Latest news with #Seven & I Holdings
Japan Times
06-08-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Seven & I details store opening targets for standalone plan
Seven & I Holdings said it will open 1,300 new international stores, mainly in the United States, in an update to its midterm plan after Circle-K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard dropped its ¥6.77 trillion ($44.9 billion) takeover proposal. The company said it will also add 1,000 net new outlets in Japan as part of its growth strategy. The goal is to "satisfy changing customer needs with new formats and accelerate openings,' the operator of 7-Eleven stores said in a presentation released ahead of a briefing on Wednesday. Stephen Dacus, who took over as chief executive officer earlier this year, is under pressure to deliver on a plan to streamline Seven & I around convenience stores. The failed deal has intensified pressure on the CEO to reassure investors skeptical of the company's turnaround strategy, which involves narrowing its business focus to convenience stores, divesting lower-margin units, and aggressively returning cash to shareholders. The yearlong pursuit of what would have been the largest foreign takeover of a Japanese company ended in acrimony last month. Couche-Tard accused Seven & I's board of a "calculated campaign of obfuscation and delay,' while Seven & I argued that the suitor failed to take antitrust concerns seriously and lacked an understanding of how business is conducted in Japan. Seven & I's stock dropped more than 10% in the days after Couche-Tard walked away. They have since recovered, but remain almost 20% down from a year before, underscoring investors' concerns over the turnaround plan. The retailer's recent history, punctuated by clashes with activist investors, underscores a pattern of reform driven largely by external pressures rather than internal initiative. Even before Couche-Tard's bid, Seven & I had a track record of implementing reforms under outside pressure. Two years ago, activist fund ValueAct Capital Management pushed to boost the company's valuation and attempted unsuccessfully to oust then-CEO Ryuichi Isaka. The campaign helped fuel Seven & I's decision to sell its Sogo & Seibu department stores to Fortress Investment Group in 2022 for ¥250 billion. In 2016, concerns raised by activist fund Third Point over executive appointments resulted in the exit of former chairman Toshifumi Suzuki and elevated Isaka to the top post.
Japan Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Three convenience store operators log profit growth from March to May
Three major Japanese convenience store operators posted growth in their group operating revenues and profits in the March-May first quarter of the current business year, according to their earnings reports. Retail giant Seven & I Holdings, the operator of industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan, saw its mainstay overseas convenience store operations recover thanks to labor and other cost cuts. FamilyMart's operating profit grew 17.9% from a year before to ¥27.8 billion, as advertisements featuring Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani helped attract more customers and boost sales of onigiri rice balls. FamilyMart also attracted budget-minded consumers thanks to its discount sales of food items such as eggs and milk. As a result, the company's net profit jumped 36.7% to a record ¥21.1 billion. In its earnings report released Friday, Lawson said the average daily sales per outlet hit a record high of ¥584,000, as an efficient product ordering system using artificial intelligence contributed to higher sales. New bread products also captured demand mainly from young customers. But Lawson's net profit fell 2.8% to ¥16.4 billion after booking appraisal gains on investment securities a year before. Seven & I saw positive effects from cost cuts and an expansion in lineups of private-label products in North America. Its net profit rose by about 2.3-fold to ¥49 billion, also aided by gains from the sale of store assets held by its Ito-Yokado general merchandise store unit. But the company suffered a 0.7% drop in the number of customers for its domestic operations.
