H.I.S. Co., Ltd. reported a net loss attributable to owners of parent of ¥4.99bn for the nine months through July, reversing a ¥1.78bn profit in the same period a year earlier. The swing traces almost entirely to a one-off accounting charge rather than a collapse in travel demand. The company booked ¥6.12bn in special losses for the period, dominated by a ¥5.94bn lease-termination charge at its Guam subsidiary, GUAM REEF HOTEL, INC., after that unit bought the land under its hotel and had to unwind the existing real-estate lease contract.
Strip out that charge and the underlying business told a softer but less dramatic story. Nine-month sales rose 4.9% to ¥279.3bn, but operating income fell 18.1% to ¥5.13bn and ordinary income dropped 23.8% to ¥4.61bn. Management pointed to a persistently weak yen, higher fuel surcharges and disrupted Middle East itineraries as the main drags on overseas travel margins, alongside soft leisure demand and typhoon-related repair costs at the Guam hotel itself.
Segment results diverged. Travel sales reached ¥228.5bn, 104.3% of the year-earlier level, but operating income fell to ¥2.84bn, just 59.9% of a year ago. Hotels performed better: sales of ¥20.63bn (109.5%) and operating income of ¥3.41bn (114.6%), helped by steady domestic hotel demand even as the Guam property weighed on the total. The Kyushu Sanko Group, H.I.S.'s bus, retail and property unit, posted sales of ¥20.11bn (106.4%) and operating income of ¥0.73bn (118.3%), lifted by fare revisions and regional demand tied partly to Taiwanese corporate investment in the area.
| Segment | Sales (¥bn) | Sales, % of year-earlier | Operating income (¥bn) | Operating income, % of year-earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | 228.5 | 104.3% | 2.84 | 59.9% |
| Hotel | 20.63 | 109.5% | 3.41 | 114.6% |
| Kyushu Sanko Group | 20.11 | 106.4% | 0.73 | 118.3% |
Japan's inbound travel market stayed at record levels even as the composition shifted: 31.66 million visitors arrived in the nine months, 100.1% of the year-earlier tally, even as arrivals from China fell sharply and other regions picked up the slack. Outbound Japanese travel moved the other way. Japanese departures totaled 10.76 million, according to Japan National Tourism Organization data cited in the filing, up 5.8% year on year but only 74.2% of the same nine-month period in 2019, still weighed down by the weak yen, elevated fuel surcharges and reduced demand for some Middle East routes.
H.I.S. cut its interim dividend to zero from ¥10 a year earlier, while keeping its year-end payout forecast at ¥25, for a full-year total of ¥25 versus the ¥20 actually paid last year. The company left its full-year outlook unchanged from the guidance it issued in June: sales of ¥395bn, operating income of ¥12bn and a net loss attributable to owners of parent of ¥1bn.
The balance sheet moved as well. H.I.S.'s equity ratio slipped to 13.3% from 14.4% at the prior fiscal year-end, and short-term borrowings jumped to ¥43.85bn from ¥8.70bn. The filing's segment notes do not attribute that borrowing increase to a specific driver beyond the balance-sheet totals themselves. Separately, the consolidated group changed shape over the nine-month period: two subsidiaries were newly consolidated and one was dropped from the group.
The Guam lease charge is a closed, one-time transaction tied to a land purchase, not a signal of broader trouble in the hotel business, which posted higher sales and operating profit for the nine months despite that single property's drag. Shareholders now wait for the forecast ¥25 year-end payment, with no interim cash in between this year.