August 11, 2021
Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.

Fiscal 2021 Q2 Financial Results Conference Call
Date & Time: Wednesday, 11th August, 2021
15:30-17:00 Japan Standard Time
Speakers: Atsushi Katsuki, President and CEO, Representative Director
Ryoichi Kitagawa, Managing Director, CFO◆ H1 2021 Overview & 2021 Direction＜Executive Summary＞ (P1)
• Although the going was tough for domestic Alcohol Beverages Business, in the first halfof this year we were still able to post record-high earnings mainly on the back of sharp
profit growth in Soft Drinks Business, and new profit contributions and robust growthfrom the consolidation of CUB in Oceania Business.
• Also, despite the adverse operating environment, we made a certain degree of progress
toward “Our Vision” of “growing with high-value-added brands”, as set forth in the Asahi
Group Philosophy. This was mainly thanks to progress in the premium strategy for theoff-premise market in Europe and the introduction of new types of containers and new
product categories in Japan.
• However, there have been challenges. Negative impacts from the resurgence of COVID19 still remain in some regions. In particular, on-premise demand remains sluggish in
Japan, and in some parts of Australia restrictions were tightened once again.
• Also, in anticipation of structural changes to markets up ahead, in addition to bolstering
our resilience from next year onwards with an eye to new opportunities, I believe wemust unflaggingly advance “Value Creation Management” over the medium to long term
through investment in intangible assets and sustainability-related areas.
• In terms of our future direction, we will endeavor to develop and reinforce high valueadded categories and brands in each region and step up our efforts to not only realize
integration synergies in each region, but to expand the creation of synergies worldwide
by driving the global penetration of our five global brands.
• Also, to enable further investment in growth after improving our financial position, wewill strive to further enhance our cash-generating capacity and enhance management
quality primarily by advancing earnings structure reforms and improving capitalefficiency.
• Furthermore, our policy will be to upgrade management resources by promoting digitaltransformation and proactively making investments geared toward boosting efforts tointegrate sustainability into management.
＜Impact of COVID-19 (beer-type beverage sales by region)＞ (P2)
• In Japan, April sales far exceeded the year-earlier level mainly because of the strong
rebound from the biggest monthly downturn seen last year, as well as the sales launch of
Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Can, but sales in the other months struggled more than
expected as a result of the decline in on-premise demand caused by a raft of tighter
restrictions that continued to be enforced from the start of the year.
• In Europe, January and February sales were impacted by lockdowns across the region,
but after that, sales started to recover overall as governments eased restrictions,beginning with the UK, even though some restrictions remain in place.
• Restrictions were lifted earlier on in Australia after the spread of infections was contained
and sales volume grew by double digits in the first half, including a higher market share
for CUB, but a fresh wave of infections from June onwards forced some states, such as
Victoria and New South Wales, into lockdown again.
• At this stage, it’s difficult to accurately predict the impact on sales in the second half, but
we think restrictions will be steadily eased as progress is made with the vaccination
rollout. Our policy going forward will be to pursue a flexible marketing strategy with theaim of restoring sales momentum, while closely monitoring trends by business category
in each market.
＜Overview and Direction of Alcohol Beverages Business＞ (P3)• To summarize the first half, while the situation in the on-premise market grewincreasingly more severe than initially anticipated, we were able to achieve a certain
degree of success in creating new markets with an eye toward certain megatrends andthe revitalization of Asahi Super Dry mainly due to the launch of Asahi Super Dry Nama
Jokki Can, as well as the launch of Beery in the off-premise market.
• That said, challenges remain. For example, achieving a recovery in sales momentum foroff-premise canned beer products and building a strong brand portfolio, centering on
high-margin categories, that is both distinctive and competitive.
• Specifically, as the shift from on-premise to off-premise becomes clearer, in an effort toget sales momentum back on track from next year, in the second half we plan to use this

opportunity to beef up our canned beer product and functional product brands andexpand investments aimed at generating new demand for products in the minimal
alcohol category, for example.
• In light of the challenges we currently face, our policy going forward will be to further
bolster marketing investments in core brands and new growing categories in anticipationof medium-to-long-term structural changes without focusing solely on a near-term
earnings recovery.
• Also, in addition to improving the channel mix and category mix, including on-premisebusiness reforms, we will ramp up our efforts to shift to value-focused management, as
outlined in our management policy, by simultaneously advancing fundamental reforms toour earnings structure, including working style reforms.
＜Initiatives for Off-Premise Beer＞ (P4)• As you can see in the POS data graph at the top of the slide, since the liquor tax
revisions in October last year, sales of canned beer products have continued to outstrip
year-earlier results. This indicates a steady return by consumers from new genre
products back to beer.
Under these circumstances, shipments of canned Asahi Super Dry products decreased
year on year in the January through March period, mainly reflecting weaker holiday andcelebration-related demand, but in the April through June period the contraction indemand dropped out and the positive impact of the Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Can
launch and other factors helped drive a sharp turnaround.
• Regarding Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Can, the graph at the bottom shows the numberof Asahi Super Dry consumers. Cannibalization of existing consumers has been limited toaround 10% to 15% and we have been able to gain new younger generation and female
consumers, which had been an outstanding issue for Asahi Super Dry in the past. It
appears that Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Can has greatly contributed to the increase ofsome three million Asahi Super Dry consumers from around the time it was launched.
• For the time being, sales volume will be limited, but once we put in place capacity forboosting production from next year onwards and ramp up our brand communication
efforts, we hope to be able to breathe new life into the Asahi Super Dry brand.
• As for the “Drafters” server for home use business, we started accepting membership
applications on April 7 and as of the end of July we had already registered approximately
25,000 customers, which at this stage is ahead of targets considering that our target forthis year is 30,000.
• In the second half too, we will aim to further bolster these Asahi Super Dry marketing
activities and reinvigorate the expanding canned beer market and further boost therecovery in sales momentum by bringing new differentiated products to market.
＜Initiatives for Minimal Alcohol Category＞ (P5)• On June 29 we expanded sales of Beery to the rest of Japan and also launched Beery
Kaoru Craft in Greater Tokyo and Koshinetsu regions. It has been well received by abroad range of customers, including those who drink alcohol and those who do not.
• In particular, the purchasing ratio is higher for Beery than normal non-alcohol beer-taste
beverages among Millennial consumers, and this continues to drive growth in the market
for products with an alcohol content of less than 1%. This is a reassuring sign that a newmarket is opening up and that there is further growth potential up ahead.
• Our policy going forward will be to aggressively roll out new products and step up
marketing activities as the next growth driver based on our “Smart Drinking” concept,
which encourages greater acceptance of diversity in how people consume alcohol.
• To be more specific, we intend to provide more options to customers with the planned
launch of the minimal alcohol category highball product Asahi Hibally in September andthe roll out of Beery in bottles to the on-premise market. In doing so, we will aim toachieve our stated target of a 20% sales volume weighting for products with 3.5% orless alcohol content by the year 2025.
＜Overview and Direction of Soft Drinks Business＞ (P6)• To summarize the first half, earnings recovered and exceeded our forecasts as a result ofcontinued progress with product mix improvement owing to brisk sales of Mitsuya andWilkinson, plus a recovery for Wonda, as well as ongoing earnings structure reforms
including reducing the cost of sales ratio mainly through optimization of the in-houseproduction ratio, and streamlining of advertisement and sales promotion expenses andvending machine-related costs.
• Meanwhile, challenges include value proposals in the health domain in light ofenvironmental changes, and channel mix improvements at a time when vending machinesales have yet to recover to 2019 levels.
• Our policy going forward will be to build a business structure capable of balancing sales
and profit growth primarily with measures designed to strengthen our channel strategies
and new value proposition, taking into account changes in the market environment as
we set our sights on rejuvenating momentum in sales of core brands such as Calpis and
JUROKUCHA.
• And on the expenses front, in the second half we will enhance brand-building
investment, but we will also further push ahead with efforts to optimize supply chains so
as to swiftly respond to changes in demand, and streamline vending machine-relatedcosts.
＜Food Business＞ (P8)• To summarize the first half, while issues remain, particularly those relating to the sales
recovery of Mintia, we managed to record a large enough sales increase to offset the
decline in Mintia’s performance as a result of dramatic growth of Ippon Manzoku Bar
sales and stronger marketing of Dear-Natura and freeze-dried food products, reflectingchanges in the business environment.
• Our policy up ahead is outlined on the next page, but we plan to rebuild the foundations
for growth by offering more new proposals that are in tune with changes in consumer
needs, expanding our initiatives to get Mintia sales momentum back on track, andfocusing investments on growing categories.
＜Europe Business＞ (P10 & P11)
• To sum up the first half, with off-premise sales volume increasing in the low single digits
year on year, we aimed to strengthen brands in mainly the premium category and the
non-alcohol beverages segment, while expanding our rollout of extension products ofexisting brands and hard seltzer products, and further advancing our premiumization
strategy.
• Although we continued with brand-building investments to a certain extent, we still
managed to get first half Core Operating Profit back to the year-earlier level by virtue ofsynergies generated through organizational integration and also through vigorous efforts
to review all expenses.
• As you will see on the next page, on-premise sales varied from country to country, andthe recovery in demand took longer than expected because of the resurgence in COVID19 infections. Nevertheless, total unit sales price for Europe in the April through June
recovery period improved by a sharp 12 percentage points from a year earlier and even
improved by 4 percentage points for the first six months of the year.
• Going forward, we will set our sights on achieving a recovery in topline growth by aiming
to maximize efforts to tap demand in the on-premise market during this recovery period
and continue to advance our premium strategy in the off-premise market centering on
premium beer and non-alcohol beer.
• For the second half we assume a year-on-year sales volume increase in the high single
digits, but because it is still difficult to predict how long the restrictions still in place insome countries will continue, we will aim to reach our full-year targets by factoring insome level of risk and continuing to implement flexible cost management.

＜Our Strategy for Global Brands＞ (P12)• Following the business integration in Europe in November last year, we newly positioned
Asahi Super Dry, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Kozel, Pilsner Urquell, and Grolsch as our fiveglobal brands. We also switched to a system of centrally managing marketing functions
for these brands.
• We are still formulating the concrete details of our strategy, as well as our numericaltargets, which we plan to discuss in the February briefing next year, but our approachgoing forward will be to focus most heavily on Asahi Super Dry and Peroni Nastro
Azzurro in a bid to have them ranked alongside other top global brands.
• We plan to accelerate our global strategy for Asahi Super Dry in particular, given that itis the official beer of the Rugby World Cup.
• For Kozel, Pilsner Urquell, and Grolsch, we plan to align the characteristics of each brandwith market needs, identify respective strategic regions, and work on steadily increasing
brand awareness.
＜Oceania Business＞ (P13)• To summarize the first half for Oceania Business, we stepped up off-premise marketinginvestment centering on the mainstay alcohol and non-alcohol categories, and as shownon the next page, we achieved above-market sales growth by sustaining and expanding
our competitive advantage particularly in the contemporary beer category.
• Also with regard to integration synergies, in addition to steady progress on costsynergies, topline growth is trending favorably chiefly because we have gained more onpremise outlets for Asahi Super Dry and Peroni Nastro Azzurro than we had targeted.
• Meanwhile, the development of next-generation growing categories, such as craft beerand non-alcohol beverages, issues to address on the way to achieving sustained growth.
In other words, there is potential for growth in this area.
• Going forward, in light of these challenges, we will build a robust portfolio with which we
can concurrently strengthen core brands and nurture new growing categories, whilst also
promoting our premium strategy.
• In the Australian beer market, the sales volume weighting of the contemporary beer
category is higher than the premium beer category, which is centered on international
beer. The unit prices of the contemporary category are slightly lower than those of thepremium category. Accordingly, not only will we expand our presence in the premiumcategory, but we will strive to further boost already-high margins by revenue
management that maximizes sales and profit, optimally combining pricing, promotions,and product mix revisions.
• Our policy will be to further enhance our competitive superiority as a total beveragecompany by bolstering integration synergies through a business-wide effort.
＜Progress on Sustainability Initiatives＞ (P15, P16, & P17)
• We continue to steadily undertake initiatives in each region mainly in the areas ofenvironment, community, and responsible drinking—material issues that are particularlyhigh priorities for the Asahi Group.
• As we work towards integrating sustainability into management, we will aim tocontinually enhance our corporate value creation processes by placing sustainability
issues at the heart of our management stance and constructing a business model thatdelivers both business growth and solutions to societal issues at the same time.
• To be more specific, instead of simply strengthening stand-alone initiatives and thesystem with which we promote measures, we will make an effort to further identify thequantitative impacts of risks and opportunities related to climate change, incorporate
roadmaps for achieving Group-wide targets into the respective business strategies ofeach region, and proactively invest capital with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of
integrating sustainability into management.
• We also plan to aggressively ramp up investments in the management resources that act
as the driving force behind these initiatives—namely, human resources, R&D resources,
and resources required for promoting digital transformation. In this way, we intend toaccelerate enhancement of the overall corporate value creation process.
＜Conclusion＞• While the operating environment remains adverse as the COVID-19 pandemic continues,
we will keep pursuing business strategies in each region in a way that is flexibly
responsive to changes in the business environment based on Our Vision of “growing withhigh-value-added brands”.
• We are currently reviewing the quantitative targets in our Medium-Term Management
Policy, and are also taking a fresh look at the kind of company we want to be 10 years
from now by analyzing megatrends from an ultra-long-term perspective and thenbackcasting from there.
• Our goal of getting profit, including full-year earnings at CUB, back to 2019 levels by
next year remains unchanged and even though performance will likely vary between
businesses, such as in the lagging domestic Alcohol Beverages Business, for example,
our objective is to get Group-wide profit back on a stable growth trajectory.
• Along with the transferal of authority to each region, including the establishment of aregional headquarters in Japan that we announced yesterday, we will continue to pursue
value creation management with a well-balanced business portfolio.