Soft drinks and non-alcoholic beer have helped boost trading at Carlsberg as demand for beer remained under pressure.

The Danish beer giant said it had been supported by earlier-than-expected benefits from its £3.3 billion takeover of J2O maker Britvic last year.

It told shareholders it is on track to deliver operating profit growth of between 4% and 6% this year after enjoying positive synergies from the deal.

The company had previously said profits were likely to grow by between 2% and 6% for the year.

Carlsberg said it was on track to hit the upper end of its range after also being boosted by strong cost management.

The improvement in guidance came despite a decline in beer volume sales over the past six months.

The company, which also brews Poretti and Erdinger, said beer volumes declined to 52.2 million hectolitres for the first half of 2026, compared with 52.7 million a year earlier.

Across western Europe, beer volumes fell by 3.9% as the company battled “challenging” market conditions, including a fall in alcohol consumption among younger people.

Carlsberg saw weakness in the beer sector offset elsewhere, with sales volumes of soft drinks rising by 7.8% for the half.

This was largely driven by the acquisition of Britvic, which brought brands including Robinsons, Tango and Jimmy’s Iced Coffee into the group.

It also reported that sales volumes of alcohol-free beer rose by 11%, driven by particularly strong growth in western Europe.

Carlsberg group chief executive Jacob Aarup-Andersen said: “Carlsberg delivered solid top-line and earnings growth for the first half year despite the continued uncertain macro environment, and we saw sustained good progress on our key strategic priorities, with particularly strong growth for soft drinks and alcohol-free brews.

“As a result of our disciplined cost focus, performance management and faster-than-expected delivery of the Britvic synergies, we’re narrowing our full-year earnings guidance towards the upper end of the range.”