Asahi Group Holdings’ domestic operations continue to be affected by a cyberattack on the Japanese business earlier this week.
The brewer, distiller and soft-drinks maker announced a “systems failure” at its operations in Japan on Monday (29 September).
A spokesperson told Just Food today Asahi had yet to restart processing orders or shipments. Output at the group’s domestic factories has also been affected. The company’s operations outside Japan have not been impacted, the spokesperson said.
“On October 1 JST, as an emergency measure, we manually processed orders for some products, including Asahi Super Dry. However, this was a temporary and urgent response and it remains undecided whether such measures will be continued after October 2,” the spokesperson said.
“With regards to production, while our production systems themselves have not been affected, we have suspended production as shipments cannot be made.”
The group has around 30 manufacturing sites in Japan across its domestic drinks and food operations. “Production has been suspended at many of these facilities,” the spokesperson added.
Asahi is continuing to examine the precise nature of the cyberattack, its source and how it breached the company’s systems.
“This is currently under investigation,” the Asahi spokesperson said. “We’ve consulted with law enforcement, including discussing the possibility that ransomware may be involved.”
Asked if any data had been removed from Asahi’s systems, the spokesperson added: “We have no confirmation that any personal information or customer data has been stolen.”
So far this year, Asahi’s share price has risen more than 7% up to the close of trading today.
Since the opening of trading on Monday, the value of the Peroni maker’s shares has declined more than 5%.
Asahi is the latest in a number of FMCG groups to have reported cyberattacks.
This year, Russian distiller Novabev Group, dairy giant Arla Foods and German drinks business Oettinger have been among the companies to have disclosed incidents.
Last week, UK grocer The Co-op Group reported the financial impact of a cyberattack on its operations in April.
The retailer said the incident put an £80m ($107m) dent in its half-year operating profits.
“Asahi shipments still halted in Japan after cyberattack” was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.
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AloJapan.com