Asahi Group Holdings' overseas operations have reported mixed financial results against the backdrop of a cyberattack that has delayed the release of the Japanese company's accounts for 2025.
In September, Asahi reported a “systems failure” connected to the cyber breach, affecting production and distribution across the business. The company’s factories resumed operations a week later.
The group had planned to issue its full-year results for 2025 on 10 February but this has been delayed following the "systems disruption" caused by the ransomware incident.
In a market update today (27 February), Asahi said "the date on which those results will be formally announced is yet to be determined" but it provided a "progress report" that included a mixed performance in its global markets.
Revenue in the group's Europe segment shrank 2.5% compared to 2024, "which was below plan", Asahi said.
Unit sales prices were up but total revenue dropped "due to unseasonable weather in central and Eastern Europe and a persistently sluggish consumption environment in Poland and other markets", which hit volumes.
However, core operating profit in Europe was still "in line with plan", the Super Dry brewer said, growing at a "low single-digit" rate versus 2024, aided "by improved product and price mixes and lower variable and fixed costs".
In Europe in 2026, Asahi is aiming to grow revenue by "mid-single-digits", as it looks to improve unit sales prices in each market and grow its "non-alcohol adult beverages (beer taste) and global brands categories".
It is also targeting low single-digit growth in the core operating profit its business Europe generates in 2026.
"While stronger investment is planned to help drive a recovery in demand and variable and fixed costs are expected to increase, ongoing efforts to improve product and price mixes and promote earnings structure reforms are expected to drive a rise in overall profit," the business said.
Asahi's business in Asia-Pacific had a slightly more positive performance, recording revenue growth of 3.7% versus 2024, though this achievement "fell short of plan", it said, driven by "slower-than-expected recovery in demand primarily in Oceania markets".
The Peroni brand owner's core operating profit in the region performed "in line with plan" in 2025, booking growth of low single digits.
In 2026, Asahi said it aims to achieve a mid-single-digit rise in core operating profit in Asia-Pacific business and low-single-digit growth in revenue.
"While fixed costs are expected to increase, active efforts to improve product and price mixes and promote earnings structure reforms are expected to support the anticipated profit increase," it said in progress update.
Due to the "system disruption" from the cyberattack last year, the business said it was still unable to share accurate revenue and core operating profit for the Japan and East Asia business for its 2025 financial year.
It did share that between October and December, the group's Asahi Breweries business in Japan saw sales fall by more than 15% year on year.
The group's soft drinks business in Japan saw sales were "roughly 70%" of the level achieved the previous year, while its food business were "roughly 90%" of the level booked the year prior.
In the update, CEO Atsushi Katsuki said: "Fiscal 2025 core operating profit from the Japan & East Asia segment is expected to come in below plan due to the impact of the recent system disruptions. Meanwhile, profit from the Europe and Asia Pacific
segments has increased broadly in line with our plan, supported by improved unit sales prices and ongoing earnings structure reforms.
"In 2026, we will strive to fully restore all our systems in Japan. Furthermore, as distribution systems normalise from February onward, we will focus on restoring lost sales opportunities, accounts, and other measures to help generate a solid corporate performance. In addition, we will aim to steadily expand our business performance in Europe and the Asia Pacific, while also rigorously strengthening our business portfolio, including the recent acquisition of shares in Diageo plc’s east Africa businesses that was agreed in December 2025."
"Our ultimate aim is, as before, to increase corporate value over the medium to long term through an appropriate allocation of capital designed to ensure financial soundness and improve capital efficiency," Katsuki added.
Earlier this month, the business confirmed more than 110,000 records of personal data had been leaked online following the ransomware attack.
Asahi said in November that personal information belonging to nearly two million people had potentially been leaked.
