Good afternoon. I am Masaomi Gomi, Investor Relations Department Manager for Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings. Thank you for joining us today for our 1/3 1/4 2022 earnings call for analysts and investors. Today, we have President Calin Dragan, CFO Bjorn Ulgenes, and Takashi Wasa from the Coca-Cola (Japan) Company.
We also have Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, Costin Mandroiu, Executive Officer and Chief Transformation Officer, Maki Kado, and Executive Officer and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Bruce Herbert. Following prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. Simultaneous translation in both Japanese and English is being provided for today's call and during the QA.
Before we begin, let me remind you that today's presentation contains forward-looking statements, including statements concerning annual and long-term earnings objectives, and should be considered together with cautionary statements contained in our presentation.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to President Calin Dragan. Calin-San?
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us on our 1/4 3 results call. Calin Dragan here. I will begin by sharing the summary of our 1/3 1/4 2022 earnings. Please turn to Slide 5 of the presentation. Sales volume grew strongly for the 1/3 1/4 year to date, increasing by 5% on the previous year.
This was achieved by effective commercial activities and an improved S&OP process, which allowed us to successfully capture the demand recovery in traffic and from the heatwave. We achieved steady volume growth despite the negative volume impact of the large PET price revisions implemented ahead of the industry in May. Wholesale revenue per case is an overall improving trend.
Price revisions are showing results in channels with high large PET ratios, such as supermarkets, drugstores, and discounters, which grew by over 20 JPY compared to the previous year. In vending, initiatives to improve retail prices enabled us to increase wholesale revenue per case while growing volume.
Through these activities, we achieved sales revenue growth that exceeded volume growth in the 1/3 1/4. Total channel value share grew by 0.8 points versus last year. Value share growth in our important vending channels drove this overall growth. October price revisions for small packages are progressing as planned, with negotiations with customers being completed. We believe we have made big progress in improving future profitability. Business income grew compared to the previous year.
Topline growth and cost savings from transformation contributed to Year-On-Year profit growth, despite the continuing pressures of raising commodity prices, a weak yen, and ongoing severe competition. I have shared the results of the Year-To-Date period so far. If we look at the 1/3 1/4 alone, our peak season that stretches from July to September, we can see improvements in the top line.
Please turn to the next Slide. Despite the challenging volume impact of large PET revisions, our 1/3 1/4 sales volume grew by 7% over the previous year. We are particularly pleased with the 8% volume growth in the highly profitable vending channel, which exceeded the growth rate of the second 1/4. This was achieved by commercial activities that decisively captured the traffic recovery demand, a clear signal that our efforts are showing results.
Vending saw wholesale revenue per case improve by 25 JPY Year-On-Year, continuing the trends of the second 1/4, achieving both volume and wholesale revenue per case growth. With the price revision of large PET implemented in May, wholesale revenue per case for supermarkets, drugstores, and discounters increased by 32 JPY from the previous year. Volume growth and profitability improvement efforts have led to an increase in value share as well.
In the 1/3 1/4, we believe that we captured growth opportunities from traffic recovery and the heatwave by leveraging the foundations we have built so far. We are pleased to see the results of our investments made over the years and to have built a foundation for growth even in this difficult business environment. Now, let me ask our CFO, Bjorn Ulgenes, to take you through the details of the 1/3 1/4 Year-To-Date earnings.
Thank you, Calin. Hello, everyone. This is Bjorn Ulgenes. Please look to Slide 7 for the 1/3 1/4 Year-To-Date results. As explained earlier, sales volume grew by 5%, and the revenue growth was 3.9%. Looking at the 1/3 1/4 alone, volume grew 7% against the revenue growth of 7.3%, showing contributions from the price revisions being realized.
Business income was at a loss of JPY 11.2 billion, but this is an improvement of JPY 2.8 billion on the previous year. Factors behind this change will be explained on the next Slide. Operating income improved by JPY 12.9 billion from the previous year. This includes the continued balance sheet improvement efforts, such as the gain from the sale of fixed assets. Net income decreased by JPY 3.7 billion.
This was mainly due to the cycling impact of a JPY 12.5 billion gain on the sale of shares of our subsidiary, Q'sai, being included for 2021. On Slide eight, you will see our primary business income drivers. For the waterfall chart, we have made changes in the order and classifications. The waterfall chart with the previous classification is still provided in the appendix. From the left-hand side are volume, price, and mix.
This shows the Year-On-Year change in marginal profits from commercial activities, an improvement of JPY 8.9 billion from the previous year. In addition to the significant contributions from volume growth with the traffic recovery and heat wave, improved package mix, and improved wholesale revenue per case since the second 1/4 with price revisions all contributing.
This includes the impact of increased variable costs with volume recovery and increased rebates due to the promotional activities in response to the severe competitive environments. Note that rebates were under control in the 1/3 1/4, even when volumes grew. Next is manufacturing costs. In manufacturing, the analysis excludes the large impact from utility costs with a rise in commodities.
The main contributor to this improvement was from the improved manufacturing efficiency with increased volume, resulting in the JPY 4.5 billion improvement over the previous year. Impact of utility costs are shown as a total in the commodity and utility cost bar on the far right. In other costs, we saw an improvement of approximately JPY 5.4 billion compared to the previous year. Labor costs increased with the cycling of last year's temporary leave.
However, contribution from improved S&OP, lower logistics costs leveraging the mega distribution centers, and controlled CapEx resulted in a decreased depreciation expense. This also includes a lower depreciation expense of JPY 6.5 billion with a change in the useful life of sales equipment. Fixed marketing expense for DME increased by JPY 2.9 billion from the previous year as volume grew. This was driven by strategic investments to capture traffic recovery demand, as well as strengthen marketing activities ahead of the peak season.
Marketing investments from the 1/3 1/4 onwards have been controlled. Overall, it is progressing as planned. Looking at the items explained so far with volume, price, and mix to DME, business profits have been steadily increasing from the previous year. Next is the commodity and utility costs, which were significantly impacted by external factors. Costs increased by JPY 13 billion from the previous year.
The impact of commodity prices, including Forex, was JPY 10 billion, impacted by higher prices of materials such as PET resin and aluminum, as well as the yen's depreciation. In addition, utility costs increased by JPY 3 billion with higher electricity and natural gas prices alongside the rise in crude oil prices.
We have worked to reduce procurement costs by all possible means and have achieved a certain degree of success, but the impact has been substantial and has offset the factors contributing to earnings growth that I've just explained. These are the main drivers of business income. Please turn to Slide 9 for volume performance by major channels and categories. For the 1/3 1/4 year to date, sales volume increased by 5% despite facing negative volume impacts from the May price revisions.
For the 1/3 1/4 alone, our peak season, volume growth was 7%. I will now provide channel details. With a recovery in traffic, immediate consumption channels such as vending and convenience stores saw volume growth. Especially for vending, we achieved 5% growth for Year-To-Date volume and 8% increase for the 1/3 1/4 alone.
An increase in the number of vending machines and the use of Coke ON smartphone app contributed to the increase in sales per vending machine. In retail food, volume grew by 25%, benefiting from a recovery in traffic, including an increase in opportunities for dining out.
Online also continued its strong growth of a 33% increase in volume, thanks to label-less products, e-tail promotions with major online customers, while leveraging the convenient features of the channel. Supermarkets, drug stores, and discounters were impacted by large PET price revisions and intensified competition.
With such tendencies on an increasing trend, drug stores and discounters volume recovered to a 2% growth from the previous year. Generally, the wholesale revenue per case is on an improving trend. Supermarkets, drug stores, and discounters are showing the benefits of the price revisions in the wholesale revenue per case, which has increased by 20 JPY.
Vending also improved by 15 JPY from the previous year with initiatives to improve retail prices. By category, as shown in the Slides, all categories achieved growth. Sparkling, tea, and sports grew while being impacted by the large PET price revisions. Sparkling grew by 2% with volume growth in the ambient consumption and food service channels from the traffic recovery, as well as contributions from new products.
Tea grew by 1% with a contribution from Yakan no Mugicha from Hajime that continues to grow its volume since being introduced last year, and the new Ayataka Cafe Hojicha Latte. Sports and water each grew 10% with a recovery in traffic, the resumption of various events, and the effects of the heatwave.
Coffee sales increased by 4% due to the launch of new Georgia Black, as well as the expansion of the Costa Coffee lineup and increased activities. Slide 10 highlights market share trends. Total channel value share for the first 1/2 grew by 0.8 points from last year. This is a result of continued growth in vending value share that saw 2.6 points growth in value share.
While the volume share was impacted in the OTC channel with the price revisions, value share was maintained at an almost flat level compared with last year. For OTC retail prices, large PET has turned positive from last year with the price revisions and an increased premium. Small PET saw a contraction compared to last year, but maintained a premium price to the market average.
We have implemented price revisions in October and expect this to start feeding through to retail price going forward. On Slide 11 is our volume growth and profitability improvement initiatives. Despite the challenging environment, including significant impact on volume from the large PET price revisions, we were able to achieve 5% volume growth in the 1/3 1/4 year to date. At the same time, we also achieved profitability improvements.
For the volume growth aspect, we have strengthened our product portfolio by introducing new products that meet diversifying consumer needs and purchasing patterns. We executed versatile commercial activities to meet both immediate and future consumption needs and steadily captured increasing demand from the traffic recovery and the heatwave. While I touched upon this earlier, we captured demand in the immediate consumption channel in a big way.
In vending, we steadily captured increased demand opportunities through placing vending machines that anticipated renewed economic activity. A digital marketing strategy using the Coke On app contributed. In addition, we successfully captured sales opportunities at venues such as restaurants, hotels, and leisure facilities that increase in occasions to consume beverages when going out. We are well prepared to capture future and at home consumption demands.
Volume impact from large PET price revisions are gradually easing, and even during phases of traffic recovery, online contributed greatly by continuing to capture and expand at-home demand. Prior to COVID, we were focusing on these channels as a new convenient sales channel. Through such efforts, strong volume growth continues.
For profitability improvements, we have previously explained that this year, we have set profitability-focused pricing as one of the pillars of our commercial strategy. As part of this strategy, we will work to revise prices and implement promotions at appropriate levels. The initiatives are progressing as planned, and the effects of the profitability improvements are becoming apparent. We implemented price revisions for large PET in May, ahead of the industry, and for small packages in October, despite the severe competitive environment. On the next Slide, I will share the progress on this.
In vending, we are leveraging the strong market share we have built to date. We are launching premium products with high unit prices and revisiting promotional pricing. In the 1/3 1/4, we improved wholesale revenue per case by JPY 25 from the previous year, while volume grew at 8%. Marketing investments are being prioritized and used by focusing on growth channels and categories. In the 1/3 1/4, we were able to control sales promotion expenses and rebates.
The key to these efforts is a strong supply chain foundation. This year, the revamped S&OP process and improvements of our company-wide logistics network, including the use of mega DCs, contribute to achieve stable supply and low cost operations. While experiencing volatility and demand with the rapid fluctuations of traffic during COVID, we revamped the S&OP process to ensure stable supply at a low cost.
As a result, we were able to supply products without major disruptions this year, even though we experienced many demand spikes with the heatwave on top of the traffic recovery. We feel that our agility has greatly improved compared to the past. In addition, utilization of our mega DC automated logistics centers are now in full swing, and the company-wide logistics network is being approved, including efforts to achieve stable operations at the Saitama Mega DC and the early operation of the
Akashi Mega DC, which is also making significant contributions to both growth and profitability improvements. Slide 12 is the updates on the price revisions. Price revisions of large PET products implemented in May are progressing as planned. With the price revisions, wholesale revenue per case for the 1/3 1/4 year to date grew JPY 28 at supermarkets and JPY 20 at drugstores and discounters.
Large PET volume declined significantly immediately after the price revisions, but volume improved towards the summer season. In the 1/3 1/4, the negative impact narrowed compared to the second 1/4. Additionally, OTC retail prices have increased together with shipment prices. The graph on the left-hand side showed changes in retail prices for large PET, excluding water, at supermarkets, drugstores, and discounters.
The retail prices of our products rose more in the 1/3 1/4 than in the second 1/4, allowing us to realize the benefits of the price revisions. The price premium of our products has increased by 3 times compared to the same period in the previous year. Negotiations with customers for the October price revisions for small packages have been completed. Vending machine price revisions are also progressing as planned.
We will continue to carefully monitor the situation after the price revisions and work to generate the planned benefits. Please look at Slide 13 for updates on our ESG initiatives. With creating shared value as the foundation of our business, we are promoting various initiatives to achieve this. In August, we received a silver rating from the internationally recognized EcoVadis Sustainability Survey.
This is the second consecutive year that we have received such high recognition. We are one of the first companies among the Japanese beverage industry to participate in this survey, which covers more than 100,000 companies globally. We believe that this recognition is the result of our activities on a global level. Our efforts to achieve a world without waste are progressing well.
This year, we have set the goal of using 50% of sustainable materials in PET bottles. In addition to our package design efforts, we have been working with local governments and partner companies to establish a scheme for the stable collection of good quality used PET bottles. In addition, we are engaged in various initiatives to contribute to local communities through our business. These include implementing water conservation activities, providing beverages through food banks, and revitalizing local communities through vending machines.
Also, just yesterday, we received a gold certification for Pride Index 2022. We are pleased that our efforts to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ and create a comfortable work environment have been recognized. We will continue to focus on ESG initiatives that contribute to the health of our business over the medium to long term, while we work to return our business to a growth trajectory.
Now I'd like to ask Takashi Wasa from Coca-Cola Japan to take you through the marketing update initiatives, please. Wasa-San, please.
This is Takashi Wasa from CCJC. Let me update you on the 2022 1/4 3 initiative reviews, as well as highlights for our Q4 initiatives. Looking at 1/4 3, in August, the Coca-Cola brand launched the Coca-Cola Zero plus Enhypen campaign across all channels. The campaign contributed to sales growth and featured Enhypen, a rising K-Pop group with a huge fan base.
Marshmello's limited edition Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, a sparkling beverage inspired by the artist Marshmello, was launched in July for a limited period, further solidifying our engagement between the Coca-Cola brand and Gen Z. Moving on to Georgia and Costa Coffee. In September, we launched an autumn campaign and our first collaboration with TinyTAN, the globally popular animated characters inspired by K-pop superstars BTS.
In addition to the limited launch of Georgia Japan Craftsman TinyTAN design bottles, the campaign will also feature new functionality of the Coke On Coca-Cola official app, whereby a TinyTAN can be seen working at Cafe Georgia. App users can interact with TinyTAN and enter a promotion to win a digital prize, an original item from TinyTAN. In September, we collaborated for the first time with premium chocolate brand Godiva to launch the Georgia Iced Cocoa.
With a rich cocoa taste, the new product is perfect for treating yourself and has screen instructions for new can drinkers. Costa Coffee launched Costa Coffee Caramel Latte, a high-quality latte made with rich espresso, domestic milk and rich caramel in September. The number of Costa Coffee fans who are particular about the hand-brewed quality of Costa Coffee has been steadily increasing.
By effectively leveraging the dual brands, Georgia and Costa Coffee, we have succeeded in expanding our market share in the coffee category. A summer campaign for Ayataka Cafe was launched in July that employed television, digital and outdoor advertising.
The campaign conveyed the appeal of delicious chilled Ayataka Cafe beverages and increased the number of summer drinkers. The Ayataka core brand launched its second campaign based on the concept of aromatic umami tea leaf brewed until fully open at the end of August. The campaign has been promoting drinking occasion with food in the fall season.
This summer, in the second year since its launch, Yakan no Mugicha which provides the authentic taste of barley tea boiled in a kettle, launched a massive campaign in the peak season for barley tea, including television and other advertising activities, as well as mileage promotion, in which customers are guaranteed to receive original goods when they purchase the products.
The campaign successfully expanded the number of tea drinkers to a wider range of generations. These activities contributed to the growth of sales in the tea category. Last but not least, in Coke On, the official Coca-Cola app, the number of downloads reached 40 million as of September fifteenth. This is the fastest increase of 10 million new downloads in one year since the 30 million downloads in September of last year, and the fastest in the history of the Coke On app.
The Coke On app continues to grow and is used by many people. Next, let me share with you fourth 1/4 initiative highlights. Coca-Cola launched FIFA World Cup design packages in October. In addition, Coca-Cola implements a promotion in which consumers can participate through QR codes on the label to win LINE points and original goods.
Coca-Cola aims to strengthen drinking habits by fully leveraging FIFA World Cup assets. At the same time, a win goods to watch the World Cup at home At-Home instant win campaign, which is targeting all KO products except alcohol, was launched in October. Leveraging the FIFA World Cup assets, we will strengthen purchasing intention for the entire portfolio. Next, Georgia and Costa Coffee.
In October, Georgia launched Georgia Japan Craftsman Zero, the first zero series of PET bottled coffee with zero sugar and zero calories, and Georgia Luxury Creamy Cafe Zero, which has a creamy, rich taste. The initiative aims to capture the growing Health-Conscious needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
To capture demand during the peak hot season, Costa Coffee will increase instant win type promotions, such as those in which customers scan the barcode on the products to win a prize on the spot. In the mid- to long-term health of the business, we would like to focus on the ESG initiatives, too. Excuse me, let me go back to a page. Next, let me share with you the Q4 activities. Just before I talk about the FIFA World Cup and Georgia, next, I would like to talk about our Kouchakaden.
The new craft tea, white grape fruit tea will be launched. We are using the Nagano-grown Shine Muscat extract to blend with the six different fruits flavor. We aim to strengthen its value as a high quality black tea brand and further increase the number of tea drinkers. Next is Coke On. On November 1, a collaboration campaign was launched with Dragon Quest Walk, a Location-Based role playing game for the smartphone provided by Square Enix.
At the end of November, Coke On Wallet, an electronic currency with unique points and e-money functions, will be launched as a new feature. Coke On Wallet can be used as a means of payment for Coke On Pay, which is offered through Coke On and will be available at 420,000 vending machines nationwide that support Coke On Pay.
With expansion of the new features, we aim to enhance the beverage experience to make it even more affordable and convenient. This is summary of my presentation today on page 17. Our marketing strategy for this year continues to have 3 main pillars: Pivot to core, fewer bigger innovations, and capture stay-at-home demand.
We will continue to respond flexibly and rapidly to change in the market and further grow sales and revenues by strengthening our core plans and strongly accelerating the growth of second year innovations launched last year and new innovation this year. Our marketing plan underlies our company purpose, refresh the world, make a difference. We will continuously strive to deliver refreshing moments and the positive feelings through our beverages. That's it for my presentation today. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Wasa-San. Calin here again. Please turn to Slide 19 for the outlook for the fourth 1/4. This year, up to September, the beverage market is estimated to have grown by about 5% from the previous year by volume. This was the seventh consecutive month of growth for the market since March. We expect the current recovery trend in traffic to continue with the lifting of border restrictions and the support of the government's economic policies.
However, given that beverage companies, including ourselves, have raised prices since October and the impact of inflation on consumer sentiments, we need to keep a close eye on beverage demand trends. In addition, cost pressures from external factors such as commodity and yen depreciation have not shown major improvements and are expected to continue to significantly impact the profitability of beverage companies.
Even under current and such circumstances, there is no change in our strategic direction. Particularly, we will accomplish the price revision with determination, focusing on monitoring and maintaining prices after the price revision. There is no change to the full year business income forecast. In the fourth 1/4, we expect a certain level of volume impact from price revisions, as well as the negative impact from commodity prices and Forex, as well as the cycling of the One-Time cost savings implemented last year.
Please turn to page 20. I will share how external factors such as commodity prices and the weak yen are affecting our business and the potential need for additional mitigation measures. Commodity prices have been on an upward trend worldwide since 2021, and as we all know, the speed further accelerated this year, partly due to geopolitical risks.
The yen has depreciated to its weakest level in 32 years, and the beverage industry in Japan continues to face very difficult conditions. We estimate that the impact of the cost increase will amount to more than JPY 100 billion for the beverage industry in 2022.
For our company, the impact of commodity prices and yen depreciation this year is expected to reach about JPY 18 billion for the year, which includes the increase in energy costs with rising commodity prices. Under these circumstances, we have implemented various mitigation measures. In addition to the initiatives for volume growth and profitability improvements that I shared today, we have been pushing forward with fundamental transformation of our business model with a focus on the future.
For cost savings through transformation, we are on track to generate savings of JPY 6 billion this year, which is above our original target, and the accumulated benefit over the 3 years since 2020 has improved our cost base by about JPY 28 billion. For procurement, we have worked to mitigate the impact of cost increases through hedging strategies and procurement activities that leverage the scale and expertise of the global Coca-Cola system.
We implemented 2 rounds of price revisions. These initiatives are very important to establishing a future revenue base. However, we expect this High-Cost environment to continue for next year onwards, and in some situations, the risk of additional cost increases must be considered. Under these circumstances, we will continue to implement initiatives for both growth and profitability improvements. In addition, we will closely monitor commodity prices, the Forex situation, and develop business strategies accordingly.
We will seriously consider further price revisions depending on the situation. For today's summary, please see Slide 21. For the 1/3 1/4 Year-To-Date period, despite the large PET price revision impact, volume growth continued by implementing measures that effectively captured the traffic recovery and heatwave demand. Continued efforts to build a foundation for growth during the difficult business environment and adapting to change in an agile way are showing results.
Efforts, including price revisions to improve profitability, are steadily moving forward. Price revisions for large PET has led to an improvement in the wholesale revenue per case since the second 1/4 and continued this trend in the 1/3 1/4. Price revisions for small packages were just implemented last month, and we believe that it will lead to a positive impact over the medium to long term.
We will continue to monitor market trends closely to ensure that its progress as planned. For profitability, the beverage industry was significantly impacted by cost pressures with rising commodity prices and the yen depreciation. We were also impacted by such external factors. However, our business income significantly improved from the previous year by achieving results in areas that we can control. Such areas include growth through commercial activities, profitability improvements, and transformation of the cost base in supply chain.
All contributed to a strongly improved business income from the previous year. I believe that our strategic direction is the right one. We were able to grow steadily this year during a phase of traffic recovery, pushed forward with price revisions for the future. The effects are showing even in an extremely competitive environment, all of which give us confidence.
We expect the business environment to remain challenging for the next year onwards for cost and competition, but we will evaluate the situation, consider and implement further mitigation plans as needed. That concludes my presentation today. Thank you very much for your attention. I would now like to ask Gomi-San to open the question and answers.
Thank you, Calin-San. As the following Q&A session is for analysts and investors only, members of the media are asked to refrain from asking questions at this time. We will hold a separate media Q&A session later today. Simultaneous interpretation is provided, so please ask your question in the corresponding language of the participating phone line.
Please speak Japanese on the Japanese line, and likewise, English on the English line. Due to the constraints of simultaneous interpretation, please limit your question to one at a time. Now I'd like to start the Q&A session. Operator, please begin. Due to changes to our conference call system, the procedure for asking questions has been changed. We will now be allocating time to take question requests prior to answering. During this question request time, we ask that you please put through your question requests during this time.
After receiving requests, we will call upon those with questions in the order received. Depending on the amount of questions and available time, we intend to allow for one or 2 periods of question requests.
Please note that due to system restrictions, we cannot accept requests for questions outside of these times. Background music will begin playing shortly. If you like to ask a question, please press sharp one when the background music starts. Please do not press sharp one more than once. If you press sharp one again, your question request will be canceled, followed by the guidance line muted. We will be taking question requests for about 60 seconds.
Please wait until the background music starts playing. The host has placed this conference on hold. The conference is now in presentation mode. Your line is muted. Thank you for waiting. We have now ended the question request period. We have received requests for questions from 6 participants. We will now call the names of those who wish to ask a question.
When speaking, please state your company name and your name before asking your question. We will now welcome the first person with a question. The first question is from Daiwa Securities, Morita-San.
Hello, this is Morita from Daiwa Securities. Can you hear us? Can you hear me? Yes, we hear you. Thank you. I have 2 questions. My first question is, you mentioned that you will be considering seriously about the price revision for next year. I want to check the intention or your plan for next year. If the cost situation continues into next year, do you have to raise the price once again? Are you at that point? Or is it just like a possibility that might happen? I want to know the possibilities of the price revision to happen. If the market situation really continues, what's gonna happen?
I would like to know a little bit more details around the price revision possibility.
Thank you, Morita-San. The first question is about the price revision possibility next year. I would like to ask Costin-San to answer this question.
Good afternoon, Morita-San. This is Costin. Thank you for the question. I will start by reminding everyone that this year we took 2 price increases, one in May for large PET and one in October for small PET. We executed this very disciplined in the market. What we are seeing, and you saw today in the report, we see an increase of retail price in the stores.
Now, for the price increase in immediate consumption, it's still early. We are assessing the results and we evaluate the impact. Moving into 2023, obviously we see that the entire industry is suffering from rising costs and from deteriorating foreign exchange. Right now we are considering the possibility to raise the price next year.
Of course, everything depends on market situation and like I said, on external factors like commodities. We are going to keep you informed of our decisions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The second question please, Morita-San?
Yes. My second question is about the dividends. Here, based on the profitability, you have a deficit, but you still are going to provide dividends. What is your healthiness from the finance perspective? What is your view? How long are you able to keep the dividend payouts? I want to ask about the stewardship of the financial area.
Thank you, Morita-San. You want to ask about the financial healthiness and also dividends. Bjorn-San would like to answer.
Thank you, Morita-San, for the question. Let me give a little bit of background. As you know, in 2021, we paid JPY 50 per share in dividends for 2 times JPY 25. For this year, 2022, we have maintained exactly the same policy of JPY 50 per share. How we're financing this, as you have picked up from prior 1/4ly reports, we are going through a significant review of all our assets and therefore our balance sheets.
We have been selling off Non-productive underutilized assets, partially with the aim to make sure we always maintain our JPY 50 per share dividend policy. Going forward, our aim, of course, and top priority is to return to profitability. In our policies or bylaws for the company, we aim over time to return to a 30% dividend policy.
As we all know, at the moment, that is not possible. Therefore, we envision to continue the policy for now with the aim of returning to profitability and therefore the long-term dividend payout ratio. I hope that answered your question. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Morita-San, for your question. Operator, next question, please.
The next question, I'm going to unmute the next person. We have Ihara-San from Credit Suisse Ihara-San, please go ahead.
Hello.
Hi, this is Ihara from Credit Suisse. I hope you can hear me. Yes, we can hear you, Ihara-San. Thank you. I have 2 questions. First question, I think it's gonna be overall with Morita-San. For the next price revision, what will be the trigger for you to decide and go ahead with the next price revision? Of course, the first one and the small package price revision will not be enough to absorb the cost inflation of the commodity.
But when you look at the KPI, are you looking at the unit price of the small package? If your competition exacerbates, and if you can highlight the risk in that competition. If you think that you can actually see the intention to improve the profitability for the entire industry, then you will actually start seriously moving forward to the price revision.
What will be the trigger, and what will be the motivation for you?
Thank you, Ihara-San. I think the question is about the reason and the motivation for the next price revision. I would like Costin to pick it up.
It's very visible in the market. The entire industry is suffering from rising costs. Also what we know is this impact of the rising cost. It cannot be absorbed through only our efforts alone. Price increase is one of the tools that we are doing.
In CCBJI, we are referring to this as smart pricing. Basically, it's a combination of taking price. It's a combination of managing our discounts, but also all our efforts that we are doing in revenue growth management. As we move to next year and as we evaluate fully the results of the latest price increase, we have a set of scenarios. We consider different options.
If the situation continues to deteriorate in terms of cost and in terms of foreign exchange, we are also considering to raise prices again next year. Right now, we didn't take a position. We have all the options on the table, and like I said, we'll come back to you with information when necessary. I hope this answers your question.
Thank you very much. My second question. Well, right now you have started the price revision starting from October. What's your evaluation? I know it's too short for you to come to the conclusion, but was the impact as expected from your initial expectation for the second price rise? Do you think that you have achieved the target and expectation that you set forth for yourself for this second price revision? Thank you. T
hank you for your question. Your question is about the evaluation of the results of the October's price revision. I'll ask Costin to pick it up.
Start with the fact that we raised prices this year 2 times, and the large PET price increase in May helped us to understand what's the impact on the market. When we raised the price, we were the only one in the industry for 5 months. In the beginning, we saw a deterioration of volume.
Helped by the traffic recovery and by the heat wave over the summer, we were able to see an improvement of the sales. Overall, the large PET price increase was largely on time, in line with our expectations. From first of October, entire industry raised prices.
Our focus and our sales team's focus was again to execute this disciplinedly, to spend time with our customers to make sure we have complete agreement. We succeed to successfully negotiate and implement this second price increase this year. We see initial results positive. We see prices on the shelf going up across all channels. Again, this is only six months after, so we are evaluating carefully, and we will act accordingly. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ihara-San. Since the time constraints, I would really like to limit a question, one question per person. Operator, please go ahead for the next question.
We will unmute the next questioner. Fujiwara-San from Nomura Securities. T
hank you. This is Fujiwara from Nomura Securities. Hello. One question I heard. I would like to ask about the cost structure. You have the recurring cost reductions, which is like JPY 6 billion for this year. In the past 2 years, you did like, 13 billion plus 9. That's lots of cost reduction. In the cost structure that you have from now on, what are you going to do? What are you going to be your next steps? Are there still room to reduce costs even more? That's my question.
Thank you, Fujiwara-San, for the question. You want to ask about the cost reduction. This will be answered by Bjorn-San.
Thank you, Fujiwara-San, for the question. The cost structure is, let me just give a little bit of background and then I will talk about what are we gonna do going forward. In summary, as we work through the impacts of COVID, we did effectively 2 sets of cost measure activities. One was the transformation activities that you remember we laid out in a strategic business plan back in late 2019. That is all about making supply chain, commercial and back office more efficient.
That project is progressing well on track. The second part, during COVID, we also did what we call temporary or one-time cost measures. For instance, the temporary leave was one of them. In Q4 last year, we, for instance, executed a lot of these activities adapting to the external environment that was still heavily impacted by COVID.
For next year, we will continue, excuse me, all the transformation activities. That train is not stopping. We continue to look for opportunities in commercial, in supply chain, and in back office. You have heard, for instance, in the prepared remarks, how we have talked about the mega distribution centers and what we're doing, for instance, on, therefore, logistics costs.
Those activities are well on track and continue to be stepped up for next year. We are also looking at opportunities in other parts of the business to continuously become simplified, optimized, and therefore run the business better every day we operate. The cost measures will continue, Fujiwara-San, and we're looking forward to talking more about that when we come back in February. Thank you.
Hi. Thank you very much. Thank you to Fujiwara-San for the question. Operator, next question, please.
I am going to unmute the next person. Next, we have Morgan Stanley, MUFG, Miyake-San on the line. Please go ahead.
Thank you. This is Miyake from Morgan Stanley. I have to repeat this question about the price revision question. Back in October, you did the second one. In the store, when you look at convenience stores, maybe some prices are not yet, they are not yet reflected. I was just wondering what will be the reason, because I myself guessed that probably in September we had the announcement and the wholesaler had the stock. That is why the reflection of the price hike was a bit slow.
When I heard the story from the IR team, your IR team said that you didn't make that Pre-announcement much. I was just wondering then why the actual prices in the store is not yet upgraded or I know that you are the number one.
You have many number one brand SKUs in the industry. I was just thinking that maybe even for these kind of SKUs, there might be a last-minute shopping spree and stuff. I was just wondering what will be the reason of delay in the reflection of the price in the stores? Thank you, Miyake-San. I think your question was about the price revision in October and the trend.
Costin, would you like to pick it up?
With the stocking in September you mentioned. In CCBJI and in our beverage category, we did not observe Pre-stocking before the price increase. Yes, we know it happened for other categories, but for beverages, we didn't see anything significant. We went as planned with price increase on first of October, and for us, this was very important.
You talk about CVS. Our teams spent a great amount of time with our customers to make sure this price increase is reflected. What I see after 6 weeks since the price increase in the CVS. I'm having the daily report. I see an increase for coffee, tea, Aquarius and Coca-Cola. These are my main SKUs. An increase anywhere between JPY 8-JPY 12.
This is translated from wholesale price to retail price. It may happen that I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to, what prices you are referring to. We see the competitive environment in CVS continuing to be very aggressive and I still see competitors implementing aggressive discount promotions. For us, our approach is disciplined execution of price increase and all the activities with focus on profitable growth. I hope this is answering your question. Thank you.
Thank you, Miyake-San, for your question. Since we are overrunning the time, but we have 2 more question on the queue, so operator, please put through to the next question.
I will unmute the next questioner. Saji-San from Mizuho Securities.
A quick question because the other presentation has already started for a different company from the vending channel question. July to September, it seems that the revenue per case has really improved. This was before the price revision. What is the background? Why did this happen before the price revision?
And after October, when you have executed the price revision, what's happening in the vending channel? I want to know about the vending channel overall and how much risk do you have in the drop-in volume? Is there going to be any risk? I guess I want to know about the price and volume before and after the price revision for the vending channel.
Thank you, Saji-San. You want to ask about, like, the situation before and after the price revision. From Costin-San, please.
Indeed. Vending has a very good recovery this year. We see significant performance year to date. Especially in the 1/3 1/4, we have an 8% growth in volume. On top of this, since the beginning of the year, we continue to grow market share with 2.6 points. Before summer, we took the decision to adjust prices for the most in-demand SKUs like water, Yakan barley tea and Aquarius.
When we look at Q3, we'll see an increase in NSR per case, even before the national price increase. This was again done in order to increase profitability and to capture the peak selling season. From first of October, we increased prices for all the SKUs in vending. We see the performance of vending continuing to be positive. Of course, there is still very early.
There are only six weeks since the price increase. We are measuring this. What is important, because you know vending is a very important channel for us, we keep a lot of extra activities in order to stimulate the demand in terms of innovation, in terms of new products, and we just finished to deploy the hot portfolio product.
In vending, we are very happy to see Coke On reaching another milestone of 40 million downloads. Overall, executed discipline increase, we see NSR per case and vending continues to be positive. Thank you.
The volume after price revision, what is your assumption?
I will tell you that October was slightly positive versus last year, despite the price increase. Overall, it's a positive profit equation. We continue to grow share.
It's minus 6% overall, but just the vending, it was positive for October, you're saying?
I'm saying, Saji-San. You are right.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Operator, the last question, please.
I'm going to unmute the next person. BofA Securities, Kaneko-San.
Hi, this is Kaneko from BofA. My question is about the convenience channel. In second 1/4, you said that you have increased the share, but when you look at 1/3 1/4, it looks a little slowing down. So can you give me a little background to this?
Thank you, Kaneko-San. Your question is about the convenience stores performance in Q3.
CVS is a very important channel for us, and during pandemic it was affected. We see in 2022 the channel is gradually recovering. We are doing activities to capture the extra demand, to capture the traffic and the return-to-office element.
Year to date, CVS is performing positive with +2% Year-On-Year, and we see good performance across all 3 customers. What we also see in vending is the competitive environment remaining to be intense. We are responding to a certain degree to these activities. Our focus is on making sure we strengthen our innovation and making sure we transform some of our activations in CVS from the typical discount to more digital activations.
Overall, it's very encouraging to see CVS gradually recovering. It will take a while before it will be at the same level with 2019, of course. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Kaneko-San. Lastly, the Calin Dragan would like to send a message.
Thank you, Gomi-San, for passing me the mic just for 30 seconds. I just want to take this opportunity since it's our last interaction before the year-end, to say a very big thank you for your interest in our business, for your questions, for your challenges, but as well for your support, during this 2022, a very tough year, still marked by COVID, at the beginning of the year significantly.
As you have highlighted throughout these discussions, and through the questions that you posed to us, you understand that the entire industry, it's going through tough times in Japan, but not only. We are in a particular situation here with all the challenges driven by the commodities increase and as well the yen devaluation.
All this are probably in a way hiding and maybe not necessarily doing a fair service to the transformation that happens in the industry, but in particular in our company. I want to remind everyone that we have made some significant transformation in approaches in the market. We were able to put to go out with rational pricing throughout the year, either by ourselves in May or later on together with the industry that happened.
These are significant changes and progress for the entire industry that we are observing, and we hope that the same rational approach will continue to be taken by the whole industry going on. Besides that, our company have performed fundamental transformations without stopping during these tough times, which put us in a way better position now to capture growth.
We look forward to continue that transformation and, we hope that this is going to be a serious platform for our growth in the future. I just want to end by saying, a warm thank you and as well, best wishes for this year-end. Of course, we are going to greet for the 2023 later on. I wish you, as well a relaxing end of the year. Thank you so much.