume management, including price increases. As a result of the volume growth and strong price mix, net revenue increased organically by 19%. Our margin was very strong at around 20%, but will be lower in the second half due to the higher marketing spend than in H1. Our Indian business delivered 5% volume growth. As expected, growth was lower in Q2 compared to Q1 due to the dry days in connection with elections. Revenue growth was double digits, supported by price increases and lower rebates.
We continue to see very appealing long-term opportunities in India. At the same time, we need to manage the short-term volatility and the general risk of doing business in India. In Laos, the positive momentum continued. We achieved high single-digit volume growth and saw growth in all categories, beer, water, and soft drinks. Particularly, the non-beer business delivered strong numbers. Price mix strengthened due to premiumization within the beer category, which more than offset the negative category mix from non-beer. Our Vietnamese business delivered double-digit volume growth with positive development in both Q1 and Q2. Our local power brand, Huda, and the line extension Huda Ice Blast were the key growth drivers. Price mix improved, mainly due to price increases and supported by brand mix due to growth of the Carlsberg brand. I may already now answer the usual question about privatization process of Habeco.
We continue to have a good dialogue with the government, and we are making some progress. Our Malaysian business continued to deliver solid performance with good results for our premium offerings such as 1664 Blanc and Somersby. In Cambodia, the rebuild of the business continues. The key focus is to strengthen the route to market and the iconic Anchor brand, which is currently being relaunched. Volumes grew slightly due to the strong growth of soft drinks offsetting lower beer volumes. Slide 16 at Eastern Europe. Net revenue grew organically by 3% due to a solid 6% price mix and 3% total volume decline. The price mix improvement was driven by price increases in all markets and mix improvements from growth of craft and specialty and alcohol-free brews.
Beer volumes declined by 4.1% due to the tough comparables, with last year being positively impacted by warm weather and the Football World Cup, and this year, market share losses in Russia and Ukraine. Non-beer volumes grew strongly by 11.9% due to the growth of energy drinks. Operating profit declined organically by 5.1% due to the higher cost of sales and logistic costs. Cost of sales was impacted by input cost inflation and a negative foreign exchange impact, mainly on certain packaging materials. Operating margin was 18.9%, a decline of 140 basis points. Given the changes in the competitive dynamics, particularly in Russia, we envisage the pressure on the regional operating margin to continue. Slide 17, please. In Russia, the competitive environment intensified in 2019, and as a result, our total volumes declined by 3%. Organic net revenue was flat due to plus 4% price mix.
This was driven by price increases in late 2018 and early 2019, mix improvements from growth of craft and specialty, and as well our reduced presence in low price offerings in certain key accounts. As the competitive situation in Russia remains challenging, we expect price mix in the second half of the year to be lower than in H1. In Ukraine, organic net revenue grew by high single-digit percentages due to a strong double-digit price mix that compensated for lower volumes. The price mix was the result of significant price increases and growth of premium offerings such as 1664 Blanc and Somersby. Our strong price mix impacted volumes, which were down year on year. Our businesses in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan all delivered solid volumes, revenue, earnings, and market share growth. That was all for today. Before opening up for Q&A, a few concluding remarks on slide 18.
For the first 6 months, we delivered well on our 2019 group priorities as well as our SAIL'22 financial priorities. In our view, the results are another proof point that the long-term strategic health of the business is good. To summarize the first half of 2019. We delivered strong financial performance with solid top-line growth and strong profit improvement. We see good growth coming from our SAIL'22 priorities. We upgraded our earnings outlook last week and are very pleased that we expect to deliver another year of very good financial results on the back of a strong 2018. With this, we are now ready to take your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question for the speakers, please press 01 on your telephone keypad now, and you'll enter a queue. After you are announced, please ask your question. The first question is from Trevor Stirling from Bernstein. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Good morning, Cees and Heine. Just one question on my side. Heine, maybe can you give us a little bit more color? You had phenomenal control of OpEx in the first half. Gross margins down 110 basis points and still delivered 160 basis points of net margin expansion. Can you just give us a little bit more color about where you're finding the continued cost savings and cost control on the OpEx?
It's basically across all the different elements, Trevor, that we've worked on so far. Even though, as you know Funding the Journey project is over, the culture, as we've always said, remains the same. It is within the same work streams as we've had over the last three years within Funding the Journey. It is something around operational cost management. It is something around continued discipline in our supply chain, and then it is value management, which includes mix and also pricing. It's basically the same elements, as we've seen for the last three years.
Maybe could I just ask a follow-up? You've already told us about why you're expecting that momentum will be slower in the second half. Is that down to all of those phasing and timing impacts that the underlying cost savings is continuing at the same pace, it's just that the way they're hitting the bottom line is different?
That is correct.
Superb. Thank you very much, Heine.
Thanks, Trevor.
Thank you.
Next question is from Jonas Skuldbøl from Danske Bank. Please go ahead. Line is open.
Yeah, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. First of all, if you could elaborate a bit on Russia, what you are doing here to fight back on competition and how it will impact the fundamentals and the numbers in H2. Also on net working capital or trade working capital. The very good development here in H1, is there any one-offs in there, or is it sustainable? That would be my two questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Jonas, and good morning. With regard to Russia, our market share was flat in the first half year, but down 2% point from H1 2018. We have increased our prices in late 2018 and in Q1 2019. What we can see on the shelves is that with some retailers, and some specific SKUs, our price is higher than competing brands. We have on purpose participated less in first price or everyday low price products, and that had some consequences for our market share. Specifically to your question, given the current market dynamics, we are rebalancing our golden triangle. We have been very value-focused and with our price increases aimed at offsetting the COGS increases and sustained margins, we are now higher priced than some of the competition. As we said in Q1, we are taking actions and are becoming less value and more volume-focused.
That means as well that we expect that our margins in Eastern Europe will be a bit lower than you're used to see from us.
Okay.
Good morning, Jonas. On the trade working capital part, there are no particular one-offs in the first half year performance. Our trade working capital, as you do know, is very much depending on country mix, therefore, we will see some fluctuations. With the current mix, we do feel comfortable, as we've said before, at a level of, let's say, -14 to -16, and we close the half year at -16.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jonas.
Next question is from Sanjeet Aujla from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, a couple of questions, please. I think you said your OpEx excluding marketing was down 4% in the first half. Would you expect that to continue at the same pace in the second half? If not, why not? Is there any benefit here from some of the restructuring costs which you took against operating profits perhaps now falling out, which contributed to that OpEx decline? Yeah, just to get some clarity on those first. Thanks.
Thank you, Sanjeet. Heine?
Hi. Good morning, Sanjeet. On the OpEx part, excluding marketing down around 4% in first half, we don't guide, as you know, specifically on OpEx. We will say discipline also going forward on OpEx, and that will drive continued margin improvement, and it will drive the possibility to invest more and more into top line. We will stay disciplined on OpEx. On your question on restructuring costs, I can confirm that there is no impact from the restructuring costs above EBIT. The restructuring costs that we have in our accounts are one-off restructuring costs, primarily relating to Western Europe.
Got it. Just a follow-up on China, please. Your premium volumes seem to have decelerated a little bit in Q2. Is that all driven by the government clampdown in the nightlife channel? Are you seeing any signs of the pressures there abating, or is that still continuing?
No, I think it's fair to say that it's still continuing, although you're right, it is a bit lower than the pace that you're used from us. However, our total international premium brands grew by 9% in total. Tuborg grew by 9%, 1664 Blanc by 42%. To your point, Carlsberg, between brackets, only with 1%, impacted indeed by the anti-crime regulations. We see some less visitors of night entertainment outlets.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Next question is from Andrea Pistacchi from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Yeah, good morning. I have a couple of questions, please, on Asia. The first one, if you could please give a little bit more color on Laos and Vietnam. Specifically, are you doing anything a bit different this year? What is driving the improved performance, and how sustainable this is? Secondly, on India, the situation there, the elections are behind, but I think in your prepared remarks, you referred to managing volatility there. Some consumer companies have talked about a deteriorating consumer environment is a bit worse. How do you think about the medium-term outlook for India 2H and medium term?
Yeah. Thank you. For Laos and Vietnam, we can only say that we think that we are doing the right things in terms of the operational execution. For Laos, we had indeed a very strong start, focusing on the very important festivals there. As well, our CSD business is doing pretty well. Vietnam had a line extension of our Huda brand, and that's doing very well. We see our market share gaining. We have a new operator since, well, more or less one and a half, two years, who basically had a new plan focused on execution, put together our so-called FIT program in the market, and we see the returns from. With regard to the, if I understood your question, the overall view on India, yes, we had a bit of a slower Q2.
Q1 was good, very much so on the back of a very strong 2018 Q1, where we grew over 30%. Q1 this year, we grew by 7%. The second quarter was a bit slower due to the elections, by which some states go dry for a few days. We expect this kind of volume growth coming back in the second half of the year. We remain to be optimistic about India. As we said earlier about India, longer term, we are very optimistic about it, but every quarter sometimes gives us some other challenges or surprises. It might here and there be a bit of a rocky road. Again, we are very firm on India with regard to the future.
Thank you.
Thank you, Andrea.
Next question is from Simon Hales from Citi. Please go ahead, your line is now open.
Thank you. Morning, thanks for taking the questions. Can I just ask a couple again around the drivers of your margin improvement? I wonder, firstly, with regards to COGS, I think just to clarify, I think you've previously said for the full year, we're looking at COGS per hectoliter inflation of 2%-3%. I think you had 4% in the first half, therefore, it's right to assume an improvement relatively in that rate of the headwind as we go into the second half. Just to clarify, that's the case. Secondly, with regards to marketing spend, you said it was flat in the first half, rising in the second half. Is there anything particular that's driven that balance and that shift to H2? I would have expected to see slightly higher spend coming through in the first half as well.
Maybe I was just wrong to expect that.
Good morning, Simon. On the margin progression, I think we've been through the reasons behind. You can't expect any particular improvement in second half on the COGS side. It's more or less the same first half and second half. In terms of the marketing spend, why is first half lower than second half? Well, it is basic facing overall in the first half. Remember that we do actually slightly increase our marketing spend in absolute terms versus last year. In relative terms, we are at approximately the same level. I think we closed the first half at around 8.6% versus net revenue.
It is a few specific campaigns and activities, in particular in Asia, that is driving the activities in the second half, including additional activities in China in order to support the growth and the premiumization, and also additional activities now in Cambodia to support the relaunch of the heritage brand we have there, Anchor.
Got it. Can I just ask a separate follow-up with regard to your low and alcohol portfolio, clearly making good progress. How big a business is that for you now as a potential of the overall group?
Yeah, basically, as you said earlier, it's a very important part of our SAIL'22 program. When you look at alcohol-free beer, we are approximately 3% of our volume and 4% of our net revenue. Craft and specialty is 4% volume and 10% net revenue. We are moving the needle. The total craft, specialty, and alcohol-free beer is 7% of our volume and 14% of our revenue. All this comes with, as you know, better or higher margins.
Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you, Simon.
Next question is from Søren Samsøe from SEB. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. First question on the input cost, if you could put a number to the input cost increase in the first half and say whether that will be at a higher or at a lower level in the second half of this year. Secondly, you post 35% organic EBIT growth in Asia. As I recall it, you have always said that you wanted to reinvest the earnings in Asia into future growth. How should we see this? Is this a deviation from your strategy, or has anything changed in that regard? Finally, on Russia, if you could say if you're taking any initiatives to correct the weak development in Russia. I think I've heard something about you have done promotions in June. Could that impact the second half in a positive way? Thank you.
With regard to costs, Heine?
Good morning, Søren. For the full year, we are looking into, let's say 3%-4% for the full year impact, primarily relating to bottles. That's the outlook for the full year.
What was it for the first half? Sorry.
Four.
For the first half, how high was it?
It was four.
4%. Okay, thank you.
Yeah.
Okay. Søren, then with regard to our reinvestments in Asia, basically, at the moment, Asia has its momentum, and for that, we continue to invest, especially our big city focus in China helps us to accelerate. Therefore, in the second half of the year, we plan some more cities to open and to invest in the ones that we have already established the business. For that, we of course, hope to get the returns already in the beginning of 2020. If you like, we invest obviously for the future there and step up our game in big cities and the acceleration of that.
With regard to Russia, we assume that the current competitive environment will continue, and therefore our margins in Eastern Europe will remain under pressure for both the second half of the year and if competition pressure will not change as well for the coming years. We're taking actions to stabilize our market share. That is, of course, important. There's always a kind of line in the sand in this. We focus on value, and now we need to focus a bit more on volume. That will cost. We will drive further efficiencies. We are also seeing good growth of premium products, especially craft and specialty, that will help to offset some of the competitive pressure.
The EBIT margin was 18.9% in H1. With the current competitive environment and higher promotional activity for our side, we see a risk that margins will be even somewhat lower in the second half.
Okay, then just a final follow-up on the first question I had. You saw a negative gross margin in the first half, so with slightly lower input costs in the second half and higher price mix, are you targeting positive gross margin development in the second half of this year? Thank you.
We don't comment, Søren, specifically on that. What we do comment on is the outlook on EBIT. We don't split our guidance on different elements. For the full year, we're targeting high single-digit growth in EBIT margin, that's it on the COGS side, more or less the same level second half I suppose, Søren.
Thank you.
Next question is from Nico von Stackelberg from Liberum. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, guys. Just a quick one on the guidance. Would you be able to tell me if roughly you could guide towards the higher or lower end of that high single-digit range, and what are the moving parts there, if not? Secondly, on Russia, you guys flagged higher logistics costs. Did you have any rationalization of any brewery there, or is that just pure logistics costs going higher? I appreciate if volumes decline, you may have to make some changes to your brewery network, which would increase your logistics costs. Just generally, you've given color that the margins would decline there. Can you maybe quantify that a bit for us over the medium term? Finally, just a quick one on New Delhi in India. One of your competitors is having an issue there.
Are you able to take advantage of that, and do you have capacity to service that demand? Thanks.
Thank you, Nico. Good morning. Over to you, Heine, with regard to the guidance.
Yeah, good morning, Nico. On the guidance side, our guidance is high single digits, and that includes the entire spectrum. We don't guide specifically within the guidance range. It is high single digits.
With regard to your question on logistics as well, obviously at the moment that the volume goes down, the logistics cost per hectoliter is going up a bit. We have not rationalized further our footprint. We think that our footprint is one of our competitive edge. We are spread across the country. When we talk about a reduced margin, we really talk about the pressure that we have on price mix, which will impact the margins. The fact that we are fighting back as we talk. That's how you see some pressure on our margins in the second half of the year as well. With regard to India, ABI had some problems in Delhi. We cannot comment specifically on ABI, but it seems the problem has been a company-specific issue.
Our Delhi business is a licensed business and hence a low importance for Carlsberg going forward.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, guys.
Yep.
Next question is from Ed Mundy from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi. Morning, everyone. Three questions, please. The first is on Asia. Historically, you haven't got an awful lot of margin expansion within the region. I appreciate there's some phasing between H1 and H2, was hoping you could perhaps provide a bit more color as to what's allowed the margin expansion in the first half. The second question is that I appreciate there are some phasing issues between H1 and H2, you are indicating a solid start to Q3. I was wondering whether you could comment a bit further on which regions are you seeing a solid start. The third is on Kronenbourg Blanc. Still seeing some good momentum on that brand. Could you remind us what the price premium is versus mainstream for Kronenbourg Blanc?
Thanks, Ed, and good morning. Over to you, Heine.
Good morning, Ed. On the margin side in Asia, well, there are several factors. It's clear that the 9% volume and 15% revenue growth are driving Asian profits up, that is due to several sort of underlying factors. One is scale advantages. Another one is premium brands growth. Another one is marketing investment growing less in the first half than top line. As said, we will invest more in the second half in marketing. The last comment that we'll make here on Asia is really regarding China, which is continuing to deliver very strong performance due to volume growth and due to continued premiumization. These are the factors behind the Asian growth in marketing.
With regard to 1664 Blanc, our margin is indeed significantly high, especially in China. There we are in the super premium segment, and the price index is 500 plus. In most of the other countries, it is 200 plus. Kronenbourg, that you mentioned as well, has the same kind of indices around the business. The better we grow our craft and specialty part, the better our margins will be, and obviously, it is very healthy for our price mix as well.
Then the final question was on the solid start to Q3. Is that within Western Europe or Asia? Any sort of color you can comment on that?
Yeah, sorry, who is that? Heine?
Yeah. In general, it's a solid start to Q3. We do not go into details around that, but it's a solid start H2, Q3 that sort of makes us comfortable for the full year outlook and hence the logic behind the guidance upgrade to high single digits. We don't comment specifically on where it is.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you, Ed.
That was our final question. I'll hand the call back to the speakers for any other comments.
This was indeed the final question for today. Thank you for listening in, and thank you for your questions. We are looking forward to meeting some of you during the coming days and weeks, and we hope that many of you will join us in Paris in September at our Capital Markets Day. Have a nice day. Thank you. Bye-bye.