- ‘Alcoholic Beverages’ division – which includes Suntory Global Spirits – increases sales in six months to the end of June by 3.5% to JPY506.86bn (US$3.44bn)
- Top-line performance is down on last year’s 11.8% jump in sales
Suntory Holdings has seen its half-year performance hampered by the US, where “downward market trends and changes in retail’s inventory strategies” have created what the Suntory Global Spirits parent described as a “challenging environment” for beverage alcohol.
In the six months to the end of June, the Japan-based conglomerate’s ‘alcoholic beverages’ reporting unit delivered a 3.5% lift in sales. Despite the top-line deceleration from full-year 2023’s near-12% jump, the rise was still ahead of the rates from most of Suntory Global Spirits’ peers over the six months.
Proximo Spirits’ +0.8% increase is the closest from the unit’s rivals, although Campari Group is leading the way with +6.9% in H1. Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard are yet to announce their latest sets of results.
Offsetting the situation in the US – specific figures on a by-market basis were not disclosed – Suntory highlighted a “strong” six months in Germany and India as well as in the global travel retail channel. Domestically, the “canned highballs” portfolio was singled out alongside the Jim Beam American whiskey and Ao ‘world whisky’ brands as having done well.
The parent also noted that its -196 RTD brand expanded its global reach in the half year to the US, Europe and South-East Asia while in Japan, a sugar-free extension has been released in recent weeks.
On the beer side, volumes in Japan dipped 4% on the corresponding period last year although the decline was larger (-5%) excluding “alcohol-free beer-type beverages”.
In April, Beam Suntory became Suntory Global Spirits, a move framed by its owner last week as “aiming to pursue further business expansion and synergies across the Suntory group”.
