Asahi Group Holdings booked one of its stronger half-year report cards in years: revenue for the six months to June 2026 rose 7.7% to ¥1.46tn, operating profit jumped 56.2% to ¥144.1bn, and net profit attributable to shareholders climbed 68.8% to ¥99.1bn. Strip out currency movements, though, and the underlying picture reverses. Business profit, the company's own measure of core trading performance, rose just 1.5% in yen terms but fell 8.5% on a constant-currency basis.
Where the currency effect actually sits
The gap between reported and constant-currency results does not come from Japan. In the Japan and East Asia segment, which is largely yen-denominated, reported and currency-neutral figures were identical: revenue fell 2.2% and business profit fell 11.2% either way. The flattering effect instead comes from Europe and Asia Pacific, where profit earned in euros, Australian dollars and other currencies gets translated back into a weaker yen. Europe's reported revenue rose 13.7% but was flat once currency is stripped out; its business profit rose 8.7% in yen but fell 6.1% at constant exchange rates. Asia Pacific's 18.0% headline profit gain becomes a 0.2% decline on the same basis.
| Region | Revenue (reported) | Revenue (constant-currency) | Business profit (reported) | Business profit (constant-currency) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan & East Asia | -2.2% | -2.2% | -11.2% | -11.2% |
| Europe | +13.7% | +0.0% | +8.7% | -6.1% |
| Asia Pacific | +19.0% | +0.7% | +18.0% | -0.2% |
A cyberattack still in the numbers
Japan and East Asia's decline traces partly to a cyberattack that struck Asahi's systems on 29 September 2025, an incident serious enough to delay the company's results announcement at the time. Asahi says the resulting system disruption, combined with higher raw-material costs, cut the segment's revenue by 2.2% and business profit by 11.2% over the first half. The hit was worse earlier in the year: the same disruption had already dragged the segment's business profit down 22.1% in the first quarter alone.
The one-off behind the operating-profit jump
Much of the leap from business profit to operating profit, a 56.2% rise to ¥144.1bn, traces to a single item: Asahi booked a ¥34.1bn gain from selling fixed assets in the first half, against a small loss a year earlier. Strip that out and the operating-profit surge looks far less dramatic. Adjusted net profit, which Asahi calculates by excluding one-off items such as portfolio restructuring and impairments, rose a more modest 8.2% to ¥73.0bn.
Guidance unchanged, dividend rising
Asahi left its full-year outlook for the year to December 2026 unchanged: revenue of ¥3.22tn (+11.2%), operating profit of ¥297bn (+59.8%) and net profit of ¥194bn (+59.6%), alongside a planned annual dividend of ¥57 per share, up from ¥52 last year. The interim ¥26 has already been paid; the ¥31 year-end payment is due from 1 September 2026.