Royal Unibrew A/S said its fourth-quarter normalized net income came to 1.66 Danish kroner per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of 2.06 kroner per share.

EPS rose 43.1% year over year from 1.16 kroner.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 91.6 million kroner, a gain of 38.2% from 66.3 million kroner in the prior-year period.

The normalized profit margin increased to 6.4% from 4.9% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue increased 5.3% year over year to 1.42 billion kroner from 1.35 billion kroner, and total operating expenses grew year over year to 1.28 billion kroner from 1.24 billion kroner.

Reported net income rose 46.5% from the prior-year period to 121.4 million kroner, or 2.20 kroner per share, from 82.8 million kroner, or 1.45 kroner per share.

For the year, the company's normalized net income totaled 10.25 kroner per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate of 12.78 kroner.

EPS rose 7.0% from 9.58 kroner in the prior year.

Normalized net income was 563.9 million kroner, a rise of 6.1% from 531.6 million kroner in the prior year.

Full-year total revenue amounted to 6.03 billion kroner, compared with 6.06 billion kroner in the prior year, and total operating expenses decreased on an annual basis to 5.12 billion kroner from 5.18 billion kroner.

The company said reported net income increased 14.2% on an annual basis to 709.7 million kroner, or 12.90 kroner per share, in the full year, from 621.5 million kroner, or 11.20 kroner per share.

As of March 1, US$1 was equivalent to 6.87 Danish kroner.