LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Carlsberg on

Thursday reported annual operating profit growth at the top of

its guided range and forecast higher than anticipated growth for

2025, sending the Danish brewer's shares 6% higher.

Carlsberg, the world's third largest brewer behind

Anheuser-Busch InBev and Heineken, said

organic operating profit grew 6% for the full year, versus a

guided range of 4% to 6%, though volumes missed analysts'

expectations.

The company anticipates between 1% and 5% growth in organic

operating profit for the current year. Some analysts, including

at Jefferies and Barclays, had anticipated 0% to 4% growth for

the maker of brands like Kronenbourg 1664, Tuborg and Somersby

cider.

CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen cast 2024 as a year that will

"shape the future of Carlsberg," including via major shifts like

its acquisition of British soft drinks maker Britvic

and the troubled sale of its Russian business.

The Britvic deal, completed in January, has weighed on

Carlsberg's shares and price-earnings ratio since it was

announced in July, with investors questioning its merits.

Carlsberg reiterated on Thursday that the deal would help

the brewer diversify to offset declines in beer consumption in

western markets and deliver cost synergies.

Demand in China, Carlsberg's largest market, remained

subdued, driving down volumes, and challenges there were

expected to continue, Aarup-Andersen said.

Carlsberg did, however, outperform the wider beer market in

China, which it projected was down 4%, which it attributed to

gaining market share.

It flagged strong growth for its portfolio of expensive

beers in markets including China, comments likely to be welcomed

by investors after an economic slowdown saw drinkers in

Carlsberg's largest market ditch its pricier labels.

For the current year, it forecast a "relatively stable"

consumer environment, but warned uncertainty around consumer

sentiment remained in Asia and Europe.

($1 = 7.1800 Danish crowns)