Asahi Group Holdings’ food sales fell again year on year in November, although not to the same extent as a month earlier, as the Japanese group continues to deal with the aftermath of the cyberattack that hit the business.
The preliminary revenue Asahi Group Holdings’ food business generated in November was “around” 90% of the level booked in the same month last year. October’s sales were “in the mid 70%” of those brought in 12 months earlier.
Sales at the Super Dry owner’s Asahi Breweries unit declined by at least 20% in November versus the same month a year earlier.
Asahi Group Holdings said today (10 December) the division’s preliminary revenue in November “was in the upper 70% year-on-year”, confirming sales were down by at least a fifth.
In September, Asahi reported a “systems failure” tied to the cyberattack, affecting production and distribution across its domestic business. The company’s factories resumed operations a week later.
In October, Asahi Breweries’ sales “reached over 90%” of the levels seen in the same month of 2024.
The group said today the bigger decline in November was due to “a reaction to the temporary surge in orders when shipments resumed in October”. It also pointed to “restrictions on gift-item shipments ahead of the year-end demand period”.
The sales performance of the Asahi Soft Drinks business improved in November, though sales were still down year-on-year.
Asahi Soft Drinks’ sales were “in the mid 70%” of the level generated in November 2024, the company said. In October, the group’s soft-drinks sales tumbled by around 40%.
Asahi Group Holdings said order placement and shipping operations continued to be handled manually in November.
However, the company’s food division resumed "system-based ordering" on 2 December. Asahi Breweries and Asahi Soft Drinks followed suit a day later.
The group said “some restrictions remain, including on delivery lead times” but added it aims to “normalise overall logistics operations” by February.
Asahi Group Holdings said last month almost two million people could have had personal data leaked in connection with the cyberattack in Japan two months ago.
Cybercrime organisation Qilin had reportedly claimed it was the source of the breach and posted images to its website that it said were internal Asahi documents.
