TRIAL Holdings, the Kyushu-born discount retailer, booked ¥1.35tn in group sales for the year to June 2026, up 67.6% from a year earlier. Net profit attributable to owners fell 70% over the same period, to ¥3.5bn. Both numbers come from the same event: the full acquisition of supermarket operator Seiyu.
Trial completed its 100% buyout of Seiyu on July 1, 2025, paying ¥409.65bn in cash. The deal brought 245 Seiyu stores into the group, 170 supermarkets and 75 hypermarkets including five Livin outlets, mostly concentrated in the Kanto region. By the June 2026 year-end, the combined group ran 621 stores: 378 under the Trial banner, including three franchises, and 243 under Seiyu. Three Seiyu locations have already been converted to a new hybrid format called Trial Seiyu, opened between November 2025 and April 2026.
The purchase generated ¥306.55bn of goodwill, which the company is amortising in equal instalments over 20 years. In the first year alone, that amortisation charge came to ¥15.3bn. It sat alongside ¥6.7bn in loan-arrangement fees and ¥4.3bn of interest expense, both new or far larger line items tied directly to financing the purchase. Short-term borrowings jumped to ¥367.4bn from ¥26.5bn a year earlier, and the group's equity ratio fell to 16.2% from 42.0% as the balance sheet absorbed the deal.
Strip out the financing drag and the underlying business looks healthier. Operating profit rose 43.9% to ¥30.4bn, led by the distribution segment, where sales grew 67.9% to ¥1.34tn. Ordinary profit told a less flattering story, falling 9.1% to ¥20.2bn once interest and borrowing costs entered the calculation.
| Metric | Year to June 2026 | Year to June 2027 (forecast) |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1.35tn (+67.6%) | ¥1.46tn (+8.2%) |
| Operating profit | ¥30.4bn (+43.9%) | ¥39.0bn (+28.4%) |
| Ordinary profit | ¥20.2bn (-9.1%) | ¥28.6bn (+41.7%) |
| Net profit (parent) | ¥3.5bn (-70.0%) | ¥10.7bn (+203.8%) |
| Annual dividend per share | ¥17.00 | ¥17.00 (forecast) |
Trial has already moved to put the deal's financing on more permanent footing. The original acquisition loan was a one-year bridge facility. On July 1, 2026, the company refinanced it into two term loans, arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Bank: ¥317.4bn over 10 years and ¥50bn on similar terms. The new loan agreements carry covenants requiring Trial to keep consolidated net assets above 75% of the prior year-end level and to avoid posting an operating loss in two consecutive periods.
Management is guiding for a sharp recovery. For the year to June 2027, Trial forecasts net profit more than tripling to ¥10.7bn, on revenue of ¥1.46tn and operating profit of ¥39.0bn, as it says integration work, including cross-selling private-brand products and improving gross margins, starts to pay off. The annual dividend held at ¥17 per share for the year just ended, up from ¥16, though the payout ratio jumped to 59.1% against the much smaller profit base; the company is forecasting the same ¥17 payment next year, implying a payout ratio of 19.5% if the profit rebound materialises.
One complication sits outside these figures entirely. An earthquake struck Kumamoto on July 28, 2026, damaging store equipment and warehouses and halting operations at some group locations. Trial says the damage is still being assessed and it cannot yet estimate the financial impact on the current fiscal year.