Royal Unibrew sinks as PepsiCo hands bottling licence to Carlsberg

Royal Unibrew A/S

21/04/2026 15:43

By Boleslaw Lasocki

April 21 (Reuters) - Shares in Royal Unibrew RBREW.CO lost more than a quarter of their value on Tuesday after PepsiCo PEP.O reshuffled its Nordic bottling contracts, handing Carlsberg CARLb.CO a long-term win and dealing a blow to its smaller Danish rival.

Royal Unibrew tumbled 26%, setting the stock on course for its worst day ever and pushing it to its lowest level since October 2022, after the company said its partnership with PepsiCo in parts of northern Europe would end in 2028.

The Danish brewer failed to agree terms to extend licences covering Denmark, including German border trade, Finland and the Baltic states - a business that in total accounts for around 13% of group revenue.

"It has not been possible to reach an agreement," Royal Unibrew said in a statement. The company will remain a PepsiCo partner in the Benelux countries.

Separately on Tuesday, Carlsberg said it agreed with PepsiCo to take over the sales, production and distribution of Pepsi drinks in Denmark, Finland and the Baltic states from the start of 2029. Carlsberg said its current bottling agreements with Coca-Cola  KO.N in Denmark and Finland would run until they expire at the end of 2028.

Citi said the loss could drive sharp earnings downgrades at Royal Unibrew, while the move should be well received by Carlsberg shareholders as it clarifies the group's strategy and confirms it as PepsiCo's preferred partner in Europe.

"We believe Royal Unibrew would have liked to have continued to work with Pepsi and the loss of this contract will leave a big hole in the group's Scandi portfolio," said Simon Hales, analyst at the U.S. bank.

Carlsberg shares were down 1.4%.

(Additional reporting by Danilo Masoni
Editing by Keith Weir)

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