Major retailer Seven & I Holdings Co. posted a record-high group operating profit for the fourth straight year in the business year that ended in February, while Aeon Co. suffered an annual profit fall for three successive years, their earnings reports have shown.
Seven & I’s profit came to JPY343.3 billion (USD2.85b), up 1.1 percent from the previous year, thanks to the robust performance of convenience store unit Seven-Eleven Japan Co., although supermarket subsidiary Ito-Yokado Co. saw its sales and profit decline.
Operating profit at Aeon dropped 17.5 percent to JPY141.3 billion as its mainstay supermarket operations slumped. Aeon was hit hard by poor clothing sales, reflecting the consumption tax rate hike to 8 percent from 5 percent in April last year, and by higher procurement costs stemming from the yen’s weakening.
(Source: The Japan Times Online)