Sanwa Holdings cut its profit forecast for the year to March 2027 on 30 October. Operating profit is now expected at ¥72.0bn, down from ¥81.0bn in May, and net profit at ¥45.0bn, down from ¥60.0bn. Ordinary profit falls to ¥74.0bn from ¥82.5bn. Sales guidance stays at ¥677.0bn.
The company said domestic business remains solid, but a slowing overseas market has cut sales volumes and inflation has raised raw material and other costs. It also expects to book structural reform costs. Price pass-through and currency effects keep the sales forecast intact.
Two percentages are easy to confuse. Against the May forecast, operating profit is cut by 11.1% and net profit by 25.0%. Against last year's results, the new forecast is 9.0% lower for operating profit and 24.7% lower for net profit.
The first half shows the strain. Operating profit was ¥29.3bn, down 12.9%. The North America segment's profit fell 20.5% as the housing market stayed weak, and Europe posted a segment loss of ¥0.7bn.
A mid-term plan addendum cuts the operating profit target for the year to March 2028 from ¥95bn to ¥82bn-¥85bn. It also sets a return on equity target of at least 18% for the current plan period.
Shareholder returns go the other way. The dividend guide rises from 10% to 15% of equity (DOE) from the year-end payment. The year-end forecast is ¥96 a share, up ¥23 from ¥73, including a ¥7 commemorative payment. The full-year forecast is ¥169, including ¥14 commemorative.
The plan adds about ¥60bn of buybacks in the year to March 2028 to the original ¥40bn, for about ¥100bn in total. Separately, the board authorized purchases of up to 3.71mn shares (1.8% of shares outstanding excluding treasury) and up to ¥10bn, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from 6 November 2026 to 31 March 2027. It also approved cancelling 3,000,000 treasury shares on 11 December, 1.4% of issued shares, leaving 216,000,000. Cancellation changes the share count, not the buyback budget.