Askul says the ransomware attack it suffered last October turned a profitable year into a ¥22.2bn net loss for the year ended May 20, 2026. Consolidated sales fell 16.8 per cent to ¥400.2bn, operating profit swung to a ¥17.4bn loss, the annual dividend was cut to ¥10 from ¥38, and the equity ratio fell to 20.8 per cent from 34.2 per cent.
| Metric | Year to May 2025 | Year to May 2026 | Current-year forecast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | ¥481.1bn | ¥400.2bn | ¥490bn |
| Operating result | ¥14.0bn profit | ¥17.4bn loss | ¥7.0bn profit |
| Net result | ¥9.1bn profit | ¥22.2bn loss | ¥4.0bn profit |
| Annual dividend per share | ¥38 | ¥10 | ¥20 |
From outage to earnings hit
The company says the October 19 attack damaged logistics systems and forced a temporary halt to orders on its web channels, including ASKUL and LOHACO. Askul rebuilt the affected systems while also creating a manual fulfilment flow to keep deliveries moving before full service recovery. It booked ¥5.1bn in extraordinary losses for system recovery and another ¥1.3bn in non-operating costs tied to depreciation and software amortisation on idled assets.
The ecommerce business absorbed most of the shock. Segment sales fell 16.8 per cent to ¥393.1bn and operating profit swung to a ¥16.3bn loss. Within that, the core ASKUL business dropped 21.1 per cent and LOHACO 23.8 per cent. Askul says LOHACO resumed service on January 20 and returned to 2.5 per cent year-on-year growth in the final quarter, while the ASKUL business improved to an 11.4 per cent decline in that quarter after a 94.5 per cent plunge in the November month immediately after the outage. Since February, when major service levels returned to pre-incident levels, the company says it has run its largest ever sales-promotion push, including pricing measures, to win customers back.
Another charge, then a cautious rebound plan
Not all of the damage came from the cyberattack itself. Askul also booked a ¥4.8bn impairment loss on goodwill and customer-related assets at AP67, adding another hit below the operating line.
For the current year, management forecasts sales of ¥490bn, operating profit of ¥7bn and net profit of ¥4bn, with the annual dividend set to recover to ¥20. Askul says business activity has normalised and sales should return to pre-attack levels, but it also says profitability remains below past levels and is expected to improve through the second half. The recovery plan centres on rebuilding the customer base, optimising the logistics network through ASKUL Kanto DC, expanding workplace daily-goods offerings and sharpening AI-based marketing.