The Danish firm, which opened its Northampton brewery in 1974, published its financial results for the first six months of 2008.

While a host of other companies have reported drops in profits and consumers face both falling house prices and increasing bills, Carlsberg said its performance in Western Europe, which includes the United Kingdom, had been stable.

But the company admitted it had been forced to put up prices because of the increasing cost of ingredients.

It said: "Rising raw material prices continue to have a negative impact on total cost of sales and distribution expenses, and Carlsberg therefore focuses strongly on implementing price increases to compensate for this.

"Notwithstanding these price rises, volumes in Northern and Western Europe, while varying in individual markets, were broadly stable overall."

The company also credited the Euro 2008 competition – which was held in both Austria and Switzerland in June – with helping to boost beer sales.

Carlsberg's head of sponsorship, Keld Strudahl, said: "Beer sales in the fan zones in Austria and Switzerland reached more than 1.5 million litres.

"As a brewery we're obviously satisfied with the sales of beer, which fully lived up to our expectations.

"But even more so, we were pleased to experience how the fan parks encouraged a good party atmosphere, high spirits and no violence, all in the true spirit of football."

The British arm of the company also reported growing success in sales away from the pubs.