Japan's second-biggest beer maker, Kirin Brewery Co said on February 4 it expected to book a record operating profit of 100 billion yen ($948 million) for 2003 as cost cuts more than offset sluggish beer sales. Net profits seem to have stayed flat at around 32.5 billion yen as appraisal losses on fixed assets and other special losses rose, a company spokeswoman said. Revenue in the year to December 31 seems to have stayed at 1.6 trillion yen, falling 10 billion yen short of the company's target, but marketing and raw material costs were reduced by nearly 24 billion yen from 2002, she said.

Kirin's 46-percent-owned Australian brewer Lion Nathan Ltd also performed well, with its operating profit likely to be three billion yen over target, she said. But sales of Kirin's beer and low-malt beer substitute "happoshu" were down one percent in 2003, hit by an unusually cool summer, a tax increase on happoshu and sluggish consumer spending. Kirin will reveal business results for 2003 on February 19. The company reported 32.54 billion yen in net profit on revenues of 1.58 trillion yen for 2002. It posted an operating profit of 89.79 billion yen.

06 February, 2004