References to the term ‘cybersecurity’ in beverage company filings soared in the 12 months to the end of September, but fell markedly in the third quarter compared to Q2.

The use of the term rose by 151% in the 12 months compared to the same period in 2016, when GlobalData first began to track the key issues referred to in companies’ filings. However, in the three months to the end of September, ‘cybersecurity’ was down 29% on its appearance frequency in the second quarter of 2021.

 

 

 

To assess whether cybersecurity is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of drinks manufacturing companies, two measures were calculated. Firstly, there's the percentage of companies that have referenced the term at least once in filings during the past 12 months - this was 88% compared to 62% in 2016. Secondly, GlobalData calculates the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to cybersecurity.

Of the 20 biggest employers in beverages, Keurig Dr Pepper referred to cybersecurity the most between October 2020 and September 2021. GlobalData identified 35 cybersecurity-related sentences in the US-based company's filings, representing 0.5% of all sentences.

Diageo mentioned the term the second-most, in 0.4% of the sentences in its filings. Other top employers with high cybersecurity mentions included Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Fomento Economico Mexicano and Carlsberg.

Across all drinks manufacturing companies, the Q3 filing that features the strongest focus on cybersecurity came from Diageo. Of the document's 3,652 sentences, 16 (0.4%) referenced the term.

GlobalData also categorises references to cybersecurity by a series of subthemes. Of these, the most commonly referred-to topic in the third quarter of last year was 'data security', which made up 75% of all cybersecurity subtheme mentions by beverage companies.

 

When drinks companies publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Cybersecurity is one of these topics - companies that invest in these areas are expected to be better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on cybersecurity and how important the issue is considered within the beverages industry. However, a company mentioning cybersecurity more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into cybersecurity have been successes or failures.