Brand New: Asahi, Carlsberg Malaysia, Kirin and more big brands feature in our round-up

‘Maximising corporate value’: Asahi hopes massive group restructure will enhance advantages across four key markets​

Japanese beer giant Asahi is hopeful that its recently-completed large-scale group restructuring strategy to establish individual regional headquarters will maximise its competitive advantages across its four major markets.

Asahi recently announced its FY2023 full-year financial results, reporting 6.8% year-on-year growth in revenue to JPY2.77tn (US$18.4bn) and 3.9% year-on-year growth in core operating profits to JPY263.7bn (US$1.75bn).

The firm attributed the revenue growth to unit sales price increases and premiumisation.

‘Weaker sentiment’: Carlsberg Malaysia vows to forge ahead with e-commerce and premium products focus despite 2023 sales drop​

Beer giant Carlsberg Malaysia has renewed its commitment to investing into both its premium products strategy as well as e-commerce presence, despite seeing poorer year-on-year performances on both fronts in the last year.

Carlsberg Malaysia recently announced its FY2023 full-year financial results, reporting a decrease of -6.3% in revenue to RM2.26bn (US$474.1mn) and a rise of 5.1% in net profits to RM333.2mn (US$69.9mn).

The drop in revenue was attributed to both the shorter timing of Chinese New Year in 2023, which is generally considered by Carlsberg to be one of its most profitable periods, whereas the increased profits were attributed to the removal of the Prosperity Tax that had to be paid back in 2022.

Inflationary burdens: Kirin to implement fourth round of price hikes in a year to cope with ‘difficult’ conditions​

Japanese food and beverage giant Kirin Holdings has announced that it is implementing a fourth round of price hikes within the past 12 months in order to cope with current ‘difficult’ conditions, including production cost increases.

Kirin announced in January this year that a new round of price revisions are set to enter into force starting Wednesday, May 1 2024, which will affect relevant products that are packed into large plastic containers.

“In order to deliver safe, high-quality products at reasonable prices, our company has continued to strive for corporate efforts and streamlined management to improve productivity and reduce costs across our business,”​ Kirin Beverage President Toru Yoshimura said via a formal statement.

‘Best year ever’: Mondelez sees cocoa inflation, political tensions as ongoing major challenges despite record profits​

Confectionary giant Mondelez believes that inflation affecting cocoa and sugar, as well as ongoing political tensions in the Middle East are major challenges that it will need to overcome this year, despite having announced ‘record’ profits fror 2023.

Mondelez International recently announced its FY2023 full-year financial results, reporting 14.7% year-on-year net revenue growth to US$36.1bn and 18.8% year-on-year gross profit growth to US$13.3bn for the overall firm.

It also reported 11.7% yoy revenue growth to US$7.1bn for the Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region in particular – Mondelez classifies AMEA under its Emerging Markets portfolio, and deep diving into the numbers for this region showed these have primarily been driven by price hikes.

Premium push: Unilever India believes food sector growth lies in higher-priced value-added products​

Hindustan Unilever India (HUL) has highlighted a continued focus on its premium strategy in order to sustain continued growth in the country, citing products such as Horlicks Plus as a major example.

HUL recently announced its Q3FY2023 financial results ending 31 December 2023, reporting near-flat percentage growth of 0.1% to INR154.6bn (US$1.86bn) and a -2% drop in Profits After Tax to INR34.6bn (US$416.4mn).

The firm attributed the drop in profits to both its attempts to bring end-product prices down for tea, as well as ongoing climate and economic challenges.

“We have taken price cuts in the past few quarters in commodity-linked categories [in order] to pass on the benefits of lower material prices to our consumers,”​ HUL CFO Ritesh Tiwari told the floor at an investors conference announcing the financial results.