Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.
Q2 2023 Financial Results Briefing Conference Call Summary(1)
Date & time: Thursday August 10, 2023; 15:30–17:00
Presenter: Atsushi Katsuki, President and CEO, Representative Director◆Executive Summary (P1)
• For the first half overview, as explained just now, we achieved profit growththat exceeded the plan, mainly in Japan, by reversing the significant cost
increases with the effects of higher revenue and strengthened costmanagement.
• While maintaining and expanding our competitive advantage in each region,
we have been able to achieve higher unit sales prices in all regions bypromoting appropriate pricing strategy and expanding premium categories.
• From the second half onward, it will be necessary to monitor inflationassociated impacts on demand. However, we will continue to achieve therevised full-year forecast, mainly for the Alcohol Beverages Business inJapan, and continue to invest for sustainable growth in the next fiscal year
and beyond.
• In addition, as I will explain later, we established Asahi Global Procurement
to consolidate our procurement functions globally, and will accelerate efforts
to further upgrade our procurement functions and strengthen Group
governance.
◆Improvement in Unit Sales Price/ Variable Cost Increases (P2)• First, as for the first half results of unit sales prices described in the top row,
we have been able to steadily increase unit sales prices from the firstquarter onward, with 9.0% in Japan, 16.5% in Europe, and 2.9% inAustralia, contributing significantly to top-line growth in the three major
regions.
• Although the effect of price revisions was the biggest driver of improvement1

in unit prices, global brands have also made steady progress in theirpremium strategy, with "Asahi Super Dry" in particular growing at morethan 20% year on year globally, excluding its home market.
• With global inflation progressing, future consumption trends are not
optimistic, but at present this has not led to a major decline in consumer
sentiment. We intend to promote appropriate pricing strategy and premium
strategy in each region in the second half and beyond.
• The bottom row summarizes the status of cost increases.
• In the first half, we achieved a total of just below JPY 55.0 billion, mainly in
raw materials and energy. Although there were strong and weak results ineach region, the Group as a whole was slightly lower than the expected level.
• For the full-year forecast, it is unchanged at around JPY 100.0 billion due tothe large volume of raw materials already hedged and the need to prepare
for additional price hike requests from suppliers, and fluctuations in theenergy market in the winter, although there are signs of softening in somemarket conditions.
• If it is possible to restrain the amount from the forecast, we will flexibly
redistribute the funds, not only to increase profits, but also to improve
competitive advantage and invest in core strategies.
◆Japan: Overview and Direction (P3)• For the first half overview, in response to significant cost increases, weachieved higher-than-planned profit growth through appropriate pricing
strategy, such as additional price increases for Non-Alcohol Beverages
Business in May, and strengthened cost management, such as a review ofadvertising and promotional investments, following the price revision sincelast year.
• As a result, the full-year forecast has been revised upward. In the case of
Alcohol Beverages Business, we will revise the prices of kegs and bottles ofbeer in October. We will continue to see environmental changes, such as2liquor tax revisions, as an opportunity to invest in growth categories andstrengthen our new value propositions.
• As “One Asahi,” we will speed up and strengthen our efforts to establish astrong profit base, including the creation of top-line synergies and cost
structural reforms that transcend the boundaries of the Alcohol Beverages,
Non-Alcohol Beverages, and Food Businesses, as well as the enhancementof human capital and organizational functions.
◆Japan (Alcohol Beverages Business): Main Initiatives (P4)• As the graph on the left in the upper row shows, the return to beer trend
has continued since the liquor tax revision in October 2020, even as theprice revision has been steadily penetrating. In light of the liquor tax
revision in October this year, we expect this trend to continue.
• In the first half, we were negatively affected by temporary volume due tothe renewal of beer brands and the launch of new products of competitors,
but we were able to maintain key brand indicators of “Asahi Super Dry”,
such as recallability and discrimination.
• We have also strengthened our new value proposition, such as the launchof “Asahi Shokusai,” which utilizes the Jokki Can. Although the price is about
JPY 10 higher than that of the competing premium beer, we have received
a high level of appreciation for the aroma and flavor of the beer, and wehave achieved a high level of intention to repeat purchase the beer, which
is a good start.
• In the future, we will strengthen information dissemination through the useof being a Worldwide Partner in the Rugby World Cup and introduce newbeer products to further drive the return of demand to beer following theliquor tax revision.
◆Japan (Non-Alcohol Beverages Business): Main Initiatives (P5)• "Asahi Sou," a tea released in April, has been performing well, but progresson core brands such as lactic acid drinks and coffee have fallen short of theplan.
3• Although the business environment continues to be difficult amid significant
cost increases, we will aim to achieve our annual plan and strengthen ourmarketing activities, including our new value propositions, to restore sales
momentum in the next fiscal year and beyond, including the developmentof high-value-added products and products with improved containers.
◆Europe (P6, P7)• For the first half overview, sales volume decreased while significant cost
increases continued, but as I explained earlier, the unit sales prices
increased significantly, and the premium strategy, including price responses,
has steadily progressed.
• Trends by category are shown in the upper section of the next page. Inaddition to significant unit price improvements in the premium category,
the rate of increase in the mainstream unit price has been higher than lastyear.
• Furthermore, as we take the lead in such price revisions, we have been able
to maintain and expand the fundamental strength of our overall Europe
business, including the recent steady expansion in our share of the offpremise market in five countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland andRomania.
• In Europe, where inflation is particularly high, it is necessary to keep a closeeye on changes in consumption trends. However, we intend to continue topromote a premium strategy based on Profitable Revenue GrowthManagement in European countries, which will lead to sustainable growth in
the next fiscal year and beyond.
◆Oceania (P8, P9)• For the first half overview, we continued to achieve strong top-line growth
by improving our competitive advantage with our core brands and bypromoting a multi-beverage strategy that mutually utilizes a sales network
for alcohol and non-alcohol beverages.

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• More specifically, as you can see on the next page, sales of the core brand"Great Northern” continued to outpace the overall market, growing at 5%year on year. Meanwhile, we are actively developing high-end products suchas craft beer and RTD.
• In the multi-beverage strategy, sales of “Asahi Super Dry” and “PeroniNastro Azzurro” increased 13% year on year, mainly due to the expansionof cross-selling of alcohol and non-alcohol beverages.
• In Oceania, it is necessary to prepare for the risk of a slowdown in the beer
and beverage markets as a whole in response to the recent deterioration in
the macro environment. However, in addition to the upgrading of Revenue
Growth Management, we plan to strengthen our profit base, which will not
be affected by environmental changes, through new profit structure reforms
that we have initiated as the next phase of creating integration synergy.
◆Expansion of Global Brands (P10)• As I mentioned at the beginning of this conference call, “Asahi Super Dry”
sales volume outside Japan increased 24% year on year, driven by strong
growth in top-selling countries such as China, Australia, and the UnitedKingdom.
• As for topics, in Korea, where we were struggling until now, we released alimited number of “Nama Jokki Can” in May, but it became a big topic ofconversation through SNS, etc., and like in Japan, it sold out immediately
after the release, which gave momentum to full-scale development in thefuture.
• Sales of “Peroni Nastro Azzurro” also increased 3% year on year outside thehome market on the back of growth mainly in Europe, Asia, and Australia,
and the expansion of the non-alcohol “Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%”.
• In addition to strengthening marketing through sponsorship of global
sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup to be held from September,
we are also expanding our market presence through the development of
non-alcohol beer-taste beverages and other extension products.
5◆Establishment of Asahi Global Procurement (P11)• As described, in order to enhance the procurement functions of the Group
as a whole, Asahi Global Procurement, a new company that consolidates thecategory management and sourcing functions that have been performed byeach region, has been established in Singapore and will commence
operations in January 2024.
• By integrating the Group’s diverse capabilities, the Group will be able togather cutting-edge cases, information, and knowhow to procure highquality materials and services on a sustainable and stable basis.
• By 2028, the new company will increase the ratio of direct negotiations andmanagement to procurement expenditure of the entire Group to more than50%. The ratio of management by the procurement function of the entire
Group, including the new company, will also be increased from about 60%
to more than 90%.
• In this way, the entire Group aims to generate a financial impact of morethan USD 100 million per year, including cost reductions and reductions infuture cost increases, over a period of about 5 years from 2024.
• We will also strengthen cooperation with suppliers to address sustainability
issues, such as the procurement of sustainable agricultural raw materials
and containers and packaging. In addition, we plan to enhance risk
management, including procurement risk, to improve not only financial
value but also non-financial value.
• We view this initiative as a major step in the evolution of Group governanceas set forth in strategic foundation strengthening of the Medium- to Longterm Management Policy, and will continue to further strengthen themanagement foundation that supports our long-term strategy.
◆Final note
• In the first half, we revised up our full-year forecast due to progress in Core
Operating Profit exceeding our plan. This year, however, we need to prepare
6for risks such as falling demand due to inflation in addition to commodityand energy market conditions, and we plan to increase investment inresponse to such risks.
• In order to achieve sustainable growth in the next fiscal year and beyond,we will work to strengthen our core strategies and strategic foundations as
set forth in the “Medium- to Long-term Management Policy,” including theevolution of Group governance. We look forward to your continued support.

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