Asahi Group Holdings experienced a significant decline in food sales, dipping over 20% last month, following a cyberattack that disrupted operations in Japan.
On 13 November, the company provided a detailed overview of its sales performance for October, indicating a notable impact from the breach first reported on 29 September.
Asahi’s preliminary revenue from its food business fell more than 20% year on year in October. The company prioritized high-demand products, including infant formula and baby food, in response.
For its soft-drinks segment, which resumed shipments on 3 October, preliminary revenue was approximately 60% of last year’s figures.
“As the range of shipped products gradually expanded, the preliminary revenue for the final week of October reached around 80% year on year, indicating a recovery trend,” the group stated. “The preliminary revenue for September aligned closely with the previous year.”
In contrast, while the Super Dry brewer’s beer sales also faced challenges, they only declined slightly; preliminary revenue in October was reported at over 90% of levels seen in the same month of 2024.
Just Food understands that Asahi’s beer division is shipping around 10% of its previous SKUs. However, focusing on core products like Super Dry has significantly reduced the adverse impact on sales.
Additionally, rival brewer Kirin Holdings released its October sales data today, reporting a 19% increase in beer sales compared to last year.
All three divisions continue to manage order-taking and shipping operations manually, the company confirmed.
In September, Asahi reported a “systems failure” linked to the cyberattack, which disrupted production and distribution across its business. Factories resumed operations a week later.
The company later cautioned that personal information might have been compromised following the ransomware incident.
The cybercrime organization Qilin reportedly claimed responsibility for the breach, releasing 29 images on its website that it alleges to be internal Asahi documents.
