Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for Royal Unibrew's First Half Result for 2025 and the presentation linked to that. I'm Lars Jensen, the CEO of Royal Unibrew and I'm joined by our CFO Lars Vestergaard. Today we'll take you through our performance in the first half of the year and provide insights into our business segments, the financials, and our outlook for the full year. After the presentation, we will open the line for your questions. Before we dive into the numbers, I'd like to briefly draw your attention to the standard disclaimer on slide number two. As always, it contains important information about forward-looking statements, assumptions, and uncertainties that may impact our outlook and performance. With that said, let's move on to the business strategy highlights on slide number three. Let's start with a look at our strategic progress.
In the first half of 2025 we delivered strong revenue and EBIT growth, outperforming our European peers, a clear sign that our growth framework is working. We are executing with precision across our markets where we are fueling momentum in our growth markets which is international, Italy, and France, and we are building traction in the new markets like Norway, the Netherlands, and BeLux. In the developed markets or the old Royal Unibrew multi-beverage markets, so that would be Denmark, Finland, and the Baltics. We are focused on identifying pockets of growth, improving efficiency, and exiting low margin segments. Importantly, our long-term financial ambitions remain unchanged. We continue to target 6% - 8% organic EBIT growth, double-digit earnings per share growth, and improving our return on invested capital. This consistent delivery is a testament to the strength of our strategy and the dedication of our teams. Now please move to slide number four.
We're pleased to report a solid first half performance which follows our internal plans. Reported EBIT was up 11% and the organic growth was 9% and we delivered a margin expansion of 80 basis points. Organic volume growth came in at 4% and organic net revenue growth was 3%. This was achieved despite headwind in one of our main markets, Finland, where cold weather during May and June impacted performance negatively. On a positive note, a warmer July in Finland closed part of the volume shortfall. In Q2, our international and Western Europe segments continue to outperform and especially Italy and France. This demonstrates the strength of our geographical and diversification in the recent years.
Our cash flow and balance sheets are robust, and today we are launching a DKK 300 million share buyback program to be completed before the end of 2025, and then we adjust or fine tune our full year guidance range. We are now expecting net revenue growth of 5% - 6% and an EBIT growth of 8% - 12%. First, let's move to our business segments on the next slide, which is number five. Starting in Northern Europe, which is our largest segment in the first half, volume in the segment declined organically by 3% and revenue was down by 1%. EBIT in Northern Europe totaled DKK 632 million and was on the level with last year. We estimate that we have maintained or gained market share across most categories and geographies.
The main driver behind the first half decline in volume and revenue was Finland, where both May and June were significantly colder than average, impacting the entire beverage market and especially weather sensitive categories like water, long drinks, and ready to drinks. The total beverage market in Finland was down mid single digit measured on volume in first half of 2025, and our performance was in line with that. As already mentioned, better weather in Finland in July helped recover part of the lost volume in Q2, and in July the market is down low single digits. The Minttu acquisition in Finland was formally integrated in Q1. We're seeing good traction with the brands, and the business is already contributing positively. In Denmark, we saw good momentum in carbonated soft drinks, in particular with Faxe Kondi, while Pepsi is still gaining share in colas, but cola is declining as a category.
Our beer brands, especially Royal, are gaining momentum, and we continue to perform well in energy drinks with Faxe Booster leading the growth in the category. In Norway, we completed the SAP integration, and we are now in the optimization phase streamlining workflows and processes. Commercially, we made good progress in the broader RTD space with Grevens, Hansa and Smyrna Weiss. We have also announced the closure of the Sæby brewery by the end of the year. This is part of our long term optimization strategy, and while it led to one off cost in H1, we are on track to deliver 10% cash ROIC in Norway by 2026. In the Baltics, we achieved market share gains in Latvia and Estonia, while we maintain our shares in Lithuania.
We see solid growth in energy drinks and ready to drink in the Baltics, which is newer categories with higher profit per liter than, as an example, the carbonated soft drink space or the mainstream beer. Totally, we achieved growth in both revenue and EBIT in the Baltics in the first half. Now please move to slide number six. Western Europe delivered a strong performance in the first half. Organic volume growth was 15% and revenue growth was 16%. Organically, with the new activities in BeLux as the main growth driver, EBIT increased by 34% to DKK 218 million with a margin improvement of 150 basis points. Italy delivered a very strong performance in the first half of the year both on the top line and on the EBIT level. Our branded portfolio, particularly the Jet of Strong Ale and the Crodo range, achieved double-digit growth and captured market shares.
To prioritize capacity for our own brands, we deliberately scaled down private label production on the beer. This strategic shift supported a more favorable price mix in the first half. However, it also meant that total reported volume growth initially was flat for the period. France continued to gain market share in soft drinks with both Lorina and Crazy Tiger performing well. We are focused on SKU optimization and price pack architecture, which is supporting the margin expansion. In the Netherlands, we are seeing encouraging progress as the commercial agenda that we set in 2024 begins to deliver tangible results.
With a strengthened off-trade sales force and a solid brand portfolio, Vrumona achieved growth in both volume and revenue during the first half, and we are also expanding our category reach as we have entered the RTD segment through the acquisition of GiG, making our first steps into alcohol-based beverages in the Dutch market. The new PepsiCo activities in BeLux that we took over 1st of October last year accounted for most of the growth in Western Europe in the first half, 13% of the volume growth and 12% of revenue growth. We have maintained market share in BeLux and are progressing in line with the plans. Still, BeLux is in the early stage of the turnaround, and as a consequence of that, it is a loss-making business in the first half of the year for BeLux as a whole.
We are on track to deliver 10% cash ROIC by 2026. Now please move to slide number seven. Our International segment maintained strong momentum with 16% organic volume growth and 9% revenue. Growth in the first EBIT in International rose 55% to $122 million and the margin improved to 15.5%. That is reflecting both cost discipline and the operational leverage embedded in our business model. Volume growth in Q2 was notably strong at 20%, and as highlighted before, quarterly growth in this segment can be volatile and influenced by timing effect and particular changes in consumer inventories. While current sales outtrend among our customers have accelerated to low double digit growth, the remaining volume uplift in Q2 particularly reflects the inventory buildup in Americas and a slight increase in the inventories in Africa due to the growth levels.
This was a proactive move by our partners in Americas to reduce the short term impact of the increased tariffs. The price mix in International was negatively impacted by the unfavorable currency developments and by country mix effects. It is important to understand that our business in International is based on different go to market models. As an example, in Africa we sell to distributors that manage the selling and logistics in the market. This means that revenue per liter is lower than in the markets where we are responsible for these costs like in Canada. It does not mean that we make less money on a per liter basis, but price mix effects can be impacted by this and therefore this business should be evaluated on an EBIT per liter as that takes the go to market model into account. I will now hand over to Lars who will go into the details with the financial numbers and our full year outlook.
Thank you Lars. Please go to slide number eight. Let's take a closer look at the P&L. In first half of 2025, volume and revenue growth were higher in Q2 than in Q1. This is primarily due to the timing of Easter, which fell in Q2 this year. Furthermore, a strike in Finland shifted some revenue from Q1 to Q2. This had no effect on the half year numbers. Net revenue grew 4% to DKK 7,644,000,000 in the first half with 3% organic growth. The new business activities in Belgium and Luxembourg are treated as organic. If you exclude these, the organic growth rate in first half was just below 1%. Gross profit increased 5% to DKK 3,275,000,000 and the gross margin improved to 42.8%. Despite some country mix changes in Q2, EBIT rose 11% to DKK 959,000,000 and the EBIT margin expanded to 12.5%.
In the first half, the cost base increased by 2%, which includes the impact from our new activities in Belgium and Luxembourg and recent M&A. This development reflects our continued focus on operational efficiencies and disciplined cost control. A quick note on terminology: cost base in this overview refers to the combined sales, distribution, and admin expenses. The team has done a great job in the first half improving the business despite cold weather in one of our larger markets and the ongoing integration work related to both BeLux and Minttu. Earnings per share increased 18% to DKK 12.2 in the first half, reflecting stronger profitability. Tax and net financial costs are at the expected level in the first half.
It should be noted that in the first half of 2025, we benefited from a one-off income of DKK 18 million under income from associates related to the liquidation of a subsidiary in Greenland. Please move to slide number nine. Cash flow in the first half tracked our plans, which is reflected in the new share buyback program of DKK 300 million that we launched yesterday evening. Operating cash flow was DKK 933 million, supported by higher net profit. Free cash flow came in at DKK 458 million, down from DKK 516 million last year, primarily due to higher CapEx. CapEx is at the expected level, and we expect the full year to be around 7% of net revenue, reflecting our current investment program. Net interest-bearing debt increased to DKK 6,374,000,000 by the end of the first half.
This increase was primarily due to the share buyback program and dividend payment. You may recall that in 2024, the dividend was postponed to Q4. Our net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA ratio is around 2.3x in line with our target. The DKK 250 million share buyback program started in February was completed in August. Lastly, ROIC was at the level with last year and we have a clear target of delivering higher ROIC going forward. We remain on track to deliver 10% cash ROIC in Norway and BeLux by the end of 2026. To make definitions clear, cash ROIC is calculated as the net operating results before amortization and after tax expressed as a percentage of the net cash paid for the acquired companies. Please move to slide number 10. Turning to our updated outlook for 2025, we've narrowed our guidance ranges to reflect greater visibility by the end of August.
Net revenue is now expected to be 5% - 6% versus 5% - 7% previously and EBIT is expected to grow by 8% - 12% versus 7% -1 3% previously. These adjustments reflect a few key factors. First, summer weather across our markets has been broadly normal without additional impact on activity levels. Finland weather had a slight negative impact on the full year even though it improved after the first half. In general, the weather impact will be small for the full year. Secondly, revenue is impacted by a reduction in private label production and negative FX impact compared to our original assumptions. The consumer environment remains challenging, but we have not seen a material worsening compared to what we set by the end of 2024, so our assumptions on that front remain unchanged. We continue to expect net finance expenses around DKK 250 million, a tax rate of 22%, and capex of around 7% of net revenue. With that, the word is back to you, Lars.
Thank you, Lars. Now please move to the next slide. Slide 11. A few words on what we in the management team have on our agenda. We will continue executing our growth strategy with tailored efforts across growth markets, new markets, and developed markets. We aim to ensure that we maximize our opportunities across the markets. Efficiency and cost control remain top priorities. We are optimizing resource use and driving operational excellence across the business. We have not talked too much about ESG today, but I can rest you assured that this remains high on our agenda. We are making good progress in several areas, and let me just mention improved CO2 intensity in our production and improved safety performance with fewer incidents. You can read more about that in the first half report.
Finally, we remain fully committed to deliver on our long-term financial targets including EBIT growth, EPS expansion, and improved return on invested capital. When we move to the next slide, which is slide number 12, I would like to wrap things a bit up. We delivered a solid performance in our first half with EBIT growth and margin expansion in line with our plans. Our geographical diversification pays off with particularly strong contribution from Western Europe and our international segment in Finland. Performance was impacted by unusual cold weather in Q2, but a better July helped recover parts of the shortfall. Our balance sheet remains robust, giving us the flexibility to return value to shareholders while continuing to invest in strategic initiatives. We remain firmly on track to deliver on a fine-tuned full year guidance, and with that, please go to questions. Operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press one and one again. Please stand by. We will compile the Q&A roster. We will now take the first question from the line of Matthew Ford from BNP. Please go ahead.
Morning all. Just two questions from me please. The first one's on the guidance. You mentioned, obviously we're eight months through the year now with much of the kind of profitability already generated. Just be interested to kind of if you can walk through your assumptions embedded within the sort of the 8 %- 12% EBIT growth range. What assumptions are you baking in to get to the top and the bottom of that range over the next four months? That's the first question. The second one just on current trading, you mentioned on Finland an improved weather picture in July. Just wondering if you could give some more color across some of your major markets. How July and I suppose August have been trending. Thank you.
Yeah, so if I take the 8 %- 12% I would call out the consumer. You know, potential changes in terms of ups and downs. It's not that we see something specifically, as Lars mentioned, you know, this is in line with what we guided when we started the year, the dynamics, but the history has shown over the last three years that sometimes something happens and then that might turn out, you know, either to the positive or the negative side of things. That is, I think, the single biggest factor in the span. Here we are past the summer. It was a normal summer and normally that might lead you to being in the top range, but as this was normal, then that's not going to happen.
Maybe on the revenue guidance, just to clear that out, as we also mentioned in the first half, we are doing some structural changes, which is deliberate choices to take some business out. That was business that we thought we would have when we started the year, but we decided to take it out as a private label in Italy, which is a better deal for us as a company. When you put those, I would say, structural pieces together, then the underlying growth is slightly higher than the 1% that Lars talked about for the first half year. It accounts, I would say, for most of the difference between the 5 %- 6% and the 5 %- 7% of guidance. On your questions in terms of trading so far, it's a good July, as we have mentioned.
In particular, I would say in Finland and also in Norway, where we had quite good weather and for both countries compensate for colder weather in May and June. I would say for the rest of it, we are following the plan. That's the essence, I would say no major swings in any countries.
Brilliant. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Andrea Pistacchi from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, morning, Lars. And Lars, with the first question, I just wanted to go back to the sales guidance a minute. Your updated 5 %- 6% implies an improvement in the second half, I think to around 6 %- 8% reported. You did, I think in H1 about 3.5% reported. What in your expectation will drive this acceleration? Clearly you won't have the weather drag that you had, which was quite significant. You said in H1 in Finland, but at the same time in Q4, I think you'll be lapping the benefit of the inclusion of BeLux. The second question is on COGS. When you strip out the various perimeter effects, could you give a sense please of what the level of organic COGS inflation that you faced in H1 was? On my estimates, it was probably slightly, slightly negative. With the hedging that you likely already have in place or some hedging for next year, is the outlook for COGS still favorable looking into 2026? Thank you.
Yeah, if I go with the sales guidance and then maybe let you check the COGS question. Yes, we do anticipate that the second half is going to be more favorable than the first half on the revenue side of things. The July numbers are a part of that math obviously as it compensates both in, I would say, in two of our large revenue markets. When you look at our flight attitude, and I think if you point to Western Europe and International, we are super happy about the flight attitude that we have been able to establish, and our core assumption is that we will keep benefiting from that. That is while we do see both Felix and also the Netherlands picking up.
If you look at month-by-month growth rates from them, then you would see that the development in the second quarter is stronger than it was in the first quarter, an acceleration due to all the initiatives that we take in those countries. All in all, on our own performance, we are a bit more optimistic on the second half. We know the weather, we know until now how it looks like. It's not a market assumption that has changed in terms of how much the consumers are going to drink and how they're going to drink; it's more our flight attitude. The seven weeks that we know of by now.
On the. On the COGS piece we are very much focused on taking cost out of our business and we've done a number of initiatives to reduce COGS and we're seeing some improvements in COGS related to complexity reductions and other initiatives. There's a slight improvement compared to our initial assumptions. It's very early days. If you look into next year, so far it looks like there's going to be a slight increase in COGS, but this is not something that will play the same story as we've seen in previous years. I would say from a commodity price point of view the trend is a little bit up, but we need to offset that with efficiency initiatives. Not a big story to tell around COGS.
What drives a slight increase? Is it energy, mainly, something else?
There's some impact from energy, and then you see aluminum is up a little bit. You see sugar in Europe is down this year, but it's expected to be up next year. I would say there's a lot of moving parts in this space, but nothing is dramatic. I don't think you can read a lot into it, and then you see if.
Thank you, Andrea. You also see a few legislative things here in terms of the arpit that needs to go to certain levels because of regulation from EU and everybody needs to do the same at the same time. That generates some inflation in some categories. As this is something that hits everybody, then it shouldn't impact Royal Unibrew. You know, individually.
Perfect. Clear. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Aron Adamski from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Lars. Lars and Fleming, thanks for taking my questions. I have two. My first question is on your efficiency agenda in the Netherlands. Can you please give us an update on what you have achieved year to date and what impact it had on profitability in H1, and I guess what are the remaining areas of focus for that business and when do you expect to see further improvement in margins? The second question is on something that you mentioned, the inventory buildup in the U.S. related to tariffs. I was wondering, based on the current depletion trends, how long is it going to take your partners to clear that excess stock and should we expect that buildup will fully reverse in Q3? Thank you.
Yeah. On the Netherlands, it's impressive how many changes that we are actually making in a fairly short period of time. It's really impressive to see the team, you know, changing the business from. Being. I would say to become much more active in the market and really to play the game of being a challenger. In the first half, we have been building our field muscle in off trade and we have proof of concepts to that. That means that we deliver value and a good payback. This is about scaling it up over time, which is the plan that we laid out when we bought the business. We have bought this RTD business GiG which enters into a new and fast growing category and the team has taken that on board. We have put in a new line, we have taken out one line, and we have been operating the glass line while introducing and starting to insource because of that production and to get new price pack architecture into the markets.
On top of that, we have also taken some brands out that are not going to make a difference or have been where the investments have been made and where it didn't get traction. We have taken out a Kombucha brand as an example and we have exited the energy drinks category in collaboration with PepsiCo after having tried for three years to make Rockstar, I would say, sizable in the country, has decided to take that out. On one hand, we are streamlining the business and on the other hand, trying to implement the growth framework that we have for the group, which is working well in the other countries.
That also means that as we are past, I'll not say all of these changes, but many of these changes, we would anticipate that our margins would be going up already in the second half of the year and that is in line with the plan that the team built for the year. Yeah. We are pretty optimistic on the Dutch business and I would say the journey in BeLux is fairly similar. We are now implementing SAP and will be up and running during Q4. On the back of that, of course, we can start streamlining both on the back end on the supply chain and play a more, I'll say, commercial role in the BeLux market also by introducing, you know, some of our own brands into the portfolio like Crazy Tiger and LemonSoda. This is, you know, all in all, why we are confident that we are on the right track to deliver the 10% cash.
Right. Fairly soon. On the tariff question, you should count a couple of percent of the growth relating to the inventory buildup. This is not a big thing, and it's not something that I would urge you to take into any spreadsheets. It's just for us to give an explanation for the difference between low double digits and the growth that we deliver. Of course, in the signal that it's fantastic that we have customers that are thinking commercially and smart so that you postpone the effect from the tariffs.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Richard Withagen from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning all. Two questions from me, please. First of all, on Finland now following the change in regulation to allow 8% ABV products to be sold in retail, the competitive pressure seems to have increased quite a bit. How has Royal Unibrew reacted to this and how do you assess your execution in Finland in the first half? The second question is on Italy. The Italian business continues to do really well. Perhaps you could discuss what the next growth step will be that the company could make in Italy as the basis still seems fairly limited and the local team executes very well.
Yeah, yeah. In Finland it is correct that the 8% regulation change that came into place beginning of Q4 last year and now we are close to being circling that effect, has increased competition in the alco space and the shelf has basically expanded in the stores and also at price points that are fairly attractive for the alcohol that you buy. The dynamics that we see in and have seen since the 1st of October is that the long drinks category has been hit, which includes our Original Long Drink. I would say on the flavor side, not the grapefruit version, which is the old, you know, heritage version. The whole flavor range is being challenged because you have alternatives also with higher alcohol for a cheaper buy. You have seen the hard seltzer category continuing to expand.
I would say RTD in all shapes and forms is gaining traction. What you see is a dilution of, I would say it's a gain for the consumers that move from beer into this broader, I'll say non-beer alcohol space with low alcohol content. That's a gain. For the long drinks or the heritage categories that used to be there, it's a bit of a drain. What we have done to address this is make sure that the base of Original Long Drink stays intact and we continue to develop that. That's the grapefruit. We are putting a lot of innovation into the game both on the flavors of Original Long Drink, to continue to play the game as we have done over the last years with orange, pineapple and blueberries and whatever. And. On top of that, we have introduced hard seltzers and we have introduced RTD brands with Hardwell, mostly Hardwell, I would say, as the endorser for the brand. We have also introduced Shaker, which is a Danish RTD brand because, you know, you need to be extremely innovative in this market to capture as much as possible. The last thing that we have done is that we have introduced more and more, I say, competitive variants in this 8% space, mostly with wine as a base. We are growing our share in that category ongoingly because of the offering and, I would say, the hardware trade business that supports that part of it. We take a lot of initiatives and we do see some improvements. We will circle that from the 1st of October, we'll circle a year into this dynamics.
On one hand side, positives, because it moves consumption away from beer, which is not where we are earning most of our money. It moves into the broader RTD space where we historically have been extremely strong and are still the biggest player. That's the dynamics. Any follow up on Finland, Richard?
No. Yeah, maybe. When did you start introducing those hard seltzers, those RTDs? Is that, is that, that was in the first half of the year then, I guess.
We launched, we have been, we have had versions, but we have been putting more effort into it over time because the category is expanding, the flavor territory is expanding and so on. We are doing more and more. Yeah.
Anything on price? I mean, are you changing price points?
I would say on the hard sales or RTD, we are running some tests on the price elasticity on Original Long Drink, both for the flavor part and also for the grapefruit part. We are testing that. No conclusions made yet.
Okay. That may be the Italy question.
Yeah, Italy. Our performance is super strong. Organic drive, you know, stronger distribution, stronger, stronger execution, more field people. That drives the growth further on. In a market, I would say from the beer point of view, where you see that strong lagers is the place to be from a category standpoint, a lot of it is driven by introduction of new packs, so cans, which has never been a part of the game plan, but it is now both for us and for our competitors. On the soft drink side, we see a bit of the same trend as I commented on in the Danish market for colas. That is that all growth by now, that sits in CSD in most markets. We see that in the flavor territory.
This is where the LemonSoda range, also with the new SKUs that we're bringing in, the zero version is just, you know, building and building and building. We are building in the small pack sizes, so to a lesser extent on the large PET bottles, but more in cans. We have introduced mini cans as an example, which is a new occasion. We are building, you know, ongoingly with multiple angles, but with the same toolbox as we have in the other countries. We are not in an urgency, I would say, to put new elements into the business, you know, new categories. We are launching a local beer around the brewery, but that is a local initiative. We have launched the Jeder’s Lager, which has been launched in the south, but it is in the same space as where we are today. That would be my comments on Italy.
Lars, thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Andre Thormann from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just two please. First on Norway, can you maybe give some comments on the progress you're making and maybe also add what is remaining to do here in the Hans and Solera business? Second of all, just coming back to Netherlands to be sure. Did EBIT grow in the first half of 2025 compared to first half of 2024? That's my questions.
If we start with Norway, I think we are pleased with what happens in Norway at this point in time. We have launched a number of good innovations in beer that seems to stabilize the beer market share and get some momentum into that piece as well. On cider RTD, we continue to grow our share and grow the category. That looks really promising. Of course, we are now starting to cross sell the Solea and enhance the portfolio. That gives some momentum in particular in on trade. On the top line, we are pretty happy with what goes on. Of course, we are spending an awful lot of time internally focused in Norway to get the structure and the IT platform right. We're closing the subsport side later this year, upgrading the facility in Bergen with some minor investments there.
We have rolled out SAP, we have merged a lot of order to cash processes, which is a pretty big change. I would say there's a lot of moving parts in Norway. The good thing is that the commercial part is doing well and we can see that is working. We have a lot of very clear building blocks into next year on the cost side where it will be easier to operate and a lot of complexity will be taken out of the business. I would say, I think the roadmap for Norway is pretty clear. On Netherlands, there's sort of like a flat movement year on year in terms of EBIT. Remember that a lot of the things Lars mentioned have been executed in the first half.
More people on the streets, close down of some brands, and then we've had two big CapEx programs that have been finalized in the first half and should start to pay off now. I would say an awful lot of activity happening and a business that's more fit for the opportunities that lie ahead.
All right, thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Søren Samsøe from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning Lars, Lars and Fleming. I have three questions. Firstly, a question on the business in France which is starting to show better and more consistent performance. Can you talk about what is driving the stronger performance and what you have done to achieve this? Second question is on the BeLux business. How will this contribute in the coming years and what is the margin potential of the business and how sizable do you think it could be? Finally, on the cash flow. It was declining in the first half. Can we expect to see positive learning in the second half and if yes, what will be the drivers of that? Thank you.
On France, we have been through, I would say, a focus process together with a team which we ignited in the beginning of last year. That means a continued focus for Lorina on driving value and driving single serve, which is not the standard occasion for lemonade in the past. We are getting very good traction on that now. This is an initiative that has been in the market for the last four years. We are gaining quite a lot of distribution in convenience. The Bolang series, again, is a new occasion for us for the Lorina brand, and that obviously comes at higher net revenue than it does in the retail business. For Crazy Tiger, we keep pushing the 1 liter, which is the core of the brand.
The introduction of the small 0.35 L PET bottle at a sharp price point, still profitable for us but at a sharp price point, seems to be something that can move the needle also going forward for the brand and move it into the more single serve occasion. I would say a very strong focus on a few things and then managing the business without any interruptions, so to speak, on the supply chain side, logistics side, being sharp on your forecasting and these kind of things. It's a well-run machine and with margins by now that are EBIT margins that are higher than the average of the group. We're pretty satisfied with what we see in France, although that is still fairly small in our Royal Unibrew perspective. What should you ask questions? What's the prospects for BeLux?
I think we see a lot of opportunities in BeLux, but we also reckon that this is not something that is going to happen very fast. It's the same toolbox as we have used in the Nordic countries, but also the same toolbox as we're using in the Dutch market. A lot of price pack architecture is what we're going to do, and then we have some insourcing of production and we have the SAP up and running and so forth. A lot of initiatives, but at the end of the day, it's the commercial side of the coin that will have to make the difference.
If you look at the absolute level of working capital at half year, it is lower than it was at the same period last year. We don't see any changes to anything structurally at the full year. We are expecting to get a positive contribution from working capital in the cash flow statement. There's a lot of opportunities to optimize, amongst other the inventory, as we don't need as much inventory with the CapEx that we have deployed in the last couple of years. Expect, what you say, strong cash flow for the full year with positive contribution from working capital. We've given you the 7% on CapEx, tax 22%, and then profit is something that you have to estimate. I think cash flow looks pretty good for the full. Year, which is also driving the share buyback that we have.
Thanks. Can I just ask one small question on Crazy Tiger? I think you introduced it into, I think it was Italy a while ago and had gained some market share. Do you continue to see growth with Crazy Tiger there?
Yeah, we do. We're not putting marketing money behind it, so to speak. This is a distribution game and we are building distribution with a solid rotation. That's still in the making.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Thomas Lind Petersen from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning everyone. Also a few questions from my side. The first one is regarding your sales distribution expenses. They are just up 1% and very impressive. I think you're citing or saying that it's due to lower logistic cost. Was just wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on these efficiency initiatives that you have ongoing and how we should also look at that a bit going forward. Is that all the CapEx projects, production lines that you are getting up and running? A second question also perhaps a bit the same ballpark, in Italy here you're saying that you're taking out the private label so you can push your own brands. Is that also because you're running at 100% capacity in Italy and is there still room to grow in Italy at least from a capacity point of view? Those would be my questions. Thanks.
If I take the capacity question first, we have been upgrading during the first half quite a bit of equipment, I would say, into the facility both in terms of the brewing capacity expansions and on the glass line where we have added elements to the line. That short term, of course, means that we do not have access to the same amount of capacity now. We have all of that up and running and we can see that the capacities are coming through. Let's judge what we do for 2026. We are not sold out on capacities yet. We need to get a reasonable, I would say, profitability out of the private label because if not, then it's better to keep that flexibility for ourselves to support either Italy or international from a network perspective.
Started on the distribution side, you may recall we have moved a lot of the production for beer to Italy. We moved that production from Denmark to Italy, and that saves quite a big chunk of distribution charges. International freight rates are also coming down, so that is also supporting a little.
Just thinking a bit further here, is this the level then that we should expect going forward also? Is that what you're saying?
I think you see that there's a lot of moving parts in this in the coming years. This is permanent what we have moved to Italy, so that saving we should see going forward. We have a number of initiatives going on in the distribution area in Denmark. We're building a big warehouse, so we're also trying to capture some efficiencies in Denmark going forward. That's a story for later day .
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Mitch Collett from Deutsche Bank U.K. Please go ahead.
Morning, Lars. Lars, you had a negative price mix in Northern Europe, and I think you say in the release that it's primarily driven by country mix. Can you give price mix for your key geographies in Northern Europe: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the Baltics? Are you seeing any signs of increased price aggression from any of your peers? How should we think about price mix growth for the remainder of the year in Northern Europe, and I guess for the group?
I think when you look at the first half country mix, it's the same as that's what we said in Q1, I would say, and that is that it's the Finnish business that is slightly down. Right. Then we see a growth in other countries where you have a lower net revenue per volume. That's what is driving the mix. If you look at the countries individually, then that is a more positive story and that goes a bit for Royal Unibrew as a whole. When you put it into segments, then you might have one country that outgrows the other and that makes a mix either good or bad.
The way that we're looking at it is much more contributor and category driven and then ultimately we manage our business on an EBIT level because there's also, you know, various cost levels depending on markets and as we said in the speak. There's no major movements in the Nordic countries apart from Finland being revenue wise lower and the other ones being more positive.
How should we think about it for the balance of the year?
I think what we have already expressed is that Finland was down in the first half. Finland came a little bit back in July. Q3 started out positively in terms of mixed. I think the rest of the year it's all going to be down. To how the country makes moves. As Lars mentioned, this is not due to increased competition. It is more based on mix between categories and countries. What moves and what doesn't move?
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Aron Adamski from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi Grace, thanks for taking my follow up. I had a quick question about the new warehousing Faxe that I think is now operational. Can you just give us some color on what new capabilities does that give you and how it helps drive better efficiency for the business overall, and is that something that will start to benefit you in the second half of the year or is it more likely in 2026? Thank you.
I think I didn't hear what you mentioned. You said some CapEx in Faxe. Which one did you mention?
I think a new warehouse in Faxe that you opened or is now operational.
Yes, we are investing a sizable chunk in Faxe in two parts. One is the low bay warehouse where we have a picking area that is now operational, and then we're also investing in an expanded high bay warehouse that will only be operational in Q1 next year. When those are operational, we can, what you say, eliminate a lot of movements from our production sites to external warehousing and back again. That is something where we will capture the benefits primarily from Q1 and onwards next year.
From Q2. It's operational at the end of Q1. After Q1, you will see the benefits.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to hand back over to the speakers for closing remarks.
Thank you very much for your participation and a lot of good questions. As I would always say, you know where we are if you need us, so thanks.