Asahi becomes a non-alcoholic beer after a $ 20 billion merger and profit

Asahi wants to crack the market that has been surprisingly resistant to the coronavirus pandemic: non-alcoholic beverages.

Asahi’s decision was as follows $ 20 billion in the beer market, including Peroni, Pilsner Urquell and Carlton Draft in recent years. But the “welfare” aspect of all things has been reinforced by the consumer perspective of Covid-19. Low sales and non-alcoholic beverages rose during the pandemic pub closures they have led to a worldwide decline in beer sales.

“The non-alcoholic product is a good overall product,” Atsushi Katsuki, Asahi’s general manager since March, said in an interview. “It helps solve social problems, connects us with new users and achieves our profitability.”

The sale of non-alcoholic beer has been beneficial as people have spent more on beverages to consume at home during closures, as Asahi has adapted a broader strategy to focus on a higher margin. “Premium” drinks.

The change has also helped pressures in Japan, as beer volumes have fallen for more than two decades and the government has tightened its crackdown on heavy alcohol consumption.

In Europe, sales of Asahi non-alcoholic beer rose by 10 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year, driven by the popularity of brands such as Birell and Peroni Libera – although the beer fell 6% by volume. Asahi said he wanted to quadruple the ratio of non-alcoholic beverage sales in Europe to 2030 by 2030, up 5.1 percent from last year.

The company, the leading Super Dry brand known in Japan, launched a low-alcohol product called Beery in March, using acquired European beverage technology to recreate a low-alcohol beer. It aims to triple the beverage ratio to 3.5 percent or less of alcohol by 20 percent of its product blends by 2025.

“This is not just about youth consumption changes,” Katsuki said. “So far we haven’t been able to offer opportunities for different situations to target people who can drink or people who can drink or people who want to drink but can’t.”

The volume of sales of non-alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages is projected to grow by 10.7 per cent annually in the US, 6.6 per cent in the UK and 6.5 per cent in Japan between 2020 and 2024, according to the analytical beverages group. IWSR.

Rivals like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Heineken have also been building non-alcoholic wallets. But analysts have waited and seen how much these products will contribute to profits, as the non-alcoholic and non-alcoholic market accounts for less than 2% of intoxicating beverages. Asahi’s operating profit fell by a third last year as it relied heavily on restaurant and pub sales.

Katsuki, 61, took on the world’s seventh-largest brewer in a hugely difficult business environment than the previous five years, when Asahi spent billions on AB InBev’s European and Australian assets, Grolsch and Carlton & United Breweries between.

The company has ruled out any major purchases until 2024, when it expects to reduce its net profit before interest, taxes, amortization and amortization before tripling it by six times today.

“We are debating internally whether our current portfolio and footprint are sufficient. The question is whether it is okay to drink beer alone,” Katsuki said.