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Japanese brewer (Kirin beer) with pharma (Kyowa Kirin) and health-science businesses, plus Lion in Australia.
Japanese brewer (Kirin beer) with pharma (Kyowa Kirin) and health-science businesses, plus Lion in Australia.
Beer and soft drinks sold to retailers and restaurants carry the volume in Japan and, through Lion, in Australia and New Zealand. Kyowa Kirin, the majority-owned listed drug company, sells specialty medicines and earns from partners, so it behaves differently from drinks demand.
In one line: Japan's Molson Coors with a pharma arm.
Moat: narrow (brand, distribution, IP / patents). Strong domestic beer brand plus a differentiated biopharma pipeline via Kyowa Kirin.
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan · Founded: 1907 · Employees: 31,144
Size Kirin (2503.T) is a Japan Consumer Staples company (Beverages: Alcoholic) with a market value of $15.2B, the 97th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥2,967 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 21.3%, against +0.1% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 5th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 5.7% over the last twelve months (peer median -1.8%); the operating margin is 11.4% (peer median 15.8%).
Valuation It trades at 13.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.1× (8th cheapest of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -4% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +6%, so the hurdle is -10 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.9 points above its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 11 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥2.51T | ¥2.43T | ¥2.34T | ¥2.13T | ¥1.99T |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +10% | +7% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥1.22T | ¥1.10T | ¥1.02T | ¥921B | ¥864B |
| EBITDA | ¥392B | ¥354B | ¥307B | ¥288B | ¥270B |
| Net income | ¥196B | ¥148B | ¥58.2B | ¥113B | ¥111B |
| Free cash flow | ¥197B | ¥120B | ¥62.3B | ¥89.4B | ¥37.1B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥169B | ¥176B | ¥181B | ¥114B | ¥98.5B |
| Total debt | ¥844B | ¥1.00T | ¥931B | ¥733B | ¥605B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirin 2503.T | $15.2B | +21% | +6% | 11% | 13.7× | -4.2% |
| Asahi Group Hldgs 2502.T | $16.4B | +10% | +3% | 9% | 13.1× | 1.8% |
| Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Sponsored ADR BUD | $168B | +5% | +7% | 26% | 18.9× | 2.7% |
| Heineken HEIA.AS | $51.8B | +29% | +1% | 12% | 15.9× | 4.2% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 2503.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +5.5% | +10.6% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +21.3% | +0.1% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -6.6% | -17.0% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +5.7% | -1.8% | 3rd highest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 11.4% | 15.8% | 3rd lowest of 20 |
| Forward P/E | 13.7× | 17.1× | 8th cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -4.2% | 0.5% | 6th least demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +5.6% | +7.6% | 9th lowest of 19 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -9.9 pp | -7.6 pp | 4th least demanding of 19 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +2.9 pp | +4.9 pp | 9th lowest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.7× | 10.7× | 4th cheapest of 15 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.7× | 2.7× | 6th least indebted of 15 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirin 2503.T | Japan | $15.2B | +21% | +6% | 11% | 13.7× | -4.2% | +5.6% |
| Asahi Group Hldgs 2502.T | Japan | $16.4B | +10% | +3% | 9% | 13.1× | 1.8% | +7.4% |
| Brown–Forman BF-B | United States | $14.2B | +11% | 0% | 29% | 17.9× | -5.1% | +2.7% |
| Luzhou Laojiao 000568.SZ | China | $17.9B | -19% | -38% | 40% | 17.5× | 9.9% | +8.7% |
| Pernod Ricard RI.PA | France | $20.0B | +16% | -14% | 26% | 12.5× | 2.1% | +1.3% |
| Carlsberg AS CARL-A.CO | Denmark | $20.9B | +12% | +10% | 14% | 17.2× | -2.2% | +8.8% |
| United Spirits UNITDSPR.NS | India | $10.9B | +11% | 0% | 15% | 53.0× | 44.2% | +8.9% |
| Bud Apac 1876.HK | Hong Kong | $10.7B | -16% | -3% | 15% | 20.1× | -0.9% | +0.7% |
| Constellation Brands STZ | United States | $24.0B | -4% | -4% | 30% | 11.9× | -4.5% | +1.2% |
| Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory 600809.SS | China | $24.1B | -8% | -9% | 36% | 17.1× | 3.0% | +22.7% |
| Heineken HEIO.AS | Netherlands | $24.7B | +32% | +1% | 12% | 14.5× | -1.1% | +7.8% |
| Tsingtao Brewery 0168.HK | Hong Kong | $9.12B | -21% | +1% | 16% | 10.8× | -5.0% | +2.6% |
| Davide Campari-Milano CPR.MI | Italy | $8.93B | +22% | -1% | 20% | 21.0× | 3.6% | +11.5% |
| China Res Beer 0291.HK | Hong Kong | $8.66B | -18% | +3% | 15% | 10.7× | -1.5% | +3.1% |
| Thai Beverage Public Y92.SI | Singapore | $8.56B | +2% | -8% | 13% | 10.6× | -4.7% | +3.2% |
| Jiangsu Yanghe Distillery 002304.SZ | China | $8.50B | -23% | -31% | 4% | 32.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Molson Coors Beverage TAP | United States | $7.54B | -4% | -2% | 12% | 9.2× | -4.7% | +2.9% |
| Molson Coors Canada TPX-B.TO | Canada | $7.38B | -12% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Anhui Gujing Distillery 000596.SZ | China | $7.29B | -2% | -28% | 17% | 21.5× | 4.3% | +12.7% |
| Jiangsu King's Luck Brewery Joint-stock 603369.SS | China | $6.40B | +25% | -5% | 33% | 16.2× | 1.9% | +15.3% |
| Radico Khaitan RADICO.NS | India | $6.37B | +33% | +16% | 17% | 66.7× | 45.1% | +20.5% |