Japanese beer maker, Sapporo Holdings, announced on October 31 that it has sold the site of a former brewery for ¥16.8 billion (US$154.5 million). The site, in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, will be bought by Ito-Yokado Co., Tobu Railway Co., and Recruit Cosmos Co. The sale will not affect the company’s earnings for 2003 as it has been factored into its earnings outlook, the brewery said. Sapporo also forecasts a group net profit of ¥1.4 billion on sales of ¥476 billion for the full year.

In September last year the brewery said that it would integrate its production into six breweries from the current eight to reduce production costs. It is part of the brewery’s restructuring efforts to streamline and reorganize its operations.

03 November, 2003