Sumitomo Forestry's push into US homebuilding delivered exactly the kind of half it should have expected: a large top-line jump from a newly consolidated acquisition, and a profit squeeze from the market that acquisition landed in.
For the six months to June 2026, the timber-to-housing group's consolidated sales rose 17.5% year-on-year to ¥1.26tn, up from ¥1.07tn a year earlier. Profit moved the other way: operating profit fell 28.4% to ¥59.9bn, ordinary profit dropped 43.6% to ¥49.8bn, and net profit attributable to shareholders fell 45.5% to ¥26.9bn.
The swing traces to one deal. Sumitomo Forestry folded Tri Pointe Homes, Inc. and 40 affiliated entities into its consolidated accounts this half after buying the US homebuilder's shares, and designated Tri Pointe Homes, Inc. and Tri Pointe Homes IE-SD, Inc. as specified subsidiaries. That consolidation is the main reason overseas housing sales jumped 26.7% to ¥725.6bn. It is also the main reason segment profit there fell 38.6% to ¥45.7bn: acquisition-related costs raised expenses, and in the US market itself, mortgage rates stayed high and buyers kept a wait-and-see stance, pushing the company toward sales incentives that cut into margins. Australia's detached-housing business was the bright spot within the same segment, with favorable conditions lifting sales volumes.
Domestic and other overseas lines were mixed. Wood products and building materials sales were roughly flat, up 0.5% to ¥122.2bn, but segment ordinary profit collapsed 79.4% to ¥616mn on production delays at a US sawmill the company acquired the previous year. The core Japan housing segment, still built on custom detached homes, grew sales 6.2% to ¥277.4bn while profit slipped 6.4% to ¥16.9bn on higher selling and administrative costs and smaller land-sale gains at consolidated subsidiaries. Real estate sales rose 17.9% to ¥131.6bn on higher US construction-contract revenue, but the segment swung to an ordinary loss of ¥12.9bn, wider than the ¥6.3bn loss a year earlier, after the group pushed back the timing of property sales in the US and at home and wrote down some limited-partner investment projects following a profitability review. Sumitomo Forestry also revised its segment categories this period, so all of the year-on-year comparisons above use the new classification.
| Segment | Sales (H1 2026) | YoY Change | Ordinary Profit/Loss | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood products & building materials | ¥122.2bn | +0.5% | ¥616mn | -79.4% |
| Housing (Japan, custom-built) | ¥277.4bn | +6.2% | ¥16.9bn | -6.4% |
| Overseas housing | ¥725.6bn | +26.7% | ¥45.7bn | -38.6% |
| Real estate | ¥131.6bn | +17.9% | -¥12.9bn (loss) | vs -¥6.3bn loss prior year |
The balance sheet shows where the deal's cost landed. Investing cash flow swung to an outflow of ¥514.2bn, mostly cash spent acquiring Tri Pointe shares, against an outflow of ¥65.5bn a year earlier. Financing activities brought in ¥582.4bn, versus ¥26.7bn the year before, as the group drew on borrowing to fund the purchase. Total assets grew to ¥3.59tn from ¥2.57tn at the end of 2025, but the equity ratio fell to 30.5% from 39.0% a year earlier, since the acquisition added assets and liabilities faster than it added equity. Cash and equivalents on hand still rose, to ¥235.1bn from ¥171.6bn a year earlier and ¥208.6bn at the end of 2025.
The filing says there has been no material change to the risk factors it disclosed previously, beyond the segment reclassification and the wider scope of consolidation. Whether the US housing business becomes a growth engine or a persistent drag now turns on the direction of American mortgage rates, a variable Sumitomo Forestry does not control and its own filing does not forecast.