Carlsberg's new chief

Luckily for Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, there should be no need to resort to the incoming chief executive's trick of kitchen-sinking. Carlsberg has been delivering decent growth in sales and profits, in large part thanks to the Russian operations Mr Rasmussen has been running. Investors seem to be happy, with the shares up a third so far this year.

The temptation, then, may be to make a mark as an acquirer. Beverage consolidation is in the air, and changes to the Carlsberg Foundation's charter earlier this year made it possible to issue new shares to fund a deal. Top of the target list will be BBH, the 50:50 joint venture with Scottish & Newcastle in Russia.

Unfortunately, to get it would probably mean buying the whole of larger group S&N. This would be something of a stretch, assuming Carlsberg paid a premium to the current enterprise value of £8bn. Competition issues would also mean disposing of the low-growth UK business, which contributes more than a quarter of operating profits. As a forced seller - and with InBev and Molson-Coors ruled out as buyers on market share grounds, and Diageo on record as uninterested - getting a decent price would be challenging.

Far more sensible, but less exciting, would be to persist with efficiency improvements. Although half the group's sales come from Nordic countries where Carlsberg enjoys an effective duopoly, profitability in western Europe is still well below that of its competitors. Operating margins there were 9.5 per cent in 2007, against 13.5 per cent for its peers, according to Lehman Brothers. Current targets are only to get these to 10-12 per cent by 2009. Beating that would be a good start.