(location based)* million kgCO 35.7 40.0 39.8 36.5 37.1
CO from production
(market based)** million kgCO 24.2 26.2 n/a n/a n/a
Total water consumption million hl 33.3 33.3 33.3 28.2 29
Total amount of
wastewater discharged million hl 22.3 22.3 22.7 18.5 19.3
Hazardous waste million kg 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Landfilled waste million kg 0.9 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4
Incinerated waste million kg 0.7 1.5 1.1 0.9 0.9
Recycled waste million kg 5.0 5.9 5.4 3.1 4.3
Other waste*** million kg 0.5
Solid Waste, total million kg 7.2 7.9 7.1 4.5 5.7
Spent grain & yeast million kg 76.8 77.4 80.9 91.3 96.7
Relative production figures
Energy kWh/hl 18.9 20.9 20.6 20.1 22.1
COkgCO/hl 3.4 3.9 3.8 4.0 4.0
Water hl/hl 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Packaging material****
Cans % 15.6 13.4 n/a n/a n/a
Returnable glass bottles % 17.8 21.5 n/a n/a n/a
Non returnable glass bottles % 42.8 42.8 n/a n/a n/a
PET % 12.0 8.1 n/a n/a n/a
Kegs % 2.1 7.5 n/a n/a n/a
Bulk % 9.7 6.7 n/a n/a n/a
People well-being & development
Occupational Health & Safety
Total number of lost-time incidents (LTIs) 56 42 39 46 52
Lost time incident frequency 13.7 10.8 10.2 12.9 14.3
Number of Lost days 2,070 1,594 687 n/a n/a
Lost day rate 506 412 180 n/a n/a
Fatalities 0 0 0 0 0
Employee engagement
Employee turnover % 15.3 17.5 20.6 n/a n/a
Leave of absence due to illness
(not work related) % 3.7 3.9 3.5 n/a n/a
Diversity
Percentage of employees by gender, total
Female % 24 25 26 24 24
Male % 76 75 74 76 76
Employees by gender,
Int. Management teams
Female % 33 32 31 30 35
Male % 67 68 69 70 65
* Location based: Calculated CO emission based on IEA country factors
** Market based: Subtracting CO emission covered by green certificates
*** Other waste is R11 and 12 according to the EU waste directive
**** Packaging material: Weight basis distribution
Non-financial highlights and ratios
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202010
Who we are
2020 started with ambitious plans and focus on
continuing the underlying positive development in
earnings. After a strong beginning in January and
February all plans were changed in March when the
COVID-19 pandemic became a reality.
To manage the high uncertainty, we revised our plans based
on the following principles:
• Protect our employees
• Support customers
• Prepare for the worst case and manage cost
• Protect our liquidity position
Initially, in late March and April it was difficult to foresee
how the market environment would react. However, since
June our business has performed strongly until November
when our main markets were impacted by the second wave
of the pandemic.
Our revised new plan for the year has worked and we have
managed to deliver a profitability slightly above and with
growing market shares.
Strong performance in
The assumptions for our plans for were no longer rele-
vant after the lockdown in March. Compared to any other year,
categories and sales channels have developed very differently
during the year. The commercial parts of our organization
have done an outstanding job in refocusing sales efforts to
the growing categories and sales channels and at the same
CFO letter
Tight focus and planning led to
strong performance
time spending a minimum of resources on declining are-
as. We have never experienced such extensive changes in
volumes from On-Trade to Off-Trade and from kegs to cans
and PET. Our supply chain colleagues have shown great
ability to adapt to the new reality and produced record
volumes during the summer.
A key learning in situations when assumptions change
dramatically is to drop the budget and make a new plan
with maximum flexibility. As we worked with limited
visibility, we had clear guiding principles for decision
making. Across the business we made many new short-
term plans and shifted resources to segments with
positive momentum. Our business model with strong
country organizations and clear local decision power
has shown very effective also in situations with high
uncertainty.
“We expect 2021 to end with
a good momentum, but the
start of the year seems to be
challenging”
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202011
Who we are
Who – CFO letter
20162019202020182017
10
15
20
25
30
%
35
Balancing short and long term
The spending level we had during the summer months was
not consistent with our ambitions to continue to grow and
develop the business. Consequently, we started initiatives
during the late summer to ensure that we have momentum
as we move into . This includes capacity expansion pro-
jects, selective commercial initiatives, IT investments and
maintenance cost.
Liquidity and capital allocation
As uncertainty was high in the spring, we made additional
credit facilities, postponed dividend payment and the initiated
share buy-back program. The guiding principle has been to
maximize our financial flexibility in order to be ready for both
difficult markets but also for potential M&A projects.
Over the summer, we saw the markets develop positively and
cash flow generation was strong. Therefore, we decided to
pay out dividend and initiate two tranches of share buy-back
programs.
In order to secure that our ROIC develops positively over time,
we target to manage the investments by keeping investments
around % of revenue (excl. M&A). This will be a challeng-
ing target to meet as our ambitions within sustainability will
require investments as well as the continued growth will
demand more investments in capacity.
Back to growth
Our ambition is to return to profitable topline growth again in
. Across the business we have interesting organic growth
opportunities that we aim to focus on. The planning for
is a bit unusual as we still live with COVID- related restric-
tions and it is likely that the start of the year will be difficult.
Consequently, we have commercial initiatives that will not be
committed before we have more clarity on how restrictions
and the vaccine will impact the trading conditions.
We expect to end with a good momentum, but the start
of the year may be challenging.
Lars Vestergaard
CFO
ROIC incl. goodwill ROIC excl. goodwill
ROIC DEVELOPMENT 20162020
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202012
Who we are
→
Purpose and Ambition I Our strategy
Strategy
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202013
Strategy
Strategy – COVER
our people
We recruit, develop and retain
entrepreneurial and empowered
people thirsting for success and
striving to do better every day.
Our people drive our success
and progress – and live and
protect our values. We work as
one team and find solutions to
all challenges.
our consumers
Bringing people together and
facilitating great moments and
enjoyment is the heart of our
business. We offer strong local
beverage brands in combination
with global brands – continu-
ously striving to match con-
sumers’ changing preferences
through meaningful innovations
and by offering a broad range
of refreshments that deliver
choice.
The preferred choice
We want to be the preferred choice of local beverage partner that challenge
the status quo by doing better every day in a fun, agile and sustainable way
The preferred choice for
Purpose and Ambition
our customers
We partner with our customers
and strive to grow together by
offering a portfolio of relevant
brands and having a challenger
mindset. With our local, decen-
tralized setup we focus on agility
and close collaboration – aiming
to provide best-in-class service
as well as pursuing extraor-
dinary brand execution in all
channels.
the future
We are deeply rooted in the
communities where we work,
and we partner with all our
stakeholders to make a positive
impact on society. Our focus is
to build a long-term sustainable
business and to minimize the
environmental footprint of our
operations from raw materials
to the end consumption.
our shareholders
Our main focus is to invest behind
the categories and channels that
grow the most, pushing premiu-
mization and driving organic EBIT
growth. On top of this, we will do
value accretive bolt-on, as well as
strategic acquisitions if possible.
We aim to increase distribution to
shareholders over time through
dividend and share buy-backs.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202014
Strategy
Strategy – Purpose and Ambition
Build sustatinable
business
Prepare for
future growth
Grow the most
committed
employees
Organizational support
Preferred
choice
Royal Unibrew’s overall strategy remains to be a
strong regional multi-beverage provider in select-
ed core markets and in other markets to build and
develop strong niche positions.
Royal Unibrew operates in diverse markets that are char-
acterized by different dynamics. We aim to be the preferred
choice for our consumers, customers, shareholders and peo-
ple through the following four strategic priorities.
We want to expand our markets and market shares through multi-beverage and niche strategies.
We need to continuously develop and innovate our product portfolio and channel mix to be the preferred choice for
consumers. We will also continue to pursue opportunities to continuously enhance the efficiency across the company.
We want to be the preferred partner for our customers with the most relevant innovations for our consumers by
addressing consumer demographies, geographies and trends of e.g. health and wellness, authenticity and care for
the environment.
We will pursue structural improvements through M&A and partnerships with focus on Western Europe.
We will maintain Royal Unibrew’s financial flexibiliy by continuously considering our capital structure with the intention
of adjusting it to support the realization of the strategic and financial targets.
We will convert our energy consumption to renewable energy and also focus on the entire value chain and include
the consumption by our suppliers. We will work with suppliers that share our values and focus on green energy
consumption and lower the impact from packaging material through recycling.
As a regionally based beverage company founded on strong local presence in the societies of typically rural areas,
Royal Unibrew aims to be a responsible member of the community.
We will invest in renewable energy and have an open mindset towards new technologies. Operational efficiencies
and circular thinking have always been a part of the Royal Unibrew DNA.
Becoming the most sustainable beverage company requires that all employees are engaged in the journey and we
will work persistently to embed a sustainability mindset throughout our organization.
Become the most
sustainable beverage
company
Insights and strong competences are required to reach our ambitious strategic targets. Therefore, we strive to create a
culture that encourages talent, develops skills and competences, recognizes achievements and values each individual.
We give high priority to retaining experienced employees and recruiting new employees who bring accelerated
momentum and new knowledge. This includes a diverse and strong blend of educational background, work and life
experience, diversity of beliefs, nationality and gender.
A succession process ensures identification of talents and ensures acceleration of careers within Royal Unibrew.
Our strategy
Our growth formula: Volume + Value + Efficiency Investments in growth = Increased Earnings
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202015
Strategy
Strategy – Our strategy
→
Operating Model I Our growth formula I Multi beverage and niche I
Non-alcoholic categories I Alcoholic categories I
Financial targets, capital structure and distribution policy I Outlook for 2021
Business
model
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202016
Business
Busi – COVER
We have a strong performance culture with a very
solid operating model that fits well with our portfolio
of strong local brands.
Royal Unibrew has built its business on the core belief that
beverages and the nature of the business make it important
to be close to customers and act locally. This is reflected in
the composition of our business and brands.
Our business is built on one common group IT platform, per-
formance management system and procurement setup. This
gives us the ability to obtain transparency and to optimize our
business processes across the group.
All other functions are managed locally under the supervision
of the country manager. We operate with marketing depart-
ments and sales organizations having competences to make
commercial decisions in each individual country/market. This
ensures proximity to our consumers and customers in the
different markets and product portfolios which are managed
locally. Profitability and competition by category differ from
country to country and consequently our model enables our
local organization to prioritize where to invest and focus.
Royal Unibrew operates with a flat organizational structure
with few management layers. E.g., all country managers re-
port directly to the Senior Leadership Team. The corporate
functions are designed according to the business model and
consequently group functions are kept at a minimum level.
This ensures that activities in the single countries are not
duplicated centrally.
Digital approach
Our digital journey is a key enabler of our future success. For
the main processes we strive to work on common systems
once the processes have reached a certain maturity level. E.g.,
we operate with one groupwide ERP system based on SAP
and several related tools that are common across the group.
In areas where development varies across countries, we allow
local solutions to be developed; particularly in the commercial
area. However, as the processes mature we strive to roll out
common solutions across the group.
Operating model
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202017
Business
Busi – Operating model
Volume growth
Our growth formula
We continue to pursue and remains committed
to deliver profitable growth and thereby a strong
cash-flow generation. To maintain momentum in our
business we work within a number of areas:
We aspire to be consumers’ and customers’ preferred bev-
erage provider through investments in our existing portfolio,
but also from developing new products and thereby over time
providing a more sustainable beverage offering.
We strive to create a culture that attracts and maintains
talents, develops skills and competences, as well as offers
personal development opportunities for our employees.
We aim to create a positive total shareholders return, through
a combination of growing distribution (dividends and share
buy-backs) over time as well as an increasing share price.
Our target is to grow faster than the market in which we
compete and consequently increase our value market share.
The ambition is to reduce the ratio of fixed costs per net
revenue every year.
We also strive to create value by acquiring companies. The
foundation for acquisitions is always that it can be incorporat-
ed in our operating model and our business model enables
us to extract synergies.
To fuel growth in medium to long-term, we strive to increase commercial
spending directed towards growth initiatives every year. The increase will
depend on the opportunities identified in the marketplace.
• We want to be the preferred partner
to our customers. This is achieved
by strong focus on in-store execution
and ensuring that our products are
displayed well in customers’ prem-
ises to ensure that customers per-
form well in the individual beverage
categories.
• We want to grow distribution by fo-
cusing on channels where our prod-
ucts are underrepresented.
• We want to prioritize commercial
spending to support growing cate-
gories and channels.
Efficiency
improvements
• Efficiency remains a key pillar in our
value creation journey. The key driver
of efficiency is operating leverage.
We achieve operating leverage by
growing the topline faster than our
fixed cost. Our multi beverage oper-
ating model enables us to achieve
higher utilization of fixed assets, sell
more per salesperson, have higher
average drop size to customers and
in general have higher productivity
per employee.
• The foundation for continued im-
provement of our productivity is that
we are able to digitalize and stand-
ardize as many processes as possi-
ble. In terms of servicing our custom-
ers there is a constant battle between
offering a good and personalized
service level and at the same time
manage costs. Our guiding principle
is to spend as little time as possible
on repetitive tasks in order to direct
time towards value creating tasks.
Premiumization
• We want to continuously develop
new products at a more premium
level than the average portfolio we
currently offer. This enables Royal
Unibrew to obtain a higher price and
to deliver better value to consumers
and customers.
• We want to grow the more profitable
channels faster and thereby offer a
product portfolio with better value.
• We want to direct our commercial
spending to the more premium part
of our portfolio.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202018
Business
Busi – Our growth formula
MARKETS
Multi beverage Multi-niche Niche
Denmark Italy Austria
Finland US Switzerland
Lithuania UK Africa
Latvia Germany Middle East
Estonia Canada Caribbean
France and more
Royal Unibrew has two fundamental strategic routes
which is multi beverage and niche position. The
multi-beverage strategy is relevant in markets with
a wide coverage of beverage categories and full
channel coverage. The portfolio would aim to cover
mainstream and above mainstream.
The multi-beverage strategy is currently being pursued in
Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
From a value perspective the largest beverage categories
in the markets are often beer, carbonated soft drink, energy
drinks and RTD. Our brand portfolios in the multi beverage
markets are combinations of own locally anchored brands
and partner brands from e.g. PepsiCo, Heineken and Dia-
geo. In the multi beverage market the combined value of the
full portfolio is very important as it delivers leverage for our
customers and for Royal Unibrew. Economies of scale on all
dimensions is a winning formula.
The niche strategy is more targeted to either single brands
or a few brands in the specific market. This strategy is
currently being pursued in markets like e.g. Italy, France,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, US and Canada. Currently, most
markets outside of the multi beverage territory would be
either single brand or two brands markets, while markets like
Italy, US, UK, Germany, Canada and France are multi-niche
markets. In most cases we would leverage an individual
sales organization covering several channels in multi-niche
markets, while niche markets would be serviced by local
partners through our international key account organization.
Multi beverage and niche
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202019
Business
Busi – Multi beverage and niche
CSD
Water
Energy
Malt
Non-alcoholic beers
Other non-alcoholic
beverages
CSDMaltOther non-
alcoholic
beverages
Non-
alcoholic
beers
EnergyWater
-20
-10
0
10
20
67
66
12
14
7
8
6
7
2
2
5
4
2019
2020
Non-alcoholic categories
Our non-alcoholic beverage portfolio is outgrowing
our alcoholic beverage portfolio, and we are repre-
sented in some very interesting growth categories.
Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) constitutes % of our non-al-
coholic revenue. We have very strong positions in Denmark
and Finland where Faxe Kondi and Jaffa have market leading
positions, respectively. In Italy, Lemon Soda is # in the lemon
category in the Off-Trade. On top of these local super brands,
we have an International partnership with PepsiCo covering
Denmark, Finland and the Baltic countries.
Around % of our non-alcoholic revenue stems from water.
In Finland, Novelle is the market leader and operates within
still, sparkling, and enhanced water. Our CO neutral brand
Egekilde, which is sold in PET bottles made of % recycled
plastic holds a market leading position in Denmark.
was negatively impacted by Convenience and On-Trade sales.
Energy has grown to become a relatively large part of our
non-alcoholic portfolio with % of revenue in . Energy is
growing faster than the average beverage market in all our
markets, and our brands Cult, Faxe Kondi Booster and ED is
very well received by consumers and customers.
Our Malt Beverage business is % of our non-alcoholic rev-
enue. Our brands, Vitamalt, Supermalt and Power Malt are
primarily sold in the Americas and Africa as well as among
ethnic groups from these areas living in and around major
cities in Europe and the US.
The share of non-alcoholic beers has increased to more than
% of our non-alcoholic beverage revenue, as it grew almost
% from to . We have a strong portfolio of alcohol-
free beers based on our local strong brand portfolio, as well
as Heineken . through our international partnership cov-
ering Denmark and Finland.
Other non-alcoholic beverages constitute % of our non-
alcoholic revenue of which the majority is juice where our
Cido brand has a very strong market position in the Baltic
countries.
REVENUE SPLIT, NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
(%)
NONALCOHOLIC REVENUE GROWTH RATES
(2020 VS 2019)
(%)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202020
Business
Busi – Non-alcoholic categories
Beer
Cider/RTD
Wine & spirits
BeerWine & spiritsCider/RTD
-16
-12
-8
-4
0
71
71
21
21
8
8
2019
2020
REVENUE SPLIT, ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
(%)
ALCOHOLIC REVENUE GROWTH RATES
(2020 VS 2019)
(%)
In 2020, the alcoholic beverage segment was severe-
ly impacted by COVID-19 in all our markets, espe-
cially in the On-Trade segment.
Beer is by far the largest revenue contributor to our alcoholic
beverage segment, as it contributes around % of revenue.
We have strong market positions in Denmark, Finland and
the Baltic Countries and is the market leader in the super
premium segment in Italy. We also produce, sell and distrib-
ute Heineken in Denmark and Finland. Our export brand Faxe
is growing significantly in the international segment and is
heading toward mhl in .
Around % of our alcoholic beverage revenue stems from Ci-
der and RTD where we have strong positions in Denmark and
Finland. In Denmark, Shaker has a strong position, whereas
Original Long Drink in Finland is the market leader in the
segment.
In Finland, we offer a range of international spirits and wine
brands, including Johnny Walker, Captain Morgan, Lanson,
JP Chenet and Baileys on an agency basis, and constitutes
around % of revenue in the alcoholic beverages segment.
Alcoholic categories
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202021
Business
Busi – Alcoholic categories
EBIT
margin
20162017201820192020
.%.%.%.%.%
NIBD /
EBITDA
20162017201820192020
.....
Equity ratio
20162017201820192020
%%%%%
Dividend
20162017201820192020
%%%%%
-%
<.
times
At least
%
-%
of consolidated
profit for the year
Financial targets, capital structure and distribution policy
Our financial targets are based both on creating
shareholder value and developing the business for
the benefit of all stakeholders. To achieve this, we
aim to create financial flexibility to develop the busi-
ness over the medium to long term.
The capability of achieving the financial targets is conditional
on continuous business development through focus on growth
opportunities, partnerships, innovation, sales and marketing,
and on continuous efficiency measures. The positive devel-
opment in recent years has enabled us to increase our EBIT
margin target and to make considerable distributions to our
shareholders.
EBIT margin
Our medium-term EBIT margin target is -%.
In , we achieved an EBIT margin of %. The year was very
unusual as the margin over the year varied significantly from a
normal year due to COVID- and cost level was unusually low.
The EBIT margin is best in class when compared to other bev-
erage companies in Europe and has increased substantially
over recent years due to strong strategic and commercial
execution and cost management. The profit growth formu-
la has worked well in recent years and will be continued in
alignment with the same principles.
Our focus is to stay within the EBIT margin target and focus
on growing the absolute EBIT by securing funds to invest in
supporting the organic growth opportunities that arise in
our markets.
Capital structure and distribution policy
The objective of our capital structure policy is to secure
enough flexibility to develop the business in line with our stra-
tegic priorities. It remains the target that net interest-bearing
debt is not to exceed . times EBITDA and that an equity
ratio of at least % is to be maintained at year-end. Given
the current composition of the balance sheet, the equity ratio
is the ratio that determines the pay-out capabilities. We may
depart from the targeted ratios for a certain period of time if
structural business opportunities arise.
Our priorities for capital allocation are as follows:
. Maintain financial flexibility
• Net debt/EBITDA less than .
• Equity ratio of more than %
. Invest in organic growth
. Acquisitions
. Stable dividend pay-out ratio (-%)
. Share buy-backs to adjust capital structure
Our annual investments including repayment on lease facil-
ities (IFRS ) are expected to be around % of net revenue.
Management evaluates on an ongoing basis if the capital
structure is to be adjusted by launching share buy-back pro-
grams. It is generally the intention that shares bought back
will be cancelled.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202022
Business
Busi – Financial targets, capital structure
The start to 2021 has taken place in the shadow
of COVID-19. Our On-Trade business has been hit
through tough restrictions imposed on restaurants,
bars, night entertainment, sports and music events
and much more.
The Off-Trade business is not picking up as much of the lost
sale in On-Trade during the winter months, as the case was
in the spring of . This is because there are not the same
outdoor drinking occasions during the winter and because
gathering restrictions are much tighter now compared to the
first round of lock-downs. As a result, uncertainty continues at
elevated levels, and this year’s results are strongly dependa-
ble on when restrictions on the On-Trade business are lifted,
and on when gathering restrictions are eased.
The current environment therefore caters for a continued
focus on cost flexibility, production planning, the capability
to deliver, while at the same time pursue our commercial
agenda and continuously find the pockets of growth in our
markets and still be ready for the reopening of societies on
the back of the pandemic. Despite the current circumstances,
we expect to deliver an EBIT in the range of DKK ,-,
million, which should be compared to EBIT of DKK , mil-
lion in . Compared to where we realized an EBIT of
DKK , million, we therefore expect to grow our EBIT by
up to %, despite the negative impacts caused by COVID-.
The Board of Directors has decided to initiate a share buy-
back program of up to DKK million as soon as possible
covering the period until June . During the summer,
it will be decided whether an additional share buy-back will
be initiated based on the state of COVID- and our financial
flexibility at that point.The Board of Directors will recommend
to the AGM in a distribution of ordinary dividend of DKK
. per share. Hence, at least DKK million is expected
to be distributed based on the Financial Statements for .
Assumptions about markets and main priorities for
We want to continue to grow faster than the market in all the
markets we compete, by overinvesting in pockets of growth
across our footprint. We expect to move towards normali-
zation as restrictions are eased, normalizing our sales and
marketing expenses, building our brand equity further and
investing in the opportunities that will arise once societies
reopen. Our organization is prepared for different scenarios
given the volatile environment we are in, which means that
we have a tight focus on our cost base, while we at the same
time invest cautiously behind our mainstream brands. Given
our new sustainability strategy we are investing in CSR to
strengthen our medium-term opportunities, as well as we
are investing in capacity expansions.
Our strategic focus remains set on products with low and
no sugar and alcohol and premium and craft products. On
top of this, we want to take advantage of the high growth in
energy drinks and RTD/cocktails, as well as the continuing
trend towards healthier beverages, which are benefiting our
enhanced waters.
That said, will be a year with continued high uncertainty
why flexibility in planning and use of cost is very important.
The key risks to our business outlook are when restrictions
will be lifted and gathering restrictions eased, especially in
Denmark, Italy and Finland, but also if consumers after this
will return towards the consumption behavior they had in .
The high end of our EBIT guidance range assumes that
On-Trade restrictions are lifted and gathering restrictions
eased around April , and that the On-Trade therefore
is opened through the entire summer. At the low end of our
EBIT guidance range, we have assumed that restrictions are
lifted around July .
The low end of our EBIT guidance range includes lower sales
and marketing costs, compared to the high end of the guid-
ance range. In that scenario, the development in gathering
restrictions will be an important factor, because when these
are eased, people are able to meet again inside, but also
outside in the spring and early summer months. We are as-
suming a normal summer in and Christmas season.
Our free cash flow in was positively affected by several
factors, of which around DKK million are expected to
revert during . In , mix shifted towards Off-Trade and
northern Europe where businesses in general have shorter
payment terms. We expect business activity to normalize
during . We also do not expect to continue the extraordi-
nary beer campaign activity in Finland, which will impact our
cash flow negatively compared to . On top of this comes
payment of delayed tax payments and for holiday accruals in
Denmark (legislation change). In total, these factors are ex-
pected to generate a net working capital headwind of around
DKK million in compared to .
OUTLOOK FOR 2021
mDKK Outlook 2021 Actual 2020
EBIT 1,475-1,625 1,515
Outlook for 2021
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202023
Business
Busi – Outlook for 2021
Financial assumptions
• As was a normal summer, the outlook has
been made under same assumption.
• Net selling prices are assumed to be slightly increasing
during as a result of the reopening of the On-Trade
business as well as growth in the convenience (single
serve) channel. In addition, our overall premiumization
efforts and price/pack strategies in each segment and
country will support a positive price/mix development.
These efforts are unchanged and include optimization of
the product mix.
• Generally, costs are expected to follow the inflation in
. Commercial costs are expected to increase in
connection with growth initiatives and investments in
the existing business, as well as a pick-up in sales and
marketing costs compared to following the expect-
ed reopening.
• We will continue our focus on generating continuous
improvements and enhancing efficiency across the
business and in all entities.
• Royal Unibrew has entered into hedging agreements for
a large part of the expected consumption of key raw and
packaging materials for .
• Exchange rates between DKK and other currencies are
expected to remain unchanged as compared to the end
of February .
• COVID- has had a significant impact on the On-Trade
business in the first months of , which is expected
to continue until restrictions are lifted. The guidance is
based on an opening during Q.
• In , our net investments are expected to be higher
than set by our financial targets of around %, due to
the fact that some capex-plans from were pushed
into , we will increase our investments in CSR and
expand capacity to support future growth.
• Corporate income tax rate is expected to amount to
around % of profit before tax excluding income after
tax from investments in associates.
TOTAL DISTRIBUTION FOR THE YEAR
mDKK 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Dividend 600 538 451 426 386
Share-buy-back 362 433 484 508 443
Total distribution 962 971 935 934 829
as a % of prior year consolidated profit 84 93 113 119 117
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202024
Business
→
Financial review I Western Europe I Baltic Sea I International
Performance
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202025
Performance
Perform – COVER
Financial review
2020 was a challenging year due to COVID-19, but
through tight planning and strong cost focus, Royal
Unibrew came out of 2020 with increased market
shares and a strong earnings performance.
Initially , started with ambitious plans to continue the
underlying positive development in earnings, despite tough
comparable from a very strong . Already in March, the
COVID- pandemic forced us to revise our plans, as restric-
tions were imposed on the On-Trade channel in many of our
markets. Through tight planning and with a strong focus on
costs, we managed to deliver a profitability slightly above
last year, as well as expanding our market shares across
most markets.
Volumes
The volumes sold increased by % to . mhl and were or-
ganically at the same level as last year.
Net revenue
Net revenue amounted to DKK , million and decreased
% organically. The reported net revenue decrease by % as
the acquisitions contributed positively with %.
Net revenue was negatively impacted by COVID- in the
Western Europe and Baltic Sea segment, whereas the Inter-
national segment was able to grow % organically.
EBIT
EBIT amounted to DKK , million, an increase of % com-
pared to . EBIT increased in the Baltic Sea and Interna-
tional segments, whereas Western Europe declined mainly
related to the result in the Italian On-Trade channel.
Acquisitions impacted EBIT by less than % at group level.
In all our market the On-Trade business was affected by
COVID- restrictions, which was only partly recovered by
increased sales in the Off-Trade business. Lower sales, mar-
keting and fixed costs contributed positively to the improved
EBIT result.
Read more: page 80
Balance sheet
Total assets at December amounted to DKK ,
million, which is DKK million below the December
figure, which is mainly explained by lower receivables
and because amortization and depreciation of non-current
assets exceeds investments in .
Equity amounted to DKK . million and the equity ratio
improved by percentages points to % by the end of .
Read more: page 82
Cash flow
The free cash flow amounted to DKK , million in ver-
sus DKK , million in . The increase of DKK million
was positively impacted by the extraordinary beer campaign
in Finland, extended payment term on employee tax, as well
as channel and country mix.
The positive impact on cash flow from the extraordinary beer
campaign in Finland is due to longer payment terms on the
excise payment compared to the customer payment and is a
phasing impact between and . In , mix shifted
towards Off-Trade and northern Europe – both with shorter
payment terms than group average – this is expected to nor-
malize in . During , different support programs and
aid packages has been presented across countries. Royal
Unibrew has only to a limited extend benefitted from these
programs and packages. At the end of , Danish employee
taxes to a total of DKK million were postponed into .
We estimate that the normalized free cash flow level for Royal
Unibrew in was around DKK , million. In , free
cash flow will be negatively impacted as some of the positive
impacts from will flow back, see outlook section.
Read more: page 84
Financing
Net interest bearing debt was DKK , million at the end
of , corresponding to a net decrease of DKK million
equal to the positive free cash flow less distribution to share-
holders. At the end of , the net interest-bearing debt to
EBITDA ratio was .x (: .x). Our revolving credit facility
has been extended for year with final maturity end of .
Share buy-back
During the year, Royal Unibrew has repurchased shares at
a total purchase price of DKK million. (: DKK
million). Total announced programs were DK million.
The remainder of the programs have been completed in the
beginning of .
Read more about the share buy-back programs on page 46.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202026
Performance
Perform – Financial review
2019
2020
48
45
2019
2020
48
47
2019
2020
43
44
2019
2020
43
43
2019
2020
9
11
2019
2020
9
10
Overview business segments
financial performance
Western Europe
DENMARK, GERMANY, ITALY AND FRANCE
Baltic Sea
FINLAND, LATVIA, LITHUANIA AND ESTONIA
International
MARKETS IN AMERICAS AND EMEAA
Further information: page 28 Further information: page 30Further information: page 32
SHARE OF NET REVENUESHARE OF NET REVENUESHARE OF NET REVENUE
SHARE OF EBITSHARE OF EBITSHARE OF EBIT
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202027
Performance
Perform – Overview business segments
2018
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
2016201720192020
2018
17.5
18,0
18.5
19.0
19.5
20.0
20.5
2016201720192020
20162017201820192020
3,100
3,400
3,700
4,000
4,300
4,600
4,900
2018
1,900
2,200
2,500
2,800
3,100
3,400
3,700
2016201720192020
Western
Europe
Financial Performance
In Western Europe, total volumes showed a % decrease in
and a total of . mhl.
Net revenue from beverages was % lower than in , as
the On-Trade and Border business was significantly hit by
COVID- restrictions.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for showed a
DKK million decrease from DKK million in to DKK
million in , due to the lower net revenue. The EBIT
margin decreased slightly by . percentage points to .%.
WESTERN EUROPE
Q4 Q4
mDKK 2020 2019 % changes 2020 2019 % changes
Volumes (thl) 4,682 4,813 -3 1,041 1,085 -4
Net revenue 3,548 3,691 -4 769 831 -7
EBIT 687 722 -5 120 132 -9
EBIT margin 19.4 19.6 15.6 15.8
“The On-Trade business was highly
impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions.
However, due to the close cooperation
with our customers as well as an
agile organization and supply chain
we succeeded to direct our efforts
towards the growing Off-Trade business
– resulting in satisfactory results and
increasing market shares.”
Jan Ankersen,
SVP South Europe and GM Italy
In Q , volumes declined by % compared to Q ,
whereas net revenue declined by % in the same period. Both
due to the COVID- restrictions imposed on the On-Trade
channel throughout the region.
The EBIT margin declined by . percentage point from .%
in Q to .% in Q .
EBIT
(mDKK)
EBITMARGIN
(%)
VOLUMES
(thl)
NET REVENUE
(mDKK)
4.7
mhl
VOLUME
(down by 3%)
687mDKK
EBIT
(down by 5%)
3.5bDKK
NET REVENUE
(down by 4%)
19.4%
EBITMARGIN
(down by 0.2pp)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202028
Performance
Perform – Western Europe
Development and initiatives in 2020
During , COVID- restrictions on social gatherings and
opening hours challenged the On-Trade business in all mar-
kets. It also opened new opportunities that the organization
quickly responded to.
After the COVID- outbreak in Denmark, a number of re-
strictions were introduced in March, including a closure of the
borders to Germany. The restrictions had a positive impact on
the Off-Trade business in Denmark and Germany, although
not in a scale that could compensate for the lost business in
the On-Trade channel and border business.
The sales and supply teams responded quickly to support the
growing Off-Trade business, while at the same time support-
ing On-Trade customers in the difficult situation. During the
lockdown, for example, we hosted the biggest virtual beer
testing event in Denmark and brewed a beer to the famous
Danish TV show “Natholdet”, and when the market re-opened
during the summer period, we supported bars and restau-
rants with initiatives to support their business.
To support future growth, particular in the Danish market and
at the German border, the construction of a new High Bay
Warehouse in Faxe started in (expected to be put in use
in ). The new facilities will increase the storage capacity
significantly at the site and thus the flexibility of delivery to
our customers.
In Italy about % of our business is in On-Trade. To part-
ly compensate for the effects of the significant decrease in
sales during the periods with lockdowns and restrictions, we
have focused on boosting our supermarket operations and
ensuring that the wholesale and Cash & Carry channels were
well-stocked and activated with our Ceres and LemonSoda
brands. Ceres has in particular performed well in the Off-
Trade channel where we launched a range of speciality beer
next to our iconic Ceres Strong Ale. We have also actively
supported bar owners in the periods between the lockdowns.
In France, we focus on building a solid platform from which
we can drive high value creation and with focus on in-store
execution and e-commerce initiatives for our Lorina brand. In
, we reach all time high market share in lemonade, a cat-
egory which grew faster than the general soft drink market.
During the COVID- period, we have reached out to our con-
sumers online in both Italy and France. In Italy the Italian .
Ceres virtual apero event and in France the Lorina mixer event
each Friday at . are just a few of many new occasions
where our brands created happiness and new moments of
enjoyment among consumers.
Faxe Kondi
in Denmark
was a great year for our
Faxe Kondi brand, especially
for the calories which grew
% in volume.
Successful virtual
beer tasting events
During the very unusual , we have supported a number
of initiatives to help our customers and local societies. One
example is our virtual beer tasting events in Denmark,
where we promoted more than local craft breweries
and sold more than . of their beers.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202029
Performance
Baltic Sea
2018
3,700
4,000
4,300
4,600
4,900
5,200
5,500
2016201720192020
2018
1,600
1,900
2,200
2,500
2,800
3,100
3,400
2016201720192020
2018
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
2016201720192020
2018
12
14
16
18
20
22
2016201720192020
BALTIC SEA
Q4 Q4
mDKK 2020 2019 % changes 2020 2019 % changes
Volumes (thl) 5,409 5,268 3 1,321 1,229 7
Net revenue 3,237 3,308 -2 765 787 -3
EBIT 675 654 3 99 127 -22
EBIT margin 20.8 19.8 12.9 16.2
Financial performance
In Baltic Sea, volumes for showed a % increase com-
pared to primarily due to the large beer campaign in
Finland in Q. Net revenue showed a % decrease and was
affected by the product and channel mix.
EBIT increased to DKK million and were DKK million
above the figure. The EBIT margin increased by percent-
age point from .% in to .% in . The earnings de-
velopment was positively affected by tight cost management
during the lockdown periods and the acquisition of Bauskas.
“In a challenging year, we have benefited
from our broad portfolio and have taken
advantage of the growth in the low/no
sugar/alco segments. The satisfactory
results in 2020 can also be attributed to
our ability to deliver the right products
at the right time.”
Kalle Järvinen,
SVP Baltic Sea & MD Hartwall
Volumes increased by % in Q , which is primarily due
to the extraordinary beer campaign in Finland, as we did not
have that campaign in Q . Revenue declined by % due
to COVID- restrictions, whereas the EBIT margin declined
by . percentage points from .% in Q to .% in
Q .
VOLUMES
(thl)
NET REVENUE
(mDKK)
EBIT
(mDKK)
EBITMARGIN
(%)
5.4mhl
VOLUME
(up by 3%)
675mDKK
EBIT
(up by 3%)
3.2 bDKK
NET REVENUE
(down by 2%)
20.8%
EBITMARGIN
(up by 1.0pp)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202030
Performance
Perform – Baltic Sea
Development and initiatives in 2020
The Baltic Sea segment was also impacted by the COVID-
restrictions, but to a lesser extent as well as at a later stage
for some of the countries compared to Italy and Denmark.
Due to a fast response and great flexibility, we succeeded to
obtain an even better result than in the record year , and
at the same time we gained market share.
In Finland, we continued the premiumization of our beer
portfolio, with our brands Aura, Lahden Erikois and Lapin
Kulta Pure. We also continued our efforts in the low/no sugar
/alco area, including introducing a new Lapin Kulta .%, and
our portfolio delivered very strong growth rates.
In the Ready-to-Drink category, Original Long Drink con-
tinued to grow. The campaign “The greyest day of the year”
reached . participants in compared to .
the year before and despite COVID-. In , we continued
our innovation adding new tastes and the Original Long Shot
to the portfolio.
In the Baltics, we have been less impacted by COVID- as we
are less dependent on the On-Trade channel in this region.
CULT energy was introduced to the market in and was
well received by the consumers. The beer sale in Lithuania
and Latvia has developed positively, supported by products
from our latest acquisition Bauskas, which are perform-
ing better than expected. The addition of Bauskas in Latvia
has strengthened our multi-beverage model in the Baltics.
Bauskas is now fully integrated into the business, which has
strengthened our presence in the craft beer segment in the
country. We have also successfully captured new customers
in the On-Trade segment as a result of the acquisition.
On March , Bauskas was moved to our group-wide SAP
system.
Zero Zone in
supermarkets
In all countries in the Baltic Sea segment we are gaining
ground with our low/no beverage portfolio, with PepsiMax
leading the growth, and supported by our own strong local
brands such as Jaffa and Enjoy.
To make the choice even more visible for consumers, we
have established Zero Zone areas together with the super-
markets – efficiently presenting our no sugar and no alcohol
products.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202031
Performance
Inter-
national
2018
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
2016201720192020
2018
150
300
450
600
750
900
1,050
2016201720192020
2018
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
2016201720192020
2018
400
500
600
700
800
2016201720192020
Financial Performance
Volumes in showed a % increase and net revenue in-
creased by %. The net revenue was impacted by positive de-
velopments in all categories and brands. EBIT amounted to
DKK million and were DKK million above the figure.
The EBIT margin went up by . percentage points from .%
to .%. The earnings development was positively affected by
a better product mix and savings on travel costs.
INTERNATIONAL
Q4 Q4
mDKK 2020 2019 % changes 2020 2019 % changes
Volumes (thl) 1,002 942 6 285 220 30
Net revenue 772 694 11 198 170 16
EBIT 171 132 30 39 24 63
EBIT margin 22.2 19.0 19.9 14.0
“In 2020, things have gone well in almost
all markets in International and we have
been favored by a number of factors,
including a strong position of our main
brands, a re-branding of some of our
products and an increasingly wider
distribution.”
Carsten Nørland,
SVP International
In Q , volumes increased by % as some markets were
restocked to reflect sale out. Revenue increased by % in
the same period, less than volumes because of market mix.
The EBIT margin increased by . percentage points from
.% in Q to .% in Q . This development can
partly be explained by impairment in Q of DKK million last
year (Q- EBIT-margin adjusted for impairment .%).
VOLUMES
(thl)
EBIT
(mDKK)
EBITMARGIN
(%)
NET REVENUE
(mDKK)
1.0mhl
VOLUME
(up by 6%)
171mDKK
EBIT
(up by 30%)
0.8bDKK
NET REVENUE
(up by 11%)
22.2%
EBITMARGIN
(up by 3.2pp)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202032
Performance
Perform – International
Development and initiatives in 2020
The impact from COVID- has been fragmented in the Inter-
national segment and we have seen countries in Asia moving
towards a more normal situation with a reopening of bars and
restaurants faster than in countries in Europe.
With reference to the Danish Vikings, our FAXE brand had a
great year in , especially in Africa. We have built the brand
over many years in close cooperation with our local distribut-
ers offering affordable premium products to the consumers.
In , we also supplemented the FAXE brand with a non
alcoholic variant with great taste.
The Tempt cider brand continues to grow significantly in Asia,
where the COVID- impact was mainly seen in the beginning
of the year.
The Malt business is also performing well across countries,
and we have invested in digital campaigns as well as new
packaging formats to support the positioning of the malt
brands.
In , we will focus on the areas that have performed in-
creasingly well in the past couple of years.
Donation of Supermalt
Supermalt can in many respects be considered
a dietary supplement, and during the COVID-
outbreak we have donated Supermalt and Vita-
malt to hospitals in Africa and the Caribbean
to support patients and health staff.
Virtual carnival
No matter what happens in the world, we all
need a break, socializing and fun – with a Vi-
tamalt event we supported the yearly carnival
in London, which in was organized as a
virtual carnival.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202033
Performance
→
Corporate Governance I Risk Management I Remuneration I
Board of Directors and Executive Management I Shareholder information
Governance
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202034
Governance
Gover – COVER
Royal Unibrew has focus on running its business
and designing its management systems in accord-
ance with good corporate governance practices. The
objective is to ensure that Royal Unibrew meets its
obligations to shareholders, customers, employees,
authorities and other stakeholders and that long-
term value creation is pursued.
The recommendations of the Committee on Corporate Gov-
ernance, current legislation and regulation within the area,
best practices and internal rules provide the framework for
Royal Unibrew’s corporate governance.
For the financial year , Royal Unibrew has prepared a
remuneration report in accordance with section b of the
Danish Companies Act. The report concludes that the remu-
neration of the Board of Directors and the Executive Manage-
ment has been provided in accordance with the remuneration
policy and incentive guidelines of Royal Unibrew adopted by
the AGM on April .
Royal Unibrew established a whistleblower scheme in
for expedient and confidential notification of possible or sus-
pected wrong doings. In , no whistleblower cases were
reported.
Royal Unibrew’s website https://investor.royalunibrew.com/
corporate-governance provides a detailed description of the
Board of Directors’ approach to the Corporate Governance
Recommendations issued by the Committee on Corporate
Governance and designated by Nasdaq Copenhagen.
Diversity and inclusion
Royal Unibrew strives to promote diversity based on a con-
viction that inclusion and diversity contributes to achieving
Royal Unibrew’s vision and goals in a competitive global busi-
ness environment. This includes a diverse and strong blend
of educational background work and life experience, diversity
of beliefs, nationality and gender, both within the Board of
Directors as well as in our respective management teams
and our workforce in general. We believe that a diversified
organization increases the versatility and total competences
of the Company and improves decision-making processes.
The international management team of Royal Unibrew – a
total of leaders – comprises % (: %) male and
% (: %) female. Our target is a more balanced gender
representation of at least % of each gender in the Board
of Directors and international management teams. When
recruiting new executives, we prioritize identifying candidates
of both genders without discrimination and aim to encourage
female candidates’ interest in taking on managerial tasks.
Currently, the Board of Directors consists of six Board mem-
bers elected by the AGM and three Board members elected by
the Danish based employees (all males). Three of the mem-
bers elected by the AGM are Danish and three are non-Dan-
ish. Two of the AGM elected board members are females.
We aim for the Board of Directors to consist of expert mem-
bers who should, to the widest extent possible, complement
each other in terms of age, background, nationality, gender,
etc., with a view to ensuring a competent and versatile con-
tribution to the board duties at Royal Unibrew. These mat-
ters are taking into consideration when the Nomination and
Remuneration Committee identifies new candidates for the
POLICY ON DATA ETHICS
Pursuant to changes in the Danish Financial Statements Act
listed companies are required to adopt a policy on data ethics
and include a statement of the company’s policy in the annual
report – or explain if the company does not have a data ethics
policy. The new rules impose further obligations in addition to
the GDPR and will apply from the financial year .
Royal Unibrew adopted its policy on data ethics in . The
policy establishes the overall guidelines and principles for how
data ethics is considered and included in the use of data as well
as design and implementation of technologies, especially new
technologies, used for processing of personal data in Royal
Unibrew.
The policy is based on the principles on data ethics adopted
by the Danish Council for Digital Security (Rådet for Digital
Sikkerhed) and sets the general guidelines as well as specific
details on relevant topics, e.g. legality, ethical design, conse-
quences of processing data, security, transparency and respect
for human rights.
The existing GDPR Steering Committee (CFO, CIO, HR Director
and General Counsel) is responsible for the data ethics policy
and its implementation, while the practical compliance with the
policy is incorporated in the existing data protection compliance
program in Royal Unibrew.
The data ethics statement will be included in the annual
report.
Corporate governance
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202035
Governance
Gover – Corporate governance
55
54
32
32
7
6
7
7
2019
2020
Board of Directors, and it is an objective of the committee to
identify both male and female candidates. However, recom-
mendation of candidates will always be based on an assess-
ment of the individual candidate’s competences and how he/
she will match Royal Unibrew’s needs and contribute to the
overall efficiency of the Board.
Shareholder and stakeholder relations
Royal Unibrew’s Management strives and works actively to
maintain a good and transparent communication and dia-
logue with its shareholders and other stakeholders. We be-
lieve that a high level of transparency in the communication
of information on the Company’s development supports our
work and a fair valuation of the Company’s shares. Our open-
ness is limited only by the duties of disclosure of Nasdaq
Copenhagen and by competitive considerations.
The dialogue with and communication to shareholders and
other stakeholders take place in connection with the pub-
lishing of financial reports and other announcements com-
municated via audio casts, meetings with investors, analysts
and the media. Financial Reports and other announcements
are available at Royal Unibrew’s website immediately after
being published. Our website also includes material used
in connection with investor presentations and audio casts.
According to the Articles of Association of Royal Unibrew,
general meetings shall be convened not more than five weeks
and not less than three weeks prior to the general meeting. It
is an objective to formulate the notice convening the meeting
and the agenda in a way that gives shareholders an adequate
presentation of the business to be transacted at the general
meeting. Proxies are limited to a specific general meeting
and are formulated also to allow absent shareholders to give
specific proxies for individual items of the agenda – either to
the Board of Directors or to a person attending the general
meeting. All documents relating to general meetings are
published at Royal Unibrew’s website.
Each share of a nominal value of DKK entitles the holder
to one vote. Royal Unibrew’s shares are not subject to any
restrictions of voting rights, and the Company has only one
class of shares.
All shareholders may submit proposals for resolutions to
the Board of Directors to be considered at the AGM; such
proposals for resolutions are to be received by the Board of
Directors no later than six weeks prior to the date of the AGM.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors oversees the company’s overall strat-
egy and supervises the organizational, financial and perfor-
mance management of the Company as well as continuously
evaluates the work performed by the Executive Management
on behalf of the shareholders.
ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS (IN TOTAL 12)
Position Board meetings
Walther Thygesen Chairman
Jais Valeur Vice chairman
Catharina Board member
Stackelberg-Hammarén
Christian Sagild Board member
Claus Kærgaard Board member
Einar Esbensen Nielsen Board member
Floris van Woerkom Board member
Heidi Kleinbach Sauter Board member
Karsten Slotte Board member
Lars Vestergaard Board member
Martin Alsø Board member
Attended the meeting
Did not attend the meeting
Not a board member at the time
The Board of Directors performs its tasks in accordance with
the Rules of Procedure of the Company governing the Board
TAX
Royal Unibrew seeks to comply with all tax legislation to its
business operations and, in doing so, aims to minimize its tax
risk by actively seeking to identify, evaluate, monitor, and man-
age tax risks.
The resulting allocation of profits is regularly tested for com-
pliance with this standard.
Royal Unibrew has taken action to ensure that it meets the
enhanced transfer pricing disclosures and documentation re-
quirements by tax authorities and OECD.
All interactions with Tax Authorities are conducted in an open,
collaborative, and professional manner.
The total contribution through taxes in amounted to
DKK. billion (: . billion).
TAX BY CATEGORY
(%)
Excise duties
VAT
Personal taxes
and social security
contributions
Company income taxes
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202036
Governance
of Directors and the Executive Management. These Rules of
Procedure are reviewed and updated annually by the Board
of Directors.
The Board of Directors usually meets for six annual ordinary
board meetings, of which at least one focuses on the Compa-
ny’s strategy and prospects and one takes place in a market in
which the Company operates. In addition, the Board members
meet when required. In , board meetings were held.
The Board of Directors has established the following com-
mittees:
Nomination and Remuneration Committee
The committee consists of the Chairman and the Deputy
Chairman of the Board of Directors. In , the primary
activities of the committee were the preparation of the an-
nual evaluation of the Board of Directors and the Executive
Management, the selection and nomination of potential new
candidates for the Board of Directors, succession of the CEO,
the overall succession planning of the Board of Directors as
well as assessment and recommendation of remuneration
of the Board of Directors and the Executive Management.
Furthermore, the committee considered the implications of
the implementation of the revised Shareholder Rights Direc-
tive and prepared the remuneration report to be presented
at the AGM in . The committee had meetings in .
ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS (IN TOTAL 28)
Remuneration and
Position Nomination Committee
Walther Thygesen Chairman
Jais Valeur Vice chairman
Attended the meeting
Did not attend the meeting
Not a committee member at the time
Audit Committee
The committee consists of two members; the Chairman
(Floris van Woerkom) and one member (Christian Sagild).
The low level of complexity of the business and wide usage
of standard and automated IT tools are the prime reasons
for the size of the committee. It is the Audit Committee’s
objective to secure quality and integrity in the Company’s
presentation of Financial Statements, audit and financial re-
porting. Further, the Audit Committee monitors accounting
and reporting processes, the audit of the Company’s financial
reporting, risk issues and the external auditor’s performance
and independence.
Moreover, the Audit Committee assesses and recommends to
the Board of Directors election of external auditors. The ex-
ternal auditor has participated in all ordinary meetings of the
Audit Committee. The committee held eight meetings in .
ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS (IN TOTAL 8)
Position Audit Committee Meetings
Christian Sagild Board member
Floris van Woerkom Chairman Audit
Committee,
Board member
Lars Vestergaard Board member
Attended the meeting
Did not attend the meeting
Not a committee member at the time
Evaluation of the work of the Board of Directors
Evaluation of the work of the Board of Directors takes place
annually. The evaluation focuses on ensuring that the Board
of Directors (as a body) has expertise and experience within
Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), production, sales and
marketing of brands globally and in business-to-business
markets, strategic and general management and within eco-
nomic, financial and capital market issues, including those
relating to listed companies. The evaluation is facilitated by
the Chairman of the Board of Directors. For this purpose,
the Chairman receives written replies to a questionnaire
distributed to all members of the Board. The findings of the
evaluation were presented and discussed at a Board meeting
and based on the evaluation it was concluded that the
Board of Directors possesses the necessary competencies
taken Royal Unibrew’s business model and strategy into con-
sideration.
An external consultant is involved in the evaluation at least
every third year. An evaluation by an external consultant took
place in .
Both the performance of the Executive Management and the
cooperation between the Board of Directors and the Executive
Management are evaluated annually as a minimum.
Composition of the Board of Directors
When composing the Board of Directors, we emphasize that
the members have the competences required. The Board of
Directors assesses its composition annually, ensuring that
the combined competences and diversity of the members
match the Group’s activities.
Candidates for the Board of Directors are recommended for
election by the general meeting supported by motivation in
writing by the Board of Directors as well as a description of
the recruiting criteria. The individual members’ competences
and credentials are described in the below section on the
Board of Directors and the Executive Management. Upon
their election, the new Board members are introduced to the
company through a focused program.
Election of members by the employees takes place in compli-
ance with the company law rules described at the Company’s
website. When joining the Board of Directors, the members
elected by the employees are offered relevant training in
serving on a board.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202037
Governance
Risk is an inherent part of business and we take an
active approach to risk management, ensuring that
our key risks are identified and mitigated in a struc-
tured and prioritized manner. Royal Unibrew has
defined clear risk management processes, including
policies and procedures, to strive to minimize the
effect of our key risks as well as to protect our repu-
tation, values and freedom to operate.
The key enterprise risks are: market risks, industry and part-
nerships related risk, business interruption and third-party
risks and financial risks. A detailed description of the financial
risks is included in note .
We assess risks within each of the key risk areas based on
their potential impact and likelihood. To ensure a sound and
deeply rooted risk culture within the Royal Unibrew group,
local risk owners as well as central risk owner from group
functions are appointed to facilitate the risk identification,
control and mitigation, supported by the central risk man-
agement function.
A challenging with COVID-
The Royal Unibrew multi-beverage model and risk manage-
ment setup have demonstrated their resilience over time and
not at least in a time with COVID- related uncertainties.
However, the pandemic continues to challenge our employ-
ees, consumers and customers, placing additional require-
ments on our risk management and business planning.
Initiatives have been taken to ensure the safety of our em-
ployees during , and we have succeeded not to close or
reduce the production at any of our production sites during
the pandemic.
With restricted opening hours at bars and restaurants, closed
nightlife, no larger events and festivals as well as closed
borders between many of our home markets, extra support
to customers and more frequent re-planning of production
has been needed during .
To be able to meet changes in market demand, we continue to
invest in our production sites, to secure sufficient production
and storage capacity. Our agile way of working has helped us
to adjust to new opportunities both commercially and across
the supply chain.
Risk management
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202038
Governance
Gover – Risk management
SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Determines risk management policies and strategies for the
individual risks and ensures implementation of these adequate
mitigation efforts. Ensures consistency between the risk management
policy and the business objectives.
Monitors risk management and the development in key risks and ensures that
adequate resources are available to implement efficient risk management.
STAFF FUNCTIONS AND BUSINESS UNITS
Identify, assess, quantify and record risks. Make suggestions for mitigation.
Monitor risk management activities initiated. Report regularly to the Senior Leadership Team.
BOARDOF
DIRECTORS
Approves the
overall risk policy
and reviews the findings
reported by the Executive
Management.
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Monitors the development in the total strategic
risk exposures and the individual risk factors and
verifies compliance with the overall risk policy.
Risk management structure and Governance
Royal Unibrew’s risk management structure is based on a
systematic process of risk identification, risk analysis and
risk assessment. This structure provides a detailed overview
of key risks relating to the realization of our strategies in the
short and long term and enables Royal Unibrew to take the
required measures to address risks.
The Board of Directors assesses the overall risk factors re-
lating to Royal Unibrew’s activities. Risks are assessed under
a two-dimensional “heat map” assessment system which
estimates the impact of the risk in relation to profit, damage
to Royal Unibrew’s reputation, violation of legislation or en-
vironmental implications as well as the likelihood of the risk
resulting in an incident. Based on the continuous assessment
of potential risks, the ”heat map” is updated to bring a cur-
rent and better understanding of potential risks to ensure
adequate mitigations efforts are initiated.
The identified risks and proposed action plans are reviewed
and assessed by the Company’s Senior Leadership Team,
whereas, the Audit Committee reviews the adequacy and the
effectiveness of the risk management system.
Based on this the Executive Management presents the key
risks to the Board of Directors and reports the necessary
risk-mitigating activities/action plans for review.
The overall risk management structure is outlined below.
RISK MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202039
Governance
Key risk factors in
In addition to financial risks, the following risk factors are considered key risks in :
Area DescriptionRisk mitigation
Commodity
prices
and raw
materials
The prices of a large number of key commodities fluctuate in line with world market
prices. To the extent that higher unit costs cannot be compensated for by higher
selling prices per unit or in other ways of increasing the average selling price per
unit correspondingly, Royal Unibrew’s earnings will decrease. The price fluctuation
can also lead to deficiency of raw materials and effect Royal Unibrew's earnings
negatively.
Royal Unibrew monitors the trend in commodity prices. Hedging against short-term price increases
takes place through agreements with suppliers and through commodity hedges with financial institu-
tions. The Group’s policy for hedging commodity risks involves a smooth and time-differentiated effect
of commodity price increases.
For 2021, more than 60% of our commodity price exposure is hedged.
IndustryIn most markets, the product categories beer and soft drinks are characterized by
tough price competition and intensive marketing from a number of suppliers. The
COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in local e-commerce and entry of global
e-commerce providers has opened new routes to customers.
Royal Unibrew’s earnings and competitiveness are ensured through constant focus on markets and
segments in which Royal Unibrew holds or may achieve a significant position. Our investment in digital
solutions and the continuous improvements across the business will contribute towards limiting the
negative effect from the changes in the industry. Moreover, Royal Unibrew focuses on value manage-
ment through the development of products, containers and packaging, cooperation with customers
and communication with consumers.
In 2020, we have launched a B2B e-commerce platform for our customers in Denmark.
IT risks Royal Unibrew’s activities are to a large extent dependent on the use of the estab-
lished IT systems and the quality of the applied IT security solutions. A prolonged
breakdown, unintended maloperation or an unauthorized break-in into the systems
supporting sales and supply processes as well as internal information systems may
involve a significant risk of interruption of Royal Unibrew’s activities.
Royal Unibrew works consistently to improve our IT security and have established procedures to ensure:
• day-to-day operation of the IT systems supporting the key business processes
• protection against data loss
• protection against unauthorized access to and distribution of confidential data
• general protection against cybercrime and securing physical access to RU facilities
When acquiring companies, it is our risk philosophy to adopt the companies into our existing IT system
landscape and IT Security framework. On 1 March 2021, Bauskas was integrated into Royal Unibrew's
ERP platform.
Macro-
economic
uncertainty
Royal Unibrew’s product portfolio is sold in markets and market areas where market
developments are usually determined by long-cycle trends. Macroeconomic uncer-
tainty, including changes of free trade agreements or low growth of long duration or
outbreaks causing a threat to the public health, may affect earnings negatively. As a
consequence of this we might experience declining consumption or shifts in product
mix towards products in other packaging formats with lower earnings.
By focusing on flexibility in our action plans, Royal Unibrew is striving to get some leeway for reducing
the effect of macroeconomic uncertainty and changes to consumption patterns.
The efforts directed at continuous improvements across the business will contribute towards limiting
the negative effect of macroeconomic changes.
We continue to invest in our production set-up, including new can filling lines.
PartnershipRoyal Unibrew cooperate with different partners across markets and product cate-
gories. Changes to these relationships may affect the Group’s sales and net revenue,
and thus earnings.
Royal Unibrew has in general a long history with our partners and mitigate the partnership risk by
entering into long term agreements and by providing adequate business results to ensure a mutually
beneficial development of the partnerships.
Statutory
restrictions
Royal Unibrew’s activities are subject to national legislation in the markets in which
Royal Unibrew operates. Any legislative changes may impact the ability to operate,
e.g. by way of restrictions in respect of the sale, marketing, packing material and
production of Royal Unibrew’s products or due to increasing consumption taxes.
Such restrictions may affect the Group’s sales and earnings significantly.
Royal Unibrew participates in local and international cooperation fora within the brewery industry with
a view to influencing legislative decision makers to ensure that conditions for producing and marketing
beer and soft drinks do not deteriorate, and that consumption taxes are applied in a balanced manner.
Weather The sale of Royal Unibrew’s products is dependent on weather conditions. Usually,
the consumption of Royal Unibrew’s products is highest in the summer months.
However, this presupposes dry and fair weather. The weather in the summer of 2020
is regarded as normal.
Through focus on flexibility of action plans and production capacity, Royal Unibrew operates with a flex-
ible cost structure and can partly adjust to lower earnings caused by unfavorable weather conditions in
the summer months, and at the same time ensuring the agility to support the customers in years with
favorable weather.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202040
Governance
Remuneration of the Executive Management
mDKK 2020 Change 2019
Fixed salaries to Executive Management 20 63% 12
Short-term bonus scheme for Executive Management 9 63% 6
Long-term bonus scheme for Executive Management 9 41% 6
Remuneration of Executive Management* 38 57% 24
Remuneration of Board of Directors 5 6
43 30
Average remuneration of employees
Royal Unibrew employees (Group)** 0.4 -1% 0.4
* The increase from 2019 to 2020 is primarily due to the changes in the Executive Management which includes
severance payment to Johannes Savonije. Excluding of this, the remuneration has increased by 7%.
** The average salary is impacted by amongst other acquisitions where more employees are in countries with
lower salaries, as well as postponed replacements of higher paid jobs during COVID-19.
The overall objective of the remuneration is to attract, motivate
and retain qualified members of the Board of Directors and the
Executive Management.
The remuneration of the Board of Directors and Executive
Management during the past financial year has been provid-
ed in accordance with the remuneration policy and incentive
guidelines of Royal Unibrew adopted by the Annual General
Meeting on April .
The complete Remuneration Policy and Remuneration Report
for the Board of Directors and the Executive Management are
disclosed at the Company’s website at http://investor.royaluni-
brew.com/corporate-governance.
The Overall Guidelines for Incentive Pay adopted at the Com-
pany’s Annual General Meeting are available at http://investor.
royalunibrew.com/corporate-governance.
Read our full Remuneration Report here
Remuneration
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202041
Governance
Gover – Remuneration
Board of Directors and Executive Management
Walther Thygesen
Chairman of the Board
Jais Valeur
Deputy Chairman of the Board
Martin Alsø
Elected by the employees
PositionProfessional board member in a number of
enterprises
Group CEO of Danish CrownBusiness Unit Manager
DirectorshipsChairman of the board of directors of Sonion
Holding A/S, DK, and Kartago Development ApS,
DK; Member of the board of directors of German
High Street and Properties A/S (GHSP), DK
Member of the board of directors of Foss A/S, DK
Special competencesSpecial expertise in general management with
experience from both Denmark and abroad as
well as sales and marketing expertise, especially
in the business to business market
Special expertise in general management
of international enterprises within FMCG
(Fast Moving Consumer Goods)
CommitteesChairman of the Nomination and Remuneration
Committee
Member of the Nomination and Remuneration
Committee
Initially elected201020132014
Term of office2020-20212020-20212018-2022
Considered independentYesYesNo
NationalityDanishDanishDanish
Year of birth and gender1950, male1962, male1974, male
No. of Royal Unibrew shares
(change from 1 January 2020)
15,000
(+5,500)
536
(+536)
2,400
(+ 500)
Board of Directors
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202042
Governance
Gover – Board of Directors and Executive Board
Einar Esbensen Nielsen
Elected by the employees
Heidi Kleinbach-Sauter
Member of the Board
Claus Kærgaard
Elected by the employees
PositionTerminal worker Professional board memberSales Manager Off-Trade
DirectorshipsMember of the board of directors of Chr. Hansen
Holding A/S, DK
Special competencesBroad international experience within general
management and special expertise within the
food and beverage industry.
Committees
Initially elected201820192018
Term of office2018-20222020-20212018-2022
Considered independentNoYesNo
NationalityDanishGerman/USDanish
Year of birth and gender1954, male1956, female1968, male
No. of Royal Unibrew shares
(change from 1 January 2020)
119
(+72)
-180
(+180)
Board of Directors (continued)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202043
Governance
Christian Sagild
Member of the Board
Catharina Stackelberg-Hammarén
Member of the Board
Floris van Woerkom
Member of the Board
PositionProfessional board memberExecutive Chairman of the Board, Marketing ClinicEntrepreneur and independent consultant
DirectorshipsMember of the board of directors of Ambu A/S,
DK, and Danske Bank, DK; Chairman of the board
of directors of Nordic Solar Energy A/S, DK, and
Nordic Solar Global A/S, DK
Member of the board of directors of Alma Media,
Finland, Marimekko, Finland, Marketing Clinic Oy
(including subsidiaries), Finland, and Scansecurities
Oy, Finland
Special competencesSpecial expertise within general management
of listed enterprises, including in-depth insight
within finance and risk management
Special expertise in strategy and marketing
within the food and beverage industry for FMCG
(Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in the Nordic
markets
Broad international experience, including
experience within the beer industry and FMCG
(Fast Moving Consumer Goods) as well as special
expertise within finance, risk management, stra-
tegy and management of international corporati-
ons
CommitteesMember of the Audit CommitteeChairman of the Audit Committee
Initially elected201820192018
Term of office2020-20212020-20212020-2021
Considered independentYesYesYes
NationalityDanishFinnishDutch
Year of birth and gender1959, male1970, female1963, male
No. of Royal Unibrew shares
(change from 1 January 2020)
3,000
(+1,500)
450
(+150)
1,000
Board of Directors (continued)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202044
Governance
Lars Jensen
President & CEO
Lars Vestergaard
CFO
QualificationsDiploma in business economics, informatics and
management accounting, Copenhagen Business
School
Master of Science (MSc) in Economics from
Aarhus University
DirectorshipsMember of the board of directors of Hansa Borg
Holding AS including subsidiaries, Norway
PositionCEO from September 2020
COO April-August 2020
CFO December 2011-March 2020
Joined in 1993
CFO from April 2020
Member of the Board of Directors
April2018-March2020
NationalityDanishDanish
Year of birth and gender1973, male1974, male
No. of Royal Unibrew shares
(change from 1 January 2020)
71,988
(+ 30,413)
1,183
(+ 768)
Executive Management
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202045
Governance
Shareholder information
DEVELOPMENT IN ROYAL UNIBREW’S SHARE CAPITAL
DKK ‘000 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Share capital 1/1 100,200 102,000 105,400 108,200 110,985
Capital reduction -1,500 -1,800 -3,400 -2,800 -2,785
Capital increase -
Share capital 31/12 98,700 100,200 102,000 105,400 108,200
Royal Unibrew strives to maintain a high and con-
sistent level of information to our shareholders and
other stakeholders and to keep them continuously
up-to-date on the Company’s development.
Share information
The Royal Unibrew share is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen
and is included in the blue chip index OMX C.
In , a total of ,, (: ,,) shares were
traded, corresponding to % (: %) of the total number
of shares (at year end), through Nasdaq Copenhagen (source:
Bloomberg). The trading value amounted to DKK , billion
(: DKK . billion) representing an % increase.
At the end of , the price of the Royal Unibrew share was
. compared to . per share of DKK at the end of .
Royal Unibrew’s market capitalization amounted to DKK .
billion at the end of compared to DKK . billion at the
end of . Each share carries one vote, and all shareholders
registered in the Company’s register of shareholders are
entitled to vote.
Change of control
The realization of a takeover bid resulting in change of control
of the Company will entitle a few trading partners and lend-
ers to terminate trading agreements entered. The Executive
Management will not be entitled to any compensation. How-
ever, a member of the Executive Management may choose
to consider himself dismissed.
BASIC INFORMATION
Share capital, DKK 98,700,000
Number of shares 49,350,000
Denomination DKK2
Number of share classes 1
Restriction of voting right None
Place of listing Nasdaq Copenhagen A/S
Short name RBREW
ISIN code DK0060634707
Bloomberg code RBREW DC
Reuter code RBREW.CO
Index OMXC25
Treasury shares in
At the AGM on April , the Board of Directors was au-
thorized to acquire treasury shares for up to % of the total
share capital in the period up until the next AGM.
On March , the Board of Directors initiated a share buy-
back program for a maximum market value of DKK mil-
lion and for a term until October . Due to the evolving
situation around COVID- the share buy-back program was
suspended on March at which point Royal Unibrew had
bought back , shares representing a market value of
DKK million. A new share buy-back program was initiated
on September for a maximum market value of DKK
million and a term until December . The share
buy-back program was completed on November . After
completion Royal Unibrew had bought back , shares
representing a market value of DKK million. A third share
buy-back program was initiated on November for a
maximum of DKK million. The program was completed
on January with a total buy-back of , shares.
The initiated share buy-back programs were carried out in
accordance with the “Safe Harbour” method.
In , Royal Unibrew bought back a total of . shares
at a market value of DKK million and as of December
Royal Unibrew held , treasury shares of a nominal
value of DKK each, corresponding to ,% of the Company’s
share capital of which approx. , are for the purpose of
covering the incentive program offered to the Executive Man-
agement. In , , shares were cancelled.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202046
Governance
Gover – Shareholder information
2019
2020
42
4
50
51
6
1
2
44
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
janfebmaraprmayjunjulaugsepoktnovdec
Royal Unibrew
OMX C 25
Peer group
MAY
3
29
28
28
APRIL
APRIL
APRIL
At the end of , the total number of shares of the Company
was ,,, including treasury shares.
Ownership
At the end of , Royal Unibrew had approx , registered
shareholders holding together % of the total share capital.
According to the latest Company Announcements or other
public announcements, the following shareholders hold more
than % of the share capital:
Shareholder End of February 2021
Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker A/S, 15.02%
Denmark
(reported on 22 September 2017)
BlackRock, Inc., 10.01%
USA
(reported on 23 July 2019)
DIVIDEND DATES FOR 2021
Resolution at AGM
Last trading date with
right to dividend for
First trading date without
right to dividend for
Distribution of dividend
BREAKDOWN OF SHAREHOLDERS AT THE END OF 2020
Share transactions made by members of the Board of Direc-
tors and the Executive Management are governed by Royal
Unibrew’s insider rules, and their transactions as well as
those of their connected persons are subject to a notifica-
tion requirement according to the Market Abuse Regulation.
Individuals on Royal Unibrew’s insider lists as well as their
spouses and children below the age of may trade Royal Uni-
brew shares only when the Board of Directors has announced
that the window for trading shares is open (and provided that
they do not have inside information). This normally applies
for a period of four weeks following an announcement of
financial results.
On December , board members held , shares of
the Company, and members of the Executive Management
held , shares, corresponding to a total of .% of the
share capital.
SHARE PERFORMANCE 2020
(index)
Note: The peer group consists of Anheuser-Busch InBev, Carlsberg, Heineken, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Britvic, Olvi and AG Barr (Source: Bloomberg)
Foreign Investors
Danish Investors
Not registered Danish
and foreign investors
Royal Unibrew
Royal Unibrew
OMX C25
Peer group
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202047
Governance
NOVEMBER
17
23
28
28
APRIL
APRIL
AUGUST
FINANCIAL CALENDAR FOR 2021
April Trading Statement for
the period January - March
April Annual General Meeting
August Interim Report for the
period January - June
November Trading Statement for
the period January - September
AGM
The Company’s AGM will be held on April , at pm CET.
The AGM will be convened electronically, and information
on the registration for electronic communication is provided
at Royal Unibrew’s website www.royalunibrew.com under
“Investor”.
Registration of shareholder’s name is handled by the bank
holding the shares in safe custody.
The Board of Directors will propose the election of the fol-
lowing two new candidates at the AGM:
Peter Ruzicka is the former CEO of Orkla in Norway, and
he brings international senior leadership experience within
FMCG retail business. He currently serves as Chairman of
Pandora A/S, board member of Norwegian Aspelin Ramm AS
and Norwegian AKA AS.
Torben Carlsen is the CEO of DFDS and currently serves
on the investment committee of Copenhagen Infrastructure
Partners, Gro Capital and Navigare Capital. He brings a strong
commercial and value creation track record with experience
in Finance and M&A having previously worked as CFO and for
various Private Equity companies.
SHARE RATIOS
Per share of DKK 2 – DKK 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Parent Company shareholders’ share
of earnings per share 24.1 23.0 20.6 16.0 14.7
Parent Company shareholders’ diluted share of
earnings per share 24.1 22.9 20.6 16.0 14.6
Free cash flow per share 28.8 23.4 18.7 17.8 18.7
Year-end price per share 706.60 610.0 449.0 371.8 272.6
Dividend per share 13.5 12.20 10.80 8.90 8.15
Number of shares 49,350,000 50,100,000 51,000,000 52,700,000 54,100,000
Investor relations activities
Royal Unibrew aims to ensure open and timely information
to its shareholders and other stakeholders.
In order to maintain and develop good relations with the Com-
pany’s stakeholders a number of activities are carried out
continuously. In , Royal Unibrew facilitated four audio
casts in connection with the publication of the Annual Report
as well as the Q Trading Statement, H Interim Report
and Q Trading Statement . Audio casts and presenta-
tions from audio casts and seminars are available at Royal
Unibrew’s website, www.royalunibrew.com under investor.
Moreover, Royal Unibrew facilitates and participates in analyst
and investor meetings in connection with the publication of
financial reports. This year, the majority of the meetings have
been virtual and around individual and group meetings
with Danish as well as foreign investors have taken place.
Currently, Royal Unibrew is covered by brokers including
brokers from major international investment banks. Analysts
covering the Royal Unibrew share can be found at www.royal-
unibrew.com under investor.
Shareholders, analysts, investors, stockbrokers and
other stakeholders who have questions concerning
Royal Unibrew may contact
Royal Unibrew A/S,
Faxe Alle 1, DK-4640 Faxe:
Contacts
Jonas Guldborg Hansen (Head of IR)
Jonas.Guldborg@royalunibrew.com
Telephone +45 20 10 12 45
Stine Felten (daily IR contact)
Stine.Felten@royalunibrew.com
Telephone +45 29 23 04 93
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202048
Governance
→
Our new long-term sustainability strategy I Sustainability framework I
Our consumers and customers I Our products I Our people
This section is prepared in
accordance with section 99a of
the Danish Financial Statement
Act and is at the same time our
Communication On Progress
report in accordance with UN
Global Compact.
Corporate
Social
Responsibility
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202049
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – COVER
To be the preferred choice for the future, we want to
lead the beverage industry with respect to climate
action and the demand for sustainable products. Our
focus is on reducing the impact of our operations and
the entire value chain we are a part of while at the
same time delivering sustainable business growth.
During , we stepped up on our ambitions when it comes
to creating a sustainable business foundation and at the end
of , we finalized the work with our long-term sustaina-
bility strategy defining goals and KPIs. Royal Unibrew wants
to be the preferred local beverage partner. For us that entails
providing sustainable products with great taste. The strategic
focus being:
• Our consumers & customers
• Our products
• Our people
For each of these areas, we have defined and com-
mitments complementing the short-term targets set in .
We aim for a substantial reduction in carbon emissions from
the entire value chain, providing healthy, nutritious and re-
sponsible products (outperforming the market) and enabling
a deeply engrained safety and sustainability culture at our
company.
We believe that it is of particular importance to transform our
pledges and objectives into concrete plans and actions with
goals, operational KPIs and close follow-up. Therefore, all
our goals are supported by defined initiatives.
In order to succeed with our ambitious sustainability strategy
coordinated and wide-ranging efforts are needed – and we
Our new long-term sustainability strategy
cannot do it alone. We will innovate, develop and engage in
partnerships for mutual benefit with our key stakeholders,
such as strategic suppliers, major customers, consumers,
local communities and our employees. In general, we are
tracking well on our short term targets for . Due to COV-
ID-, the initiative on packaging waste in the Americas, Africa
and Asia was postponed.
Short term targets 2020 Target Realized Status 2022 Target
Our consumers/customers
New product development
New soft drinks products Balanced between
Balanced between
regular, and low/no -regular, and low/no
Number of low/no products
in Beer, Cider and RtD Increase
- Increase
Our products
Packaging, CO₂, waste, energy
Recycled paper labels per unit >50% 69%
>90%
Recycled carton/corrigated cardboard per volume >70% 75%
>90%
Recycled PET per volume >15% 19%
>30%
Electricity-based transportation vehicles Test -
Implement
CO
2
reduction (scope 1 and 2) per hl vs 2015 15% 22% 30%
Packaging waste in Americas, Africa and Asia Reduce
-Documented reduction
Our people
Occupational health and safety
Training and awareness campaign Establish Country level
Repeated annually
LTI reporting Monthly Quarterly by month
Monthly
LTIF reduction vs 2018 20% -43%
40%
Target for 2020 reached Target for 2020 partly reached Target for not reached
“Our strategy development in 2020 was
launched with an aspiration of becoming a
global leader in sustainable beverages and a
balanced focus on financial performance, social
and environmental/ climate impact. The Growth
Leadership Team headed up the development
of key areas of the strategy. We believe that,
Royal Unibrew has established a robust
foundation with concrete initiatives, goals and
KPIs for achieving our long-term ambition.”
Lars Jensen, CEO & President
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202050
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Our new long-term
Achievement highlights in 2020
We continued our sustainability journey in 2020 not only by developing the new long term strategy with ambitious targets, but also by continuing
our efforts to reduce our footprints and potential impacts for our consumers/customers, our products and our people following up on our short
term targets for 2022 and many other initiatives.
Establishing our new Senior Leadership
Team, appointing a Senior Vice President
for HR and moving Group CSR reference
to our CEO are major organizational im-
provements to ensure the right balance
between commercial, people and sus-
tainability aspects.
Our policy and objectives on diversity and
inclusion was approved by the BoD dur-
ing . Currently focusing on gender
but to be expanded to other business
critical aspects.
We are improving on diversity in our mar-
kets' management teams, where we are
above % of the underrepresented gen-
der, i.e. women. An analysis of equal pay
across the Group shows that we do not
have significant variation when compar-
ing pay to competences, seniority, age,
gender, etc.
Collective bargaining and freedom of
association is a basic right for all our
employees, but in all the markets where
we operate. Royal Unibrew is currently
establishing an overview of the percent-
age of the workforce covered by collective
agreements.
Organizational
development and diversity
We are currently awaiting approvals to
build a Solar Park in Faxe, Denmark,
aiming at providing % renewable en-
ergy for our entire power consumption in
Denmark. In addition, we are looking at
geo-thermal energy project at our Lahti
site in Finland.
Investing in renewable
energy
Royal Unibrew has succeeded in decou-
pling volume growth from carbon emis-
sions. In the period from to ,
we have had a decrease of % kgCO/
hl while having a volume increase of
%. Our success is a combination of
our keen focus on optimizing our energy
consumption year-on-year, the positive
results of phase one of a large energy
efficiency project at our Lahti site in
Finland and specifically between
and there was a change in product
mix due to COVID- with a shift from
the more energy consuming brewing
process to less energy consuming soft
drinks production.
Royal Unibrew’s production facilities are
not located in water scarce areas, but
as water is an important raw material
for us, water preservation and quality
are key. Reducing water consumption
remains a priority and the consumption
of water per hl has decreased by % from
to and in a like-to-like compar-
ison by %.
Decoupling growth
year-on-year
All our primary packaging contains information on
material, recycling and deposit return, which is one
of the ways we engage with consumers to close the
loop. The effect can be measured in the year on
year improving return rates in the well-functioning
Deposit Return Systems in Finland, Denmark and
Lithuania. From to the overall increase
in returned cans and bottles was - % on average
across the three markets. The return rate in
was in a range of to % for PET, to % for
cans and for glass between to %.
Royal Unibrew is working on down gauging (re-
moving) unnecessary material and increasing the
content of recycled material in all our markets.
Resulting in a reduced carbon footprint from pack-
aging and elimination of unnecessary material. In
the table on short term targets on packaging ma-
terial, we have indicated the achievements across
the Royal Unibrew on r-PET (%), r-paper (%)
and r-carton (%). A few examples of material
reduction we did in was e.g. down gauging of
a standard cl can, resulting in annual material
savings of ton alumina. Another example is re-
duction in plastic material in PET bottles, where
we in one market alone are saving ton plastic per
year by a design change. A third example is trays
where we in DK alone, have reduced the corrugated
carton by ton per year.
Packaging materials reused,
reduced and recycled
Royal Unibrew wants to provide choice
for the consumers, but we are aware
of the global challenges formulated by
WHO regarding obesity as well as alco-
hol abuse. We take our responsibility very
seriously, in our product declaration, in
our marketing of products and not the
least when we develop new products. We
want to offer products with great taste
for every occasion, including a balanced
launch of regular, no and low products
in different categories. Between and
, the volume growth for no and low
products out-performed regular prod-
ucts, significantly for both soft drinks,
beer, cider and RTD. For our CSD, water
and energy portfolio, this is also reflect-
ed in a % general reduction in calory
content per ml across our markets
during the same period. For beer, RTD
and cider the average alcohol percentage
are clearly reduced in Denmark, Finland
and the Baltics between to %.
NO and LOW sugar,
calories and alcohol
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202051
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Achievement highlights in 2020
Disclaimer: The targets apply to our current footprint. It is our ambition that potential acquisitions will be
integrated, but a grace period may be required
Overall KPIs
No/Low
growing faster
than average on the portfo-
lio - and faster than market
(YoY)
#1
partner of choice for
customers as sustainable
beverage supplier
by *
40%
of marketing budget
allocated to brands/
campaigns with a
sustainability position
by
100%
carbon emission free by
in scope
and **
50%
reduction in supply chain
emissions (scope , , )
by
100%
recycled, recyclable or
reusable packaging
by
100%
safety culture
80%
of employees are
Royal Unibrew
ambassadors
by
100%
sustainability culture
by
Our consumers
& customers
Our products
Our people
*”Preferred choice”, as related to the corporate vision; ** without distribution
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202052
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Overall KPIs
Further information: page 57Further information: page 61 Further information: page 66
Health & nutrition
In the market circularity
Local engagement
Renewable energy sources
Product circularity
Supplier roadmap
Proudest employees
Diversity, equality & inclusion
Safe workplace mindset
Sustainability - Overview
Our aspiration is to be recognized globally as a leader in sustainable beverages – delivering strong financial performance along
with strong local engagement and a neutral CO footprint. In 2020, we stepped up our sustainability efforts and drew up our new
long-term sustainability strategy as an integrated part of our overall strategy – and we set our ambitious 2030 targets.
Our consumers & customers
We want to be the preferred partner for our customers
with the most relevant innovations for our consumers
regarding health and wellness, authenticity and care
for the environment
Our products
We will convert our energy consumption to renewable
energy in the entire value chain. We will work with our
partners on reducing CO emissions and lowering the
impact from packaging material through recycling, while
having a positive social impact.
Our people
We will lead a sustainable business including fostering a
sustainability culture promoting a safe and healthy working
environment where employees feel proud, included, and
have equal opportunities to realize their potential. We will
develop tomorrow’s talents while building competences
that ensure our success today and tomorrow
KEY AREASKEY AREASKEY AREAS
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202053
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Sustainability - Overview
Royal Unibrew is a strong regional beverage company, found-
ed on local anchored facilities, employees and sourcing of
materials and services. We aim to provide successful, sus-
tainable brands that people trust and therefore, we have
always been committed to contributing positively to the de-
velopment in the areas in which we operate, to limiting our
environmental impact, to establishing safe and good working
conditions for our employees and to delivering high quality
products to consumers.
We also realize that being regional but with global markets,
we continuously need to improve our efforts and having a
sustainability scope encompassing the entire value chain
across our markets.
Our sustainability approach is underpinned by Royal Uni-
brew’s purpose and strategy, the UN Global Compact (UNGC)
principles and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A strong company culture is crucial for our ongoing progress
– a culture in which decisions are taken with respect to our
customers’, suppliers’ and other key stakeholders’ views and
Sustainability framework
At Royal Unibrew, we are committed to conducting our business in a sustainable,
responsible and ethical way.
priorities, and which encourages people to take responsibility
for their actions. We believe that this approach will help us
continuously to integrate sustainability deeper into our or-
ganization and to realize our ambitious targets.
During , we worked intensively to reach our short-term
sustainability targets for - within selected areas such
as alcohol and sugar content in new products, CO
emission
for activities ‘inside our fence’ and packaging material as
well as lost time incident frequency. Furthermore, we con-
tinued our endeavors towards establishing a well-defined
and transparent corporate social responsibility framework
and as planned, we have formulated our new longer-term
sustainability strategy, including specific long-term targets.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
Materiality assessment
highlighting 9 strategic
focus areas for
sustainability
Calculation of carbon
footprint and overview
of carbon emissions
throughout the entire
value chain
Establishing 2020-2022
targets aligned with the
SDGs focusing on CO
2
,
recycled packaging,
no/low products and
employee safety
Signing up
to UN Global
Compact
Establishing the framework
for our sustainability strategy
and setting long-term (2030)
targets and KPIs
Implementation of a number
of initiatives, including
renewable energy, use of
recycled plastic, launch of no/
low products, continued local
engagement and focus on
employee safety
Disclosing climate data
through CDP (Carbon
Disclosure Project)
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202054
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Sustainability framework
Our consumers
& customers
Our productsOur people
PolicyCountry level:
• Quality policy
• Food Safety policy
Country level:
• Environmental policy
Group level:
• Code of Conduct
Country level:
• Occupational health and
safety (OHS) policy
Group level:
• Ethics policy
• Remuneration policy
• Diversity&inclusion policy
Systems,
procedures and
guidelines
ISO ( sites)
Global Food Safety (GFSI)
recognized standards at all
production sites ()
Tax compliance and transfer
pricing documentation
ISO ( sites)
Energy assessment at all
production sites
ISO ( sites)
Employee satisfaction survey
Mandatory training:
GDPR, Competition,
Marketing law
POLICIES AND SYSTEMS
Royal Unibrew is working in accordance with international
and national legislation as well as international guidelines,
conventions and standards for corporate social responsibility
(CSR) and sustainability. Our policies and systems at either
Group or country level ensures that we conduct our business
in accordance with regulatory requirements and guidelines.
All our production sites are operating in accordance with
internationally recognized quality standards and all sites are
food safety certified, in accordance with standards recognized
by GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative). In addition, we have a
systematic approach to environment, health and safety, where
several sites are certified, too.
Royal Unibrew’s ethics policy and our Code of Conduct provide
guidance for our employees, third parties acting on behalf
of the Company and suppliers regarding anti-corruption,
environment, human rights and labor standards but also
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), competition and
marketing law. The basic requirement for Royal Unibrew is
being in legal compliance, i.e. having the right mechanisms
to ensure that we have no violations.
Internal controls and the whistle-blower scheme are impor-
tant means for controlling and reporting potential irregulari-
ties also by external stakeholders. Regular training is among
the tools to ensure compliance internally, thus employees are
trained in relevant aspects depending on their function inside
and outside of the Company.
Our policies and
systems
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202055
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Our policies and systems
GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE
Board of Directors
Growth Leadership Team
Group CSR
Key Areas
Renewable
Energy Sources
Product
Circularity
Local
Engagement
In the Market
Circularity
Supplier
Roadmap
Health and
Nutrition
Proudest
Employees
Safe work place
mindset
Diversity, equality
& inclusion
Executive Management
Our sustainability activities, including the formulation of our
sustainability policies and targets, are anchored at the Board
of Directors, which sets the direction for our strategy, targets
and Group policies together with the Executive Management.
The targets are aligned by and implemented through the
Growth Leadership Team. To ensure focus on sustainability,
group CSR reports directly to CEO.
Signing up to the UN Global Compact in was the starting
point for further formalization of our sustainability efforts,
including further improvement of transparency in our sus-
tainability policies, systems and due diligence processes, and
these efforts were intensified during .
Establishing clear accounting policies for sustainability indi-
cators and thus establishing the basis for transparency and
external assurance has been an integral part of this process.
Group CSR and Finance are responsible for measuring our re-
sults including good practice guidelines for risk and controls.
Based on the accounting policies, a control framework will
be established to ensure a consistent quality in our reports
and documentation.
We strive to work with a balanced approach towards our
stakeholders, both by disclosing potential risks to our busi-
ness and how we control these, as well as by showing the
opportunities for Royal Unibrew; commercially, as a sustain-
able beverage company and locally a sustainable partner and
not the least as a great place to work.
Our governance structure
We have implemented policies and procedures to minimize
risks from our activities and to ensure our freedom to operate.
Compliance with legal and other requirements, including our
ethical policy, is fundamental. Potential risks may include
food safety incidents, workplace incidents, human rights vi-
olations in the value chain or failure to attract and retain the
right employees preventing our business from expanding.
Market availability of recycled packaging material, lack of
well-functioning waste collection and recycling systems, un-
intentional emissions or inefficient processes are the main
environmental risks.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202056
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Our governance structure
KPI
#
PARTNER OF CHOICE FOR CUSTOMERS AS
SUSTAINABLE BEVERAGE SUPPLIER
We want to be the preferred partner for our customers
with the most relevant innovations for our consumers
regarding health and wellness, authenticity and care for
the environment. We aim to
• Support consumers in making the healthy,
nutritious and sustainable choice
• Become circular by engaging consumers and
customers
• Involve actively in the local communities
where we are present
• Responsible drinking
Health & nutrition
In the market circularity
Local engagement
Our consumers
& customers
KEY AREAS
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202057
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR – Our customers and consumers
Health & nutrition
Being a responsible company, Royal Unibrew is aware of the
global challenges formulated by WHO regarding obesity and
the associated risks of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and
diabetes as well as risk of alcohol abuse, linked to excess
consumption of food and beverages.
We strive to offer consumers and customers sustainable
enjoyment through a broad variety of beverages, comple-
menting the setting/situation whether the individuals find
themselves at a music venue, dining with family and friends,
exercising, travelling or at other occasions. The purpose is
to provide energy, refreshment, quenching thirst or simply
a good time. Consequently, we develop, launch and supply
products with great taste and with regular, low/no-alcohol
and calorie content, all clearly declared. Our aim is to of-
fer a low/no alternative in all categories and in all markets
to enable our customers to offer healthier choices to the
consumers. Royal Unibrew also wants to lead development
of healthy and nutritious products and markets, not only by
offering new products and outperforming market growth but
also by investing in more information and communication
about the products.
During recent years, Royal Unibrew has across the Group
introduced more low/no sugar alternatives compared to regu-
lar, e.g. full sugar, products in the soft drink, water and energy
categories. The volume of low/no sugar products increased
by % from to , while regular products increased
by only % in the same period, which indicates our short-
term target of a balanced launch of regular, low and no
beverages is working.
We believe in the consumer’s choice. We want to help consumers make the healthy or nutritious choice by always having an alternative
to regular products, e.g. fully sugared, alcoholic, etc. We want to provide transparency for the consumer when choosing.
• Offer a no/low alterna-
tive in all categories
• Reduce sugar/kcal/
alcohol per serving
• Promote responsible
drinking
KEY INITIATIVES
The production of .% and low alcohol containing products
(Beer, Cider and RTD) increased across the Group in ac-
commodating the general consumer trend. The no-alcohol
segment increased by % from to compared to a %
increase for low alcohol containing products and unchanged or
slightly reduced growth for strong and regular in the same pe-
riod, which indicates our target of increasing the number
of beverages with .% and low alcohol will be met.
Over the coming years, we will continue with a balanced de-
velopment and launch of regular and reduced – both low and
no – content of alcohol and sugar in our beverages.
Responsible drinking
We support national and international trade associations,
such as Brewers’ of Europe’s views and guidelines on respon-
sible drinking. In addition, we support a large variety of sports
and health initiatives through our sponsorships regionally
and locally. In Finland, for example, all beer sponsorships
will be converted into .% alcohol beer. Our responsibility
for products containing alcohol is to prioritize quality and
value over quantity.
We will continue to promote responsible drinking through
support and participation in relevant programs and partner-
ships regionally. This also applies for sugar contents, where
we participate actively in partnerships looking at ways to re-
duce calorie content in soft drinks.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202058
Corporate Social Responsibility
Today, all Royal Unibrew’s primary packaging material has
information on either deposit return or labels on recycling.
Some of the secondary packaging contains this information
as well. It is our objective to expand the product information
not only to include packaging material information but by
to include sustainability information from the entire
value chain as well.
However, information is not enough in itself. For the well-func-
tioning deposit return systems (DRS) there are generally very
high return rates, e.g. +% in Denmark and Finland. But
% is still lacking and in markets with poor or non-existing
DRS, the challenge is much bigger. Therefore, we will step
up on engaging consumers in closing the loop, thus, ena-
bling food grade material for recycling. Recycling campaigns
are currently run together with the deposit return systems
(DRS) in Denmark, Finland and Lithuania, and it is our plan
to conduct campaigns on waste reduction and circularity in
large markets by to increase consumer awareness on
recycling. In fact, this also applies to our customers, where
awareness and handling of secondary packaging especial-
ly in export markets, must be improved. The activities may
involve support for local initiatives for improving/developing
the infrastructure.
In the market circularity
We want to become circular across the value chain by engaging consumers and customers.
We will close the material loop, reduce the strain on resources and reduce our footprint.
• Reduce food waste
• Engage consumers in
closing the loop
• Develop infrastructure
KEY INITIATIVES
CURRENTLY ALL PRIMARY
PACKAGING ARE LABELED.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202059
Corporate Social Responsibility
• Drive sustainability in
local communities,
organizations and NGOs
• Empower local players
• Develop local products
KEY INITIATIVES
Local engagement
As a strong regional multi-beverage company, it is in our
DNA to engage not only in the local societies surrounding our
premises, sports clubs, employees’ families but also in our
brand communities, with customers, other business partners
and NGOs.
We strive to provide successful brands that people trust and
therefore, we have always been committed to contributing
positively, wherever we operate and are connected. We be-
lieve, it is part of our responsibility and value as a company
to drive, develop and support sustainability efforts through
relevant touch points. Local sourcing of ingredients and
developing local products are other examples of our local
engagement.
Royal Unibrew has a number of on-going local engagements
with local sports clubs, the local music scenes, city festivals,
etc. We want to make these interactions sustainable. This also
applies to music festivals and large sports events, where we
participate. The initiatives encompass concepts introduc-
ing reusable cups, making your own energy in the “festival
succession, and development. To emphasis the importance
of the people strategy Human Resources is now a part of the
Senior Leadership Team.
The new recruits in Hartwall
We recruited the second group of graduates
in . In short, the idea is to recruit young
potentials every year who enter a two-year
trainee program. They are offered a “real”
role in the business which changes after the
first year and furthermore, their developed is
supported by a number of activities in addition
to their specific role. After two years, they get
a permanent position in the organization. This
is an example of how we work to attract young
talents and at the same time support social
responsibility.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202067
Corporate Social Responsibility
Diversity, equality & inclusion
We want our organization to reflect the diversity of today’s
society and we believe that a more diverse, equal and inclu-
sive workforce creates the best and most dynamic workplace
climate, as well as it supports innovation and long-term value
creation for all our stakeholders.
Continuous efforts are made to ensure workplace diversity
and inclusion. Traditionally, the beverage industry is rela-
tively male-dominated, but Royal Unibrew strives on an on-
going basis to ensure a more equal gender representation.
We measure gender diversity in international management
teams and at the Board of Directors. The number of women
at the Board of Directors is out of members elected by
the shareholders. In our international management teams,
we improve gender diversity year after year.
Our target is a more balanced gender representation of at
least % of each gender by and the same applies to
the Board of Directors. When recruiting new executives and
managers, we prioritize identifying without discrimination
and aim to encourage female candidates’ interest in taking
on managerial tasks. Several other initiatives were carried
out, such as approval of our policy and objectives on diversity
and inclusion by the Board of Directors and an improvement
project on employee master data to improve the foundation
for our D&I priorities. Diving into the gender diversity and
inclusion performance as an effect of our initiatives, there
is a very positive trend in our management teams at our dif-
Diversity, equality and inclusion is a fundamental part of sustainability. We want a
diverse, equal and inclusive company providing resilience and driving innovation.
• Ensure/enable a
culture of equality
and inclusion valuing
diversity
• Become a driver of
equality and inclusion in
the local communities
KEY INITIATIVES
ferent markets, where we for the past two consecutive years
are above the % target, at % on average in of the
underrepresented gender, i.e. women, compared to our inter-
national management teams average of % in , which
has also improved year on year.
We also work on promoting other diversity aspects for exam-
ple by including people that for various reasons struggle to
maintain or get a foothold on the job market. In the coming
years we will focus on two initiatives: the first is to analyze
where diversity is specifically challenging seen from a busi-
ness critical angle being gender, competences, age, seniority,
ethnicity, etc., supported by data, and the second is to work
on maintaining an inclusive culture.
EMPLOYEES BY GENDER, INT. MANAGEMENT TEAMS
Gender % 2020 2019 2018
Female 33 32 31
Male 67 68 69
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202068
Corporate Social Responsibility
20162019202020182017
0
4
8
12
16
Safe workplace mindset
A good working environment is a safe working environment,
and that is a top priority for Royal Unibrew. We focus on min-
imizing risks and raising awareness about health and safety
for all our employees and take preventive measures to avoid
employees being worn out and incurring work-related injuries
– and we recognize that one accident is one to many.
When deploying our sustainability strategy, we will enhance
our efforts to support behavioral based safety and employee
well-being (where harassment is a focus area) we see that
as fundamental for maintaining and further developing our
safety mindset and culture. With the aim to move towards
zero lost time incidents, all employees will be trained in be-
havior-based safety, including increasing the transparency
of root cause assessments to improve learning, as well as
linking safety to bonus targets.
Safety is a prerequisite for taking care of employees and ensuring that they can be something for other people outside
of work. To be successful in our safety efforts this needs to be a mindset and something our employees live by every day.
• Create a harassment
free working environ-
ment
• Ensure employee
wellbeing
• Further develop our
safety culture
KEY INITIATIVES
Local focus and initiatives have resulted in a continued re-
duction in Lost Time Incidents per million working hours
(LTI frequency) by % from to and has leveled out
between and . The LTI frequency unfortunately in-
creased between and from . to .. The target
of % reduction in compared to was therefore not
met. Root cause assessments indicate that behavior is the
main reason for incidents. We believe the increase may at
least in part, be explained by the job rotation between on-
trade and off-trade as a result of COVID-, where employees
from other functions assisted in off-trade and the unusual
sales situation may have stressed the organization as well.
Working overtime more than usual may be an additional fac-
tor. We will enhance our behavioral-based safety training
and awareness in across the Group to reduce the LTI
frequency.
Harassment free working environment
In connection with our on-going dialogue in the production area,
we have identified a need for addressing and increasing awareness
of potentially abusive acts and harassment to improve well-being.
Royal Unibrew has zero tolerance, and we have just launched a
new initiative governed by our well-being groups to facilitate our
journey towards zero. The objective is to create an environment,
where everyone not only has the right to speak up but also feel
comfortable, when they point at a lack of consideration from a
colleague, including managers.
LOST TIME INCIDENTS
Accidents per million work hours
“Further development
of the safety culture
by using humor is the
philosophy behind our
“Safety Thirst” campaign
developed together with
employees from various
business functions. The
campaign is currently
being rolled out.”
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202069
Corporate Social Responsibility
Note 1: Basis for preparation
Royal Unibrew A/S has developed a CSR data reporting manual encom-
passing roles and responsibilities, data scope, reporting, controls and
documentation requirements as well as a detailed description of each
key performance indicator.
Note 2: Our Consumers/Customers
The data disclosed as target follow up for to is based on actual
sales volume in the period from to , divided into no/low and
regular kcal content for the categories Carbonated soft drinks, Water
and Energy and for alcohol content (Beer, Cider and RTD) no and low
compared to regular and strong. The sales volumes are used as an
assessment of a balanced development and launch of new no/low and
regular products.
Note 3: Our products
Royal Unibrew has reported on environmental performance for a num-
ber of years. Therefore, data are available from . The data has been
corrected to the reporting requirements mentioned in Note .
Acquisitions in and increased our absolute comsumptions.
Despite acquisitions in and the absolute and relative consump-
tion of energy decreased slightly from to and the associated
CO emissions as well. The energy consumption per hectoliter and
the CO emission per hectoliter decreased significantly compared to
(baseline for the / targets) by % and %, respectively.
If corrected for the acquired sites, the CO emission decreased %.
The improvement is due to a keen focus on energy reduction projects.
The consumption of water per hectoliter has decreased by % compared
to , and more than %, if corrected for the acquisitions. Whereas
the absolute consumption of water has levelled out from to .
We have for the second time calculated the CO emission for transpor-
tation (downstream), including GHG Scope and Scope , i.e. owned
and leased vehicles as well as third party forwarders measured as kg
CO eq. The calculation is based on industry standards and direct input
from our forwarders. It is estimated that at least % of the footprint
is accounted for, but further data development is needed. The same
applies to our CO emission from packaging material.
Note 4: Our People
Royal Unibrew A/S has collected data for lost time incidents (LTI) and
disclosed information in our annual report since . The data has
been corrected to the new reporting requirements mentioned in Note .
There may be underreporting of LTIs as the focus traditionally has
been on registering incidents for production/ware housing and to a
lesser degree distribution, sales and administration. We will continue
our focus in this area.
As it may be noted other relevant data for occupational health and safety
performance has only been collected for to , as the recording
has been lacking at some entities before that. The same applies to
employee engagement and diversity.
Descriptive notes for the non-financial highlights and ratios
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202070
Corporate Social Responsibility
→
Management's statement on the Annual Report I Independent auditor's report
Signatures and
statements
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202071
Signatures and statements
Sign – COVER
The Board of Directors and the Executive Management have
today considered and adopted the Annual Report of Royal
Unibrew A/S for January - December .
The Annual Report is prepared in accordance with Interna-
tional Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU
and Danish disclosure requirements for annual reports of
listed companies.
In our opinion, the Consolidated Financial Statements and
the Parent Company Financial Statements give a true and
fair view of the financial position of the Group and the Parent
Company at December as well as of the results of the
Group and Parent Company operations and cash flows for the
financial year January - December . In addition, in our
opinion the Annual Report for Royal Unibrew A/S for January
- December with the file name ROYAL---.zip
in all material aspects is prepared in accordance with ESEF
Regulation.
In our opinion, Management’s Review gives a true and fair
account of the development in the operations and financial
circumstances of the Group and the Parent Company, of the
results for the year, cash flows and of the Parent Company’s
financial position, as well as a description of the key risks
and uncertainties facing the Group and the Parent Company.
We recommend that the Annual Report be adopted at the
Annual General Meeting.
Faxe, 3. marts 2021
Executive Management
Lars Jensen Lars Vestergaard
President & CEO CFO
Board of Directors
Walther Thygesen Jais Valeur
Chairman Deputy Chairman
Martin Alsø Einar Esbensen Nielsen Heidi Kleinbach-Sauter
Claus Kærgaard Christian Sagild Catharina Stackelberg-Hammarén
Floris van Woerkom
Management's Statement on the Annual Report
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202072
Signatures and statements
Sign – Management statement
To the shareholders of Royal Unibrew A/S
Opinion
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements and
the Parent Company financial statements give a true and
fair view of the Group’s and the Parent Company’s assets,
liabilities and financial position at December and of
the results of the Group’s and Parent Company’s operations
and cash flows for the financial year January – December
in accordance with the International Financial Reporting
Standards as adopted by the EU and additional requirements
in the Danish Financial Statements Act.
Our opinion is consistent with our long-form audit report to
the Board or Directors and the Audit Committee.
Audited financial statements
Royal Unibrew A/S’ consolidated financial statements and
separate financial statements for the financial year January
– December comprise the income statement, state-
ment of comprehensive income, balance sheet, statement of
changes in equity, statement of cash flows and notes, includ-
ing summary of significant accounting policies, for the Group
as well as for the Parent Company (the financial statements).
The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by
the EU and additional requirements in the Danish Financial
Statements Act.
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International
Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and the additional requirements
applicable in Denmark.
Our responsibilities under those standards and requirements
are further described in the “Auditor’s responsibilities for
the audit of the financial statements” section of our report.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is suf-
ficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Independence
We are independent of the Group in accordance with the In-
ternational Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ Code
of Ethics for Professional Accountants (IESBA Code) and the
additional requirements applicable in Denmark, and we have
fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with
these rules and requirements.
We declare, to the best of our knowledge and belief, that
we have not provided any pro-hibited non-audit services, as
referred to in Article () of the Regulation (EU) / and
that we remained independent in conducting the audit.
Appointment as auditors
We were appointed auditors of Royal Unibrew A/S for the first
time on April for the financial year . We have been
reappointed annually by shareholder resolution for a total
period of uninterrupted engagement of three years including
the financial year .
Statement on the Management’s review
Management is responsible for the Management’s review.
Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the
Management’s review, and we do not express any form of
assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements,
our responsibility is to read the Management’s review and,
in doing so, consider whether the Management’s review is
materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our
knowledge obtained during the audit, or otherwise appears
to be materially misstated.
Moreover, it is our responsibility to consider whether the Man-
agement’s review provides the information required under the
Danish Financial Statements Act.
Based on the work we have performed, we conclude that
the Management’s review is in accordance with the financial
statements and has been prepared in accordance with the
requirements of the Danish Financial Statement Act. We did
not identify any material misstatement of the Management’s
review.
Management’s responsibility for the financial statements
Management is responsible for the preparation of financial
statements that give a true and fair view in accordance with
the International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted
by the EU and additional requirements in the Danish Financial
Statements Act and for such internal control that Manage-
ment determines is necessary to enable the preparation of
financial statements that are free from material misstate-
ment, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, Management is
responsible for assessing the Group’s and the Parent Com-
pany’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as
applicable, matters related to going concern and using the
going concern basis of accounting unless Management either
intends to liquidate the Group or the Parent Company or to
cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.
Independent auditor's report
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202073
Signatures and statements
Sign – Independent auditor
Key audit mattersHow our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of intangible assets
Goodwill and trademarks represent 51% of the Group’s assets. Management conducts annual im-
pairment test to determine whether the carrying values of recognised goodwill and trademarks are
considered to be impaired and, hence, should be written down to the recoverable amount.
Management determines the recoverable amount of the Cash Generating Units (CGUs) using a dis-
counted cash flow model (value in use). Management uses key assumptions in respect of market and
country risks, revenue and margin development and discount rate for the CGUs.
The audit of the recoverable amount has been considered a key audit matter as the determina-tion of
the recoverable value is associated with significant estimation uncertainty.
The carrying amount of investments in subsidiaries in the parent company’s separate financial state-
ments and the values of intangible assets contained therein is also tested to identify any impairment.
This is the same test as described above.
Reference is made to note 11 in the consolidated financial statement and note 11 in the Parent Com-
pany financial statements.
For the purpose of our audit, the procedures we carried out included the following:
• We have discussed with Management and evaluated the internal controls and procedures for
preparing impairment tests and the budget and forecasts.
• We have focused our audit on the models and the appropriateness of key assumptions used by
Management to calculate the values in use, as well as defined CGUs and assessed the consistency
of the assumptions applied.
• We have assessed the appropriateness of the discount rates applied and underlying assumptions,
as well as benchmarking to market data and external information.
• Our internal valuation specialists have supported the audit where relevant.
• In addition, we have assessed whether the disclosures; Note Intangible Assets in the
consolidated financial statements meet the requirements of IFRS.
Revenue recognition
There are a significant number of transactions and contracts with customers.
Sales contracts with customers are relatively complex with discounts and agreements with marketing
contributions etc.
Furthermore locally imposed duties and fees are complex.
Overall this introduce an inherent risk to revenue recognition process. Therefore we have considered
this as a Key Audit Matter.
Reference is made to note 5 in the consolidated financial statements.
For the purpose of our audit, the procedures we carried out included the following:
• We have considered the appropriateness of the Group’s revenue recognition policy and assessed
the compliance with IFRS Revenue from Contracts with Customers.
• We have evaluated the systems and key controls, designed and implemented by Management,
related to revenue recognition.
• We have discussed with Management the key judgements related to recognition, measurement and
classification of revenue
• In addition, we have performed substantive procedures. We have discussed significant and complex
customer contracts, locally imposed duties and fees and the development in discounts and the
treatment of marketing contribution to ensure that accounting policies are applied correctly.
• We have performed journal-entries testing and verification of proper cut-off at year-end.
Key audit matters
Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements for the 2020 financial year. These matters were addressed in the
context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in the forming of our opinion thereon. We do not provide a separate opinion on these matters.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 202074
Signatures and statements
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit
of the financial statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance as to
whether the financial statements as a whole are free from
material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to
issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasona-
ble assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guaran-
tee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs and the
additional requirements applicable in Denmark will always
detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements
may arise from fraud or error and are considered material
if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be
expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken
on the basis of these financial statements.
As part of an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs and the
additional requirements applicable in Denmark, we exercise
professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism
throughout the audit. We also:
• identify and assess the risks of material misstatement
of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or er-
ror, design and perform audit procedures responsive to
those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient
and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The
risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting
from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error as
fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omis-
sions, misrepresentations or the override of internal
control.
• obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to
the audit in order to design audit procedures that are
appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the pur-
pose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the
Group’s and the Parent Company’s internal control.
• evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies
used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates
and related disclosures made by Management.
• conclude on the appropriateness of Management’s use
of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on
the audit evidence obtained, whether a material unc-
er-tainty exists related to events or conditions that may
cast significant doubt on the Group’s and the Parent
Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If
we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are
required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the
related disclosures in the financial statements or, if
such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opin-
ion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence
obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However,
future events or conditions may cause the Group and
the Parent Company to cease to continue as a going
concern.
• evaluate the overall presentation, structure and con-
tents of the financial statements, including the disclo-
sures, and whether the financial statements represent
the underlying transactions and events in a manner that
Ratios comprised by the “Recommendations and Financial Ratios” issued by the Chartered Financial Analyst Society Denmark’s Committee for Accounting standards have been calculated according to the recommendations.
Definitions of financial highlights and ratios are provided on page .
* Compared to the Annual Report 2019 the definition of free cash flow has been updated to reflect market practise of the IFRS 16 implementation. Comparables for 2019 have been adjusted.
** running 12 months
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 2020137
Other
Other - Quarterly financial highlights
Definitions of Financial Highlights and Ratios
EBITDAEarnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and im-
pairment losses as well as profit from sale of property, plant and
equipment and amortisation of intangible assets.
EBITDA marginEBITDA as a % of net revenue.
EBIT Earnings before interest and tax.
EBIT marginEBIT as a percentage of net revenue.
Net interest-bearing debtMortgage debt and debt to credit institutions less cash at bank
and in hand, interest-bearing current investments and receivables.
Net working capitalInventories + receivables - current liabilities except for corporation
tax receivable/payable as well as mortage debt and debt to credit
institutions.
Invested capitalEquity + minority interests + provisions + net interest-bearing
debt - financial assets.
Investing activitiesDividend received from associates, purchase net of sale of property,
plant and equipment less net cash used in investing activities
excluding acquisitions and net proceed from intangible assets
and fixed assets investments, less repayment on lease facilities.
Free cash flowCash flow from operating activities less investing activities.
Earnings per shareParent Company shareholders' share of profit for the year/average
number of shares in circulation.
Diluted earnings per shareParent Company shareholders' share of earnings from operating
activities/average number of shares in circulation including re-
stricted shares "in-the-money".
Free cash flow per shareFree cash flow from operating activities/average number of shares
in circulation.
Dividend per shareProposed dividend per share.
Return on invested capital
including goodwill (ROIC)
EBIT net of tax as a percentage of average invested capital.
Return on invested capital
excluding goodwill (ROIC)
EBIT net of tax as a percentage of average invested capital, ex-
cluding goodwill.
Free cash flow as a percentage
of net revenue
Free cash flow as a percentage of net revenue.
Capex as a percentage of net revenuePurchase net of sale of property, plant and equipment plus repay-
ment on lease facilities as a percentage of net revenue.
Cash conversionFree cash flow as a percentage of net profit for the year.
Net interest-bearing debt/
EBITDA before special items
The ratio of net interest-bearing debt at year end to EBITDA.
Equity ratioEquity at year end as a percentage of total assets.
Return on equity (ROE)Consolidated profit after tax as a percentage of average equity.
Dividend payout ratio (DPR)Dividend calculated for the full share capital as a percentage of
the Parent Company shareholders' share of net profit for the year.
ROYAL UNIBREWAnnual report 2020138
Other
Other - Definitions
Disclaimer
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements, includ-
ing statements about the Group’s sales, revenue, earnings, spend-