Seven & i Holdings' Fiscal-Year Net Profit Rose 33%

By Kosaku Narioka

Seven & i Holdings Co. said Thursday that fiscal-year net profit rose 33% thanks to greater earnings from its international convenience store business, despite weakness in its superstore operations.

The Japanese operator of 7-Eleven and other retail stores said that net profit rose to 280.98 billion yen ($2.14 billion) for the fiscal year ended Feb. 28.

Fourth-quarter net profit was Y46.27 billion, given a net profit of Y234.71 billion in the preceding nine-month period ended Nov. 30, according to a Wall Street Journal calculation. That missed the estimate of Y49.35 billion from a poll of analysts by FactSet.

Fiscal-year revenue increased 35% from a year earlier to Y11.811 trillion.

Fourth-quarter revenue was Y2.988 trillion, given revenue of Y8.824 trillion in the preceding nine-month period.

Fiscal-year operating profit for its international convenience store business rose 81% to Y289.70 billion and that of its domestic convenience store business rose 3.9% to Y232.03 billion, while profit from its superstore business dropped 36% to Y12.11 billion.

San Francisco-based activist investor ValueAct Capital has been asking the Japanese retailer to consider a spinoff of the 7-Eleven convenience store business.

Seven & i said the board would continue its objective analysis of strategic options such as potential initial public offerings and spinoffs through a recently established strategic committee that is tasked to advise on these options.

Seven & i projected revenue would decrease 5.6% to Y11.154 trillion and net profit to rise 1.4% to Y285.00 billion for the fiscal year that started on March 1.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 06, 2023 03:09 ET (07:09 GMT)

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