Asahi sees profits nosedive following cyber-attack
Asahi Group Holdings has seen its profits decline in what it describes as a situation that had “unavoidable” consequences since hackers launched a cyber-attack on its business and took down its system last year.
The Japanese drinks giant revealed in its third quarter results, which was measured from 1 January through to 30 September 2025, that operating profit declined 5.5% year-on-year and declined 4.6% year-on-year on a constant currency basis.
‘Unavoidable’
Speaking about the results, Asahi Group Holdings president and group CEO Atsushi Katsuki said: “In Europe and Asia Pacific, we are making steady progress on initiatives to drive growth, including improved unit sales prices and earnings structure reforms. In Japan and East Asia, while the impact of the system disruption is unavoidable in the short term, we remain confident in the resilience of our business foundation, underpinned by a robust brand portfolio.”
The cyber-attack, which led to a system disruption on 29 September 2025 meant that the group’s consolidated financial results for the January–September period were limited. System-based order placement and product shipments resumed in December 2025 and yet since February 2026, Asahi has reassured that overall logistics operations have been “normalised” across its Japan-based businesses and noted that “impact of the system disruption is limited to Japan”.
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Last November, Asahi revealed that the knock-on effect of the attack had placed 1.5 million customers’ data at risk after hackers got into the beer group’s system. However, despite setbacks, the beer business saw the total sales volume of its global brands continue to grow, with Asahi Super Dry up 13% and Peroni Nastro Azzurro up 5%, excluding home markets.
Increased brand awareness
Katsuki explained: “Our global brands continue to increase awareness through global partnerships, with Asahi Super Dry delivering double-digit growth, supported by partnerships with the Rugby World Cup and City Football Group.”
Irrespective of its recent challenges, Asahi’s forecast for the full year 2025 however remains unchanged and regarding the way the business now views its security, it has also assured that “in light of the recent cyberattack, we will further strengthen our efforts to date, shifting to a system based on continuous monitoring and improvements, and strengthen our system to minimise the impact in the event of an emergency”.
Addressing the setback along with the Q3 results, Katsuki added: “We will continue to proactively strengthen our business portfolio to enhance corporate value over the medium to long term.”
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