Danish brewer¹ Carlsberg reports a fall in profits for the first quarter of the year after being hit by a weak performance at its Russian business.

丹麦啤酒制造商嘉士伯今年第一季度利润下降，因其在俄罗斯的业务进展不顺。

Russian distributors stocked up at the end of last year ahead of a tax rise.

Carlsberg reported a pre-tax profit of 59m krone ($10m; £6m) in the first three months of the year, down from 353m krone in the same period of 2011.

Carlsberg, the world's fourth biggest brewer, makes nearly a quarter of its sales in Russia.

Its market share in Russia rose to 38% in the first quarter, up from 36.8% in the fourth quarter of 2011, but its shipments² to Russia were down 25%.

"In the traditionally small first quarter of the year, the group delivered continued solid growth and performance in Northern and Western Europe and Asia, while destocking impacted our Russian results as expected," said chief executive³ Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen.

Russia is the world's fourth largest beer market after China, the United States and Brazil.