Kirin Holdings Co.¡¯s efforts to expand overseas have hit a snag, with the beer giant predicting its first annual loss since 1949 after an economic slump in Brazil hurt its operations there.

Tokyo-based Kirin forecast a net loss of ?56 billion for 2015, reversing its expectations of ?58 billion in profit made in October, it said Monday. Its Brazil Kirin unit is expected to log special losses of about ?114 billion, after deducting ?27.2 billion in goodwill from the 2011 acquisition, citing deteriorating Brazilian economic conditions and stagnated consumption, as well as a drop in the local currency.

Kirin and other Japanese beer companies are seeking acquisitions abroad to offset falling consumption at home. Kirin in 2011 acquired Brazil¡¯s Schincariol Participacoes e Representacoes in a deal valuing the brewer at about $3.62 billion at the time. Most recently, Kirin bought a controlling stake in Myanmar Brewery Ltd. for $560 million in August.

Kirin will impose temporary pay cuts on senior executives, including reducing the salaries of its chairman and president by 30 percent, after the Japanese beermaker predicted the annual loss.

¡°Assumptions we made upon the acquisition were optimistic,¡± Kirin Senior Executive Officer Ryosuke Mizouchi said in a media briefing held in Tokyo. ¡°The Brazilian economy was strong when the takeover happened in 2011 and we thought it would last for a long time.¡±

The company said it would lower the salaries of 11 senior executives for the months of January to March 2016.

While it will strive to rebuild Brazil Kirin to turn a profit from 2018, the company does not exclude the option of selling off the unit, Director of Group Finance Akihiro Ito said at the briefing. Myanmar Brewery will also become the pillar of Kirin¡¯s overseas operations, he said.

Kirin also cut its projection for operating income to ?122 billion from ?130 billion, while maintaining its planned full-year dividend of ?38, according to the statement.