TRIAL Holdings reported operating profit of ¥10.6bn for July to September, up 107.0%, on sales of ¥355.4bn, up 8.8%. Much of the doubling comes from the comparison base. The year-earlier quarter carried about ¥2.35bn of advisory costs tied to the Seiyu acquisition, and the company says operating profit still rose 42.0% once those are excluded. Net profit attributable to owners was ¥4.13bn, against a loss of ¥979mn a year earlier.
What the integration is delivering
Both chains improved gross margin. TRIAL's stores reached 22.9%, up 0.7 percentage points, which the company ties to refined pricing, unified purchasing terms and stronger private-label sales. Seiyu reached 27.1%, up 1.3 points, which it credits to applying TRIAL's pricing methods. Same-store sales rose 3.7% at TRIAL and 8.2% at Seiyu, with customer counts up 1.8% and 8.9% respectively.
| Measure | TRIAL | Seiyu |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | ¥236.1bn (+9.8%) | ¥119.3bn (+6.9%) |
| Same-store sales | +3.7% | +8.2% |
| Customer count, same stores | +1.8% | +8.9% |
| Gross margin | 22.9% (+0.7pt) | 27.1% (+1.3pt) |
| Operating profit | ¥10.7bn (+12.6%) | ¥3.8bn (+106.5%) |
The company's own bridge puts the combined operating-profit increase at both operating companies at ¥3.14bn, with the rest of the gain coming from the dropped deal costs. The presentation does not give a standalone figure for acquisition synergies, so the 42.0% underlying rise should not be read as synergy income alone.
Spending ahead
The gains are not the full-year run-rate. From the second quarter Seiyu plans to expand its workforce and calls the current year an investment phase. TRIAL expects additional benefit from unified purchasing terms and consolidated distributors, plus a shelf-allocation overhaul it prepared in the first quarter, building through the second half. Goodwill amortisation tied to the Seiyu purchase was about ¥3.83bn in the quarter, level with a year earlier.
Seiyu's store conversions continue. The plan is 10 hypermarket conversions to the TRIAL Seiyu format and 20 supermarket renovations this year; two and four were completed in the quarter. For the five converted stores, the company reports sales about 38% higher and customer counts about 35% higher, measured from each opening to the end of October 2026 against the prior-year period. It says it will now test whether incremental profit and investment payback justify more conversions.
Guidance and the property deal
TRIAL left its forecasts unchanged from the version published on 13 August. The first-half operating-profit target is ¥20.4bn, of which the quarter delivered 52.2%. The full-year targets are sales of ¥1.458tn, operating profit of ¥39.0bn and net profit of ¥10.7bn.
A separate item in the earnings release is unrelated to store trading. Seiyu's shares are being sold to Unicorn LLC in a real-estate securitisation, after its operating business was moved on 1 November into another group subsidiary that took the Seiyu name. The company calls the effect on current-year results minor, says the properties will be leased back and says no store closures are planned.
For the integration targets set earlier, see Earlier Tokyo Brief coverage.