(Photo:IC)

Danish brewer Carlsberg says sales dropped slightly in the third quarter, but was still upgrading its full year outlook although it continued losing market share in its biggest market Russia.

Carlsberg said Wednesday sales fell 1 percent to 16.68 billion kroner ($2.6 billion). It didn't publish net income figures for the three-month period.

The group said it now foresees an organic operating profit growth of 7-8 percent in 2017, against a previous expectation of "mid-single-digit percentage growth."

CEO Cees 't Hart said Carlsberg's recovery plan "is progressing very well," enabling the brewer "to adjust our earnings outlook upward." The full year was expected at around 2 billion kroner ($312 million).

Volumes were impacted by the downsizing in Russia of the popular, large so-called PET bottles, and cool weather in Europe.