TOKYO: Japan's largest retailer Seven & I posted a 10.6% fall in first-quarter (1Q) operating profit on Thursday, July 1 as sales continued to slide, and kept a full-year forecast for moderate growth.
Japanese retailers were hit by sharp falls in sales in the wake of a global economic downturn. While many of them have said the worst was over in the last year, few expect a strong recovery in the near future as deflation persists.
Japan's retail sales rose 2.8% in May from a year earlier, the slowest pace in four months in a sign that stimulus-driven consumer spending may be losing momentum.
Seven & I, which has more than 12,000 Seven-Eleven convenience stores in Japan and licenses out thousands more overseas, has been stepping up cost-cutting at its operations, including supermarkets and department stores.
The company said its March-May operating profit was ''52.4 billion (RM1.93 billion), down from ''58.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Same-store sales at Seven-Eleven stores in Japan fell 2.5% during the quarter from a year earlier, while those at Ito-Yokado supermarkets declined 5.3%.
For the full year to February, Seven & I kept its forecast for an operating profit of ''240 billion, up 5.9% from a year earlier, in line with a mean estimate in a poll of 13 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Seven & I shares have fallen about 11% in the past 12 months, underperforming a decline of around 6% in the benchmark Nikkei average. ' Reuters
Japanese retailers were hit by sharp falls in sales in the wake of a global economic downturn. While many of them have said the worst was over in the last year, few expect a strong recovery in the near future as deflation persists.
Japan's retail sales rose 2.8% in May from a year earlier, the slowest pace in four months in a sign that stimulus-driven consumer spending may be losing momentum.
Seven & I, which has more than 12,000 Seven-Eleven convenience stores in Japan and licenses out thousands more overseas, has been stepping up cost-cutting at its operations, including supermarkets and department stores.
The company said its March-May operating profit was ''52.4 billion (RM1.93 billion), down from ''58.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Same-store sales at Seven-Eleven stores in Japan fell 2.5% during the quarter from a year earlier, while those at Ito-Yokado supermarkets declined 5.3%.
For the full year to February, Seven & I kept its forecast for an operating profit of ''240 billion, up 5.9% from a year earlier, in line with a mean estimate in a poll of 13 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Seven & I shares have fallen about 11% in the past 12 months, underperforming a decline of around 6% in the benchmark Nikkei average. ' Reuters
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