The parent company of Suntory Global Spirits has posted a 1% lift in sales from its combined alcohol businesses for the 12 months of last year.
Privately-owned Suntory Holdings said late last week that the increase, to JPY1,055.7bn (US$6.87bn), occurred against the backdrop of “a challenging external environment driven by consumer and demographic changes and economic headwinds”. The 12-month performance was driven by H1’s 3.5% sales rise for the group’s alcohol operations, which include SGS and a beer business in its home market of Japan.
In the full year for 2023, Suntory’s alcohol divisions were up in sales terms by a combined 11.8%.
While the associated commentary was light on specific details, Suntory noted a single-digit increase in sales of the Jim Beam bourbon and Roku Japanese gin brands last year. The Hibiki and Yamazaki Japanese whisky marks, meanwhile, were both up by double digits, while SGS’s ongoing focus on spirits=based RTDs – a segment positioned by the holding company as “strategically important” – saw On The Rocks and -196 up by double and high-single digits, respectively, in value terms.
“While performance in North America and ‘International’ were challenged,” the group added “Asia Pacific continues to be a bright spot, driven by strong sales in South Korea and Japan. In Japan, the company succeeded in growing the business by working on creating Western liquor culture, with a focus on whisky and gin … .”
In domestic beer, Suntory’s sales were down 3% in volumes on the year prior, despite a 57% leap in volumes from the Suntory Draft Beer brand, which debuted in Japan in 2023.
Also in last week’s results announcement Suntory noted the tenth anniversary in April last year of its acquisition of Beam. The holding company described Beam Suntory’s name change to SGS, also in April, as “the culmination of our corporate integration efforts”.
“Leveraging our deep expertise and high quality in both (alcoholic beverages and soft drinks) categories, we are aiming to become the number one leader and ‘gold medallist’ in the globally promising growth market of the RTD category,” the group added. “Under this new objective, a partnership has already been established in Oceania between Suntory Global Spirits (for alcoholic beverages) and Suntory Beverage & Food (for soft drinks).
“This new structure will be fully launched in July.”
