7-Eleven Owner Weighs IPO of Superstore Business — Update

By Kosaku Narioka

The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven, Seven & i Holdings, is considering listing its superstore business as part of efforts to focus on its convenience-store segment.

The company, which also owns other retail stores, said Wednesday that it would consider an initial public offering of its superstore business as soon as reasonably doable. It said it would retain a stake in the spunoff business, which would continue to collaborate with its convenience store business to develop food products.

Seven & i has been restructuring to drive growth of its convenience-store business. It sold its Sogo & Seibu department-store business to Fortress Investment Group last year.

The company also reported annual earnings on Wednesday. Seven & i said its net profit fell 20% from a year earlier to 224.62 billion yen ($1.48 billion) for the fiscal year ended Feb. 29 due partly to special losses related to the sale of its department-store business. The decline came despite stronger earnings from its convenience-store business.

Revenue fell 2.9% to Y11.472 trillion.

For the new fiscal year that started in March, the company projects that net profit will climb 30% and revenue will decrease 2.0%.

The company had said in January that it would acquire most of U.S. fuel distributor Sunoco's convenience-store and gasoline retail businesses for $950 million in a bid to pursue growth in the North American market.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2024 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)

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