Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Friday its group pretax profit for the business year to Dec. 31 fell 5.1 percent from the previous year to 57.55 billion yen due to weak sales.
In its consolidated earnings report, the brewer says sales fell 4.1 percent to 1.37 trillion yen amid the prolonged economic slump, which dampened combined sales of beer and "happoshu."
But on the bottom line, the company posted a net profit of 14.75 billion yen, up 8.4 percent, after extraordinary losses declined due to accounting technicalities connected to retirement allowances.