Brand New: Yeo's, Asahi, Nestle and more big brand names feature in our round-up

Back in the black: Yeo’s ASEAN profitability aids performance despite leadership overhaul and China setbacks​

Singapore-based beverage giant Yeo Hiap Seng (Yeo’s) has finally found its way back into the black thanks to positive growth in South East Asian markets, despite its recent leadership overhaul and negative China performance.

Yeo’s published its FY2022 full-year financial results at the end of February 2023, reporting a year-on-year 6% growth in revenue to S$358.1mn (US$266mn) and net profits of S$2.4mn (US$1.8mn) which was a growth of approximately 1.6 percentage points from the year before.

This was a significant achievement for the firm as it is the first time it has posted positive net profits in three years. its FY2020 reported results showed a net loss of S$10mn (US$7.4mn) and FY2021 results a net loss of S$1.7mn (US$1.3mn).

‘Staying the course’: Asahi pledges premiumisation priority despite ‘challenging environment’​

Japanese brewery giant Asahi has highlighted that its 2023 plans will focus on driving its premiumisation strategy in hopes of delivering long-term sustainable growth, despite the current pressures of inflationary cost increases.

Asahi published its FY2022 full year financial results earlier this month, announcing an overall 8% growth in revenue to hit JPY2.51tn (US$25.1bn) and 5.9% growth in profits to hit JPY243.8bn (US$2.44bn) despite the firm’s earlier worries during its H1FY2022 financial results announcement regarding cost pressures.

These positive growth numbers were attributed by the firm to the implementation of its premiumisation strategy and performance of its international markets, further strengthening its resolve to continue along the premium path.

“We have delivered a strong performance in 2022 through flexible pricing strategies, rigorous cost management, and promotion of our ‘premium strategy’ despite a challenging business environment,”​ Asahi President and CEO Atsushi Katsuki said via a formal statement announcing the full year results.

Standing strong: Nestle’s affordable products strategy boosts emerging market growth​

Nestle’s strategy to focus on product affordability and accessibility appears to have paid off in 2022, with the firm seeing more significant growth from its business in emerging markets even amid inflationary and economic turbulence.

Nestle published its FY2022 full year financial results on February 16, announcing total year-on-year organic sales growth of 8.3% to CHF94.4bn (US$136.5bn) and a 16% increase in operating profit to CHF16.1bn (US$23.3bn), though profit margins were reported to have dropped by 30 basis points (0.3%) to 17.1% overall.

That said, Nestle CEO Mark Schneider expressed overall satisfaction with the company’s 2022 performance especially given the challenging global environment.

‘Still too early to tell’: Blackmores says post-COVID shopper behaviour remains uncertain​

It is “still too early to tell” how a post COVID-19 pandemic consumer environment will look like, says Blackmores, which has seen a mixture of gains and losses across Asia-Pacific in its latest financial results.

Group revenue for the ASX-listed company was down 1.6% to AUD$338m (US$230m) in its first half of financial year 2023, which was between June and December last year. Group gross profit decreased 2.7% to AUD$180.2m (US$122.9m).

Much of the decline came from the international markets, especially Malaysia, Indonesia, and the export business, where revenue fell by 15.1% to AUD$93.5m (US$63.7m).

Growth Asia Summit 2023: Danone, Nestle, H&H and Dole among first wave of keynotes as delegate sales open​

Delegate tickets are now on sale at a special earlybird rate for our Growth Asia Summit 2023, as we also announce a raft of new content themes and high profile keynote speakers from Danone, Nestle, H&H and Dole.

Under the theme of Trends and Innovation Opportunities Across the Life Stages, ​​the summit will ​​explore the very latest market opportunities across the region that is driving the growth of the global food, beverage and nutrition industries – Asia.