KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd's share price pared gains at Bursa Malaysia's afternoon market close today after increasing as much as 70 sen or 3.24% to its all-time intraday high at RM22.28 earlier. Carlsberg shares rose after the company declared record dividends and reported net profit rise for financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18).

At 12:30pm today, Carlsberg shares settled 42 sen up at RM22 among top gainers. The stock saw 327,600 shares traded.

Yesterday, Carlsberg declared 4QFY18 dividends amounting to 48.3 sen a share, which brings full-year dividends to a record RM1 a share.

The group also reported that full year FY18 net profit rose to RM277.15 million from RM221.17 million a year earlier.

Today, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd analyst Lester Siew wrote in a note: "Carlsberg's FY18 results fell within our expectations but tracked above consensus, accounting for 100% and 104% of full-year estimates respectively."

"Shareholders are also rewarded with another round of special dividend proposed, leading to a record full-year DPS (dividend per share) of 100 sen. We raise our FY19-20E EPS by 7.5%/6.0% respectively, based on our higher conviction of Carlsberg's growth strategy, and a more steadfast market outlook. Maintain HOLD with a higher TP (target price) of RM23.00," Siew said.