Australia: Asahi sees canned beer outselling its bottled options

Canned beer is outselling bottles for Asahi Beverages for the first time, leading the company to invested A$60 million in a new canning line at Australia’s largest brewery in Yatala, Queensland, Drinks Digest reported on February 23.

Beer sold in cans is expected to make up 52% of Asahi’s Australian business by next year. CEO Amanda Sellers told the Australian Financial Review the trend was being driven by craft beer and the greater affordability of cans due to their smaller size on average.

“It’s grown about 6% over the past few years since coming out of COVID-19, we saw a huge growth in cans,” Sellers said.

While Asahi’s Oceania division last week reported an 8.2% decline in profit in the 2024 calendar year, Sellers predicted beer consumption would return to growth this year as consumer confidence builds following Tuesday’s interest rate cut.

Asahi’s overall revenue grew 2.1% YoY in 2024, which it attributed to unit sales price increases driven by its focus on premiumisation and strategic price revisions. Revenue on actual currency basis grew +6.2% YoY.

Core operating profit grew +3.7% YoY, driven by higher profits in Japan and Europe, as well as improved cost efficiencies, which helped counterbalance the decline in profits in Oceania due to what Asahi described as “a continued deterioration in the local market environment”. Core operating profit on actual currency basis grew +8.1% YoY.

Unit sales price for beer, beer-like beverages and beer-taste beverages categories increased 2.6% YoY in total across three main regions in Japan, Europe, and Oceania, primarily due to sustained improvements in Japan and Europe.

Total sales volume of all five global Asahi brands grew 5% YoY. Asahi Super Dry, a top priority for Asahi;s global brand portfolio, grew 10% YoY driven mainly by sales expansion in Asia and Europe.

Asahi Group Holdings President & Group CEO Atsushi Katsuki said: “In 2024, we achieved new record highs across all earnings categories, including revenue and core operating profit, as our businesses in different regions complemented each other’s performance despite facing a challenging business environment.

“In addition to advancing our premium strategy, we will continue investing in beer adjacent categories, particularly ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol beverage and non-alcohol beer, to enhance our business portfolio.

“In April 2025, we will shift from a four Regional Headquarters (RHQ) structure to a three RHQ structure mainly by integrating the Oceania and Southeast Asia RHQs. We will continue to drive premiumization, our multi-beverage strategy, and global brand expansion by evolving into a more agile and efficient governance system. Through this transformation, we aim to strengthen our competitive advantage in local markets and further expand our presence in global markets.”

Sellers told the AFR that consumer tastes are changing worldwide. A third of its beer sales are in the no, low- and mid-strength category.

“This year has been a challenging year, and we’ve seen the cost of living has an impact on consumers, choices they’re making about what they consume and where they consume,” Sellers said.

“In 2024, we’ve seen a decline by around 3%, over five to 10 years, beer has declined around 0.5 to 1% a year. We’re still at our heart a beer company. That won’t change, but people are making different choices.

“The big trend is moderation. We’re certainly seeing a lot of consumers moderate their alcohol consumption. So we’re really investing in low, no and mid-strength beer to capture that trend, so [products] like Great Northern and Carlton Dry.

“We’re also investing in different pack types, so consumers can consume different quantities of beverages. So instead of buying a 24 pack, you might buy a 12 pack. The other trend is around premium products. We’ve focused on brands like Great Northern Long Run and Cascade Origin, two state-based products to capture that trend.”

Sellers also said canned drinks such as Hard Rated were driving growth.

“We’ve really invested in pre-mixed drinks, so brands like Hard Rated have helped propel us to the number one position in RTD in Australia,” she said.

24 February, 2025