Carlsberg and Heineken, the No. 1 and No. 3 beer market companies in Russia, and Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, have decided to withdraw from Russia or suspend operations, leading to a series of de-Russia by Western companies.
Carlsberg and Heineken in the have announced their withdrawal from Russia according to a report by Reuters on the 28th (local time). The Denmark company said, “We decided to clean up all our businesses in Russia,” adding, “It was a difficult decision, but I believe it’s a legitimate thing to do under the current circumstances.”
It accounts for 27 percent of Russia’s beer market through its 100% subsidiary, Baltica, Russia’s largest beer maker. They have eight breweries and 8,400 employees in Russia, raising 10 percent of its total sales and 6 percent of its operating profit last year.
Carlsberg’s share price, which had fallen by nearly 25 percent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, closed 3.47 percent higher than the previous day after the announcement of Russia’s withdrawal.
Heineken, Russia’s third-largest beer maker, also plans to hand over its Russian operations in an orderly manner and reduce its business activities to minimize the threat of nationalization during the period, Heineken said.
Heineken explained that it concluded that the continuation of the Russian business was no longer sustainable or viable. Russia accounts for about 2% of Heineken’s sales.
Following Carlsberg and Heineken, Belgium’s Invev also announced earlier this month that it would stop selling Budweiser beer in Russia.
Bloomberg also announced that it would suspend operations in Russia and Belarus, which are subject to international sanctions for invading Ukraine.
Bloomberg said the decision will prevent Russian and Belarusian customers from accessing their financial products such as terminals, data licenses, data supply and electronic trading platforms in the future.
Bloomberg excluded Russian bonds from his bond index earlier this month and excluded Russian stocks from his global stock index on the 9th.
In addition, coverage activities in Russia were temporarily suspended on the 4th after Russia adopted a new law that could impose a 15-year prison term for spreading fake news.
