Beam Suntory, the spirits arm of Japanese group Suntory Holdings, said that revenue in 2016 financial year grew in the mid-single digit.
However, net sales for the alcoholic beverages segment which includes wine, beer and spirits declined 3.6% to ¥988.7bn yen ($8.69bn) year-on-year. The company noted that the spirits division performed strongly, driven by robust growth for brands such as Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Hornitos tequila, Japanese ready-to-drink products and premium and scotch whiskies.
Suntory Food & Beverage Limited, reported its 2016 full-year results, with sales increasing 2.1% to ¥1.4 trillion yen ($12.3bn).
The maker of Lucozade and Ribena said it achieved higher revenue growth as a result of aggressive marketing and cost reduction initiatives it carried out on its main brands.
Japanese food and beverage firm, Suntory Holdings wants its obese employees to get into shape. The company has offered its employees a chance to go to a weight lose camp where they will learn how to eat and drink in moderation at social events and how to exercise.
Suntory’s personnel department said that the company has more ‘obese-leaning employees’ than a typical company. Therefore it has devised a means to improve the health of its employees.
Lucozade and Ribena, two famous brands of Japanese Food and Beverage Company, Suntory said it will cut 50% of the sugar content in its drinks in the UK and Ireland by next summer. The announcement comes ahead of a proposed sugar tax on sweetened beverages set to go into effect in both countries in 2018.
The company said it would reformulate all its drinks to contain less than 4.5g of total sugar per 100ml – the equivalent of one teaspoon. Currently, the drinks contain 13g and 10g of sugar per 100ml serving respectively.
Beam Suntory, the spirits arm of Suntory Holdings said that revenue for the first nine months of 2016 declined 3.5% to ¥711bn yen ($6.9bn), down from $7.1bn in 2015. The company blamed the lackluster sales on weak demand for its beer in Japan, which declined 1% year-on-year, despite an aggressive marketing push by the company to increase sales. Foreign exchange impact hurt its wine category, pushing sales down slightly.
Suntory Holdings, the group company that owns Suntory Food and Beverage Limited, said that group revenue fell 0.23% to ¥1.97 trillion yen (approx. $18.7bn) in the first nine months of 2016. However, operating income rose 14.1% to ¥149bn yen ($1.4bn).
Suntory Food and Beverage segment boosted sales 4.4% to ¥1.06 trillion yen ($10bn) in the nine months to September, helped by a strengthening of its brands, creation of new demand for its products, bolstering profitability by reforming its cost structure and improving product quality based on insights from other group companies.
