Seven & i Holdings raised its full-year profit forecast on Thursday after a surge in fuel margins at its North American convenience store business drove a strong first quarter, ahead of the planned listing of that unit.
For the three months ended May 31, net profit came in at ¥60.60 billion, a 24% increase year over year. Fuel margin gains powered overseas convenience store segment operating profit to ¥65.59 billion, compared with ¥8.69 billion in the prior-year quarter. The domestic convenience store segment posted a 4.2% operating profit decline to ¥52.24 billion. Revenue for the quarter fell to ¥2.38 trillion from ¥2.78 trillion, a drop the company attributed in part to the deconsolidation of subsidiaries including Seven Bank.
Seven & i's updated full-year guidance calls for ¥10.43 trillion in revenue and ¥278 billion in net profit — a roughly 5% net profit decrease from the prior fiscal year — for the year ending February 2027. Those figures mark a revision from earlier projections of ¥9.45 trillion in revenue and ¥270 billion in net profit. It also raised its full-year operating income forecast to ¥425 billion from a prior estimate of ¥405 billion.
Stronger-than-anticipated fuel profits from North American operations and a favorable yen exchange rate were behind the upward revisions to the company's outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. In North America, Seven & i said U.S. same-store merchandise sales on a dollar basis rose compared to the prior-year period, while fuel revenue surpassed that of the corresponding quarter despite ongoing consumer caution among low-income earners.
The strong quarter comes as Seven & i prepares for an initial public offering of its North American business. Rising oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict, which darkened the demand picture for gasoline, led Seven & i to postpone the North American unit's listing until at least the fiscal year starting in March 2027. A late-2026 completion date had been the company's original goal for the offering.
Seven & i has been closing hundreds of stores across North America as it works to improve profitability, with 645 closures planned during its 2026 fiscal year against only 205 new openings. The company has also been expanding its offerings of proprietary and freshly prepared food products and growing its 7NOW delivery service. Seven & i stock has fallen nearly 10% so far this year.
The company also announced on Thursday that its board had resolved to cancel treasury stock, citing a desire to address concerns about future share dilution.