Suntory, the maker of Maker's Mark bourbon, reported a 0.2% rise in revenue from its alcoholic beverages division to 653.6 billion yen, roughly 4.12 billion US dollars, for the first half of 2026. Operating income for the division fell sharply, dropping 24.6% to 53.9 billion yen, about 339.4 million dollars. The result echoed the company's 2025 full-year performance, when alcohol sales slipped slightly due to weaker spirits demand.
Across the whole group, Suntory's total revenue climbed 7.1% to 1,733.2 billion yen, around 10.9 billion dollars, while overall operating income slid 2.6% to 126.3 billion yen, about 796.7 million dollars. The company, which also owns Laphroaig Scotch whisky and Cruzan rum, attributed the revenue growth mainly to a strong showing from its beverages and food business, up 13.9%, along with solid domestic alcohol sales in Japan.
A Suntory executive said the company's home market delivered a robust performance in the period. Japanese whisky brands Kakubin and Torys were said to have improved on their results from the same period last year, although the company gave no specific figures. Suntory's ready-to-drink brand -196 saw volumes grow 10% in Japan during the half, and the brand also outperformed the prior year outside Japan, helped by expansion into new markets and increased marketing efforts.
Beyond Japan, Suntory said results in the Asia Pacific region and in India surpassed the same period last year, with India singled out as a key growth market going forward. In contrast, the company said it continued to face difficult conditions in the Americas, pointing to slowing consumption and inventory adjustments among US distributors that pushed some shipments back to the second half of the year.
Several whisky brands were highlighted for year-on-year sales growth, including the Japanese labels Hibiki, Yamazaki and Toki, as well as Oaksmith, a whisky sold exclusively in India. Suntory did not disclose how its spirits division, Suntory Global Spirits, performed over the half.
The company maintained its outlook for the full 2026 year, still expecting total group revenue to grow 4.3% and operating income to jump 26.6%.
Earlier this year, Suntory announced plans to merge operational teams at its Laphroaig and Bowmore distilleries on Islay, without specifying how many roles might be affected, and separately scrapped a planned maturation warehouse project in East Ayrshire, Scotland, that had been valued at around 150 million pounds. In May, the company opened a new craft distillery for spirits and liqueurs in Osaka following an investment of roughly 6.5 billion yen.
