Past and Present
Kirin Group History
Expanding our business horizons with our fermentation and biotechnology
The establishment of Japan Brewery in 1885 marked the start of over 100 years of innovation and growth for the Kirin Group. In that time, our business domain has grown and extended beyond the beer business and into the Pharmaceuticals and Health Science domains. We offer products and services that improve the quality of life of customers at various stages of their lives.
The Group’s powerful fermentation and biotechnologies are the key elements in our ability to innovate and broaden our business range. The culture technology and research cultivated in our founding business enabled us to develop products in the Health Science and Pharmaceuticals fields as we organically expanded our business domain.
The fermentation and biotechnology that are the source of our innovation join with our human resources, ICT, and marketing as the four capabilities that drive the Group’s growth. The Kirin Group has developed new markets and expanded business in recent years with a series of world firsts, including a 0.00% non-alcoholic beer, caffeine-free green tea, and the discovery of Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma that directly activates key immune cells.
We will continue pursuing innovation that can contribute to resolving social issues and that will enable our business to grow sustainably with society.
The Kirin Group Today
We attained our profit target on strong performances by the core domestic Food & Beverages and the Pharmaceuticals businesses
Fiscal 2019 Performance Highlights
Kirin Brewery
Four straight years of profit growth
Our ongoing focused marketing strategy generated a solid increase in sales volume of the core KIRIN ICHIBAN and Honkirin brands. Sales volume for our beer products increased from last year, overcoming a slight overall contraction in the market. In addition, our continued efforts to improve selling cost efficiency helped us achieve growth in both revenue*1 and profits.
- sales revenue after liquor tax
Myanmar Brewery
High market share maintained in expanding Myanmar market
Myanmar’s expanding economy, a growing beer-consumption demographic, and favorable weather fueled substantial growth in the beer market. Myanmar Brewery increased its sales volume by a substantial 20.9% from the previous year. A price hike at the start of the year also helped the company post a third straight year of growing earnings since joining the Kirin Group.
Kyowa Kirin
Rising sales for global strategic products
Kyowa Kirin boosted sales of its global strategic products with the successful growth of Crysvita and Poteligeo in Europe and the United States and the launch of Nourianz in the United States. Revisions to the official drug prices in Japan had an impact, but the expanded sales overseas supported growth of 34.3 billion yen in revenue and 5.0 billion yen in profits in 2019.
