Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings just posted its best first quarter on record, and it is spending the moment on more than self-congratulation.
For the three months to June 2026, operating profit at Japan's biggest department-store group rose 20.6% year-on-year to ¥18.9bn, and net profit rose 18.5% to ¥22.3bn, both quarterly records. Net sales climbed 3.8% to ¥128.9bn. The growth came from two now-familiar sources: affluent domestic shoppers spending more per visit, and overseas visitors spending a lot more. The number of identified domestic customers rose 9% to 8.49 million, with their average ticket up 7%, while overseas-customer sales across the group's domestic department stores jumped 22.1% to ¥42.1bn. The flagship Isetan Shinjuku store alone posted sales of ¥106.9bn, up 10.0%.
Management liked the trend enough to raise full-year operating-profit guidance to ¥84.0bn, up ¥2.5bn from the plan set at the start of the fiscal year, and lifted its full-year gross-sales guidance by ¥10bn to ¥1.36tn. The revised operating-profit figure puts the group within sight of the ¥85.0bn target set for the final year of its mid-term plan, the year to March 2028.
The board used the same August 13 meeting to approve a two-for-one stock split, effective October 1 with a record date of September 30, aimed at lowering the entry price for retail investors. To keep its existing buyback programme intact once the share count doubles, the board also doubled the maximum number of shares it can repurchase, from 18mn to 36mn, while leaving the yen ceiling on the programme unchanged at ¥30.0bn. By end-July the company had already bought back ¥12.9bn of that authorisation, with about ¥17.0bn left to deploy.
| Feature | Before | After / detail |
|---|---|---|
| Stock split | 1 share | 2 shares, effective Oct. 1, 2026 (record date Sept. 30, 2026) |
| Buyback share limit | 18,000,000 shares | 36,000,000 shares (yen ceiling unchanged at ¥30.0bn) |
| Full-year operating profit guidance | ¥81.5bn (initial plan) | ¥84.0bn (revised Aug. 13, 2026) |
| Annual dividend, pre-split-equivalent | ¥70.00 per share (year to March 2026) | ¥80.00 per share (forecast, year to March 2027) |
The dividend line is where the numbers need unpacking. The board's revised year-end forecast is ¥20.00 per share, down from a prior guide of ¥40.00, which reads like a cut. It isn't: the ¥20 figure is stated on a post-split basis, after the share count doubles. Restated on the pre-split basis investors are used to, the year-end dividend is unchanged at ¥40.00, and the full annual dividend for the year to March 2027 rises to a pre-split-equivalent ¥80.00 per share, up from ¥70.00 the year before. The real increase in shareholder payout is ¥10 a share; the smaller headline number is an artefact of doubling the shares outstanding, not a change in policy.
That policy sits inside what the company calls a progressive dividend, targeting a dividend-on-equity ratio of 4.5% this year and at least 5% from next fiscal year, running through fiscal 2030, which on the company's April-to-March calendar extends to March 2031. Management is targeting consolidated return on equity above 10%; this quarter's forecast for the current year stands at 10.3%.
None of the share mechanics change what happens at the checkout. The quarter's substance is that Isetan Mitsukoshi's Tokyo flagships are still pulling in higher-spending shoppers, domestic and foreign, at a pace strong enough to fund a guidance upgrade, a bigger buyback and a real, if disguised, dividend increase.