Sapporo Holdings will liquidate Anchor Brewing after failing to turn around the business, blaming a drop in sales on the pandemic.
Efforts to introduce new products and invest in the brand weren’t enough to revive sales, the Japanese brewer said in a statement Wednesday. Sapporo, which bought Anchor Brewing for $85 million six years ago, said it will take a ¥6 billion ($43 million) impairment charge.
Sapporo snapped up the century-old San Francisco brewer to gain a foothold in the U.S. craft-beer market, and make up for declining domestic consumption as the number of young people reaching drinking age shrinks in Japan. Sapporo has also been under pressure from 3D Investment Partners to address what the activist investor calls "prolonged underperformance.”
"We will promptly dispose of businesses that we have classified as a business to be disposed of and resolutely implement structural reforms,” Sapporo said in the statement, adding that it will focus its efforts on Stone Brewing, a craft-beer maker acquired a year ago.
Anchor Brewing, best known for its Anchor Steam beer, was founded in 1896, and was rescued from closure in 1965 by Fritz Maytag, heir to the Maytag washing machine company. It was sold to the Griffin Group, an investment and consulting firm, in 2010. Anchor Brewing lost $10 million in 2022 and $22 million in 2021, while sales shrank during the period, according to figures from Sapporo.
The impairment from Anchor Brewing won’t impact Sapporo’s results for the current fiscal year, which ends in December, as it had already been factored into the brewer’s midterm plan, the company said.