Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings has revealed it operating profits have increased by 11%.
The company said its operating profit was 47.6 billion Yen (£0.22bn) for the six months before June and had been helped by the acquisition of a pharmaceutical firm.
However, despite being up from 42.9 billion yen in the same period a year earlier, it said sales were below its forecast of 59 billion yen.
Japan's beer market has been shrinking as its population ages and tastes diversify. For the first six months of this year, domestic beer shipments from Japan's five major brewers dropped a combined 4.2%and Kirin's shipments fell 5.9%, added the brewer.
Shares of Kirin were up 1% for the year as of Friday's close, outperforming a 14.5% in the benchmark Nikkei average.
