Asahi Group Holdings apologized to shareholders for delaying this earnings release, a lag the company traces to the cyberattack that hit its systems on September 29, 2025. The report, covering the quarter from January to March 2026, shows that damage is still showing up in the numbers: business profit in the Japan and East Asia segment fell 22.1% year-on-year to ¥21.3bn, even as the group's total revenue rose.
Group numbers, in brief
Consolidated revenue climbed 2.6% to ¥647.1bn. Strip out currency effects, however, and revenue actually fell 4.4%, with core business profit down 14.3% on a constant-currency basis. Reported business profit dropped 6.9% to ¥35.1bn, operating profit fell 3.1% to ¥32.9bn, and profit attributable to parent-company shareholders slipped 0.4% to ¥21.4bn. Strip out one-off items such as portfolio restructuring, and adjusted parent profit fell a sharper 7.7% to ¥19.9bn.
Where the damage sits
The Japan and East Asia segment, Asahi's largest, saw revenue drop 9.3% to ¥279.7bn. Management attributes the segment's profit slide to continuing system disruption from last year's cyberattack plus higher raw-material costs. That is a notable admission: nearly five months after the quarter closed, and more than ten months after the attack itself, the company is still citing it as an active drag on operations rather than a cost already absorbed.
Overseas growth does the heavy lifting
Europe and Asia-Pacific covered for the shortfall. European revenue rose 11.2% to ¥154.8bn and business profit gained 5.7% to ¥8.2bn, helped by premium beer sales under the Asahi Super Dry and Peroni Nastro Azzurro brands and by currency translation; on a constant-currency basis, European revenue actually fell 2.4%. Asia-Pacific was the stronger performer: revenue jumped 15.7% to ¥207.1bn and business profit rose 20.1% to ¥22.0bn, gains that held up even after stripping out currency effects, at 1.5% and 5.3% respectively.
| Segment | Revenue | Revenue vs year earlier | Business profit | Profit vs year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan & East Asia | ¥279.7bn | -9.3% | ¥21.3bn | -22.1% |
| Europe | ¥154.8bn | +11.2% | ¥8.2bn | +5.7% |
| Asia Pacific | ¥207.1bn | +15.7% | ¥22.0bn | +20.1% |
| Other | ¥8.3bn | +41.3% | ¥1.5bn | +41.7% |
Guidance and cash unchanged
Despite the wobble, Asahi left its full-year targets unchanged from the forecast it issued on July 8, 2026: revenue of ¥3.22tn (up 11.2%), business profit of ¥291bn (up 10.6%), and parent profit of ¥194bn (up 59.6%). The planned annual dividend rises to ¥57.00 a share from ¥52.00 a year earlier. Operating cash flow turned positive, generating ¥50.4bn against an outflow of ¥151.5bn a year earlier, while total assets stood at roughly ¥5,984.4bn, down about ¥44.0bn from the end of 2025.
For readers watching the stock, the message is straightforward: the cyberattack's cost in Japan is real and still running, but small enough next to the group's overseas earnings base that management saw no reason to touch its full-year numbers.