United Super Markets Holdings (USMH), the parent of the supermarket chains Maruetsu, Kasumi, Inageya and AEON Food Style, cut its forecast for operating profit in the year ending February 2027 to ¥1.0bn from ¥10.0bn, a reduction of 90.0%. It now expects a net loss of ¥8.0bn, against a previously forecast profit of ¥150mn. The revision replaces the forecast the company published on April 7, 2026, and came the same day as its interim results.
| Measure | Prior forecast | Revised forecast | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating revenue | ¥1.13tn | ¥1.10tn | -3.2% |
| Operating profit | ¥10.0bn | ¥1.0bn | -90.0% |
| Ordinary profit | ¥9.6bn | ¥0.8bn | -91.7% |
| Net profit attributable to owners of parent | ¥150mn | -¥8.0bn | Not stated |
Fewer shoppers, thinner margins
The forecast notice gives two operating reasons. Customer counts and items per basket ran below plan, so full-year sales are expected to miss. The gross margin is expected to hold at last year's level thanks to purchasing integration and a larger share of delicatessen goods, but to fall short of plan because of price responses to inflation and competition. The company expects to cut selling and administrative costs by more than planned, but not by enough to cover the shortfall in gross profit.
The interim figures show the squeeze. For the six months to August 2026, operating revenue rose 14.0% to ¥544.8bn, helped by AEON Food Style, which was formed in March 2026 from MaxValu Kanto, the Kanto business of Daiei and AEON Market. USMH nonetheless reported an operating loss of ¥3.28bn, against a ¥168mn profit a year earlier, and a net loss of ¥4.65bn, against ¥1.21bn. Gross profit rose 13.6% but selling and administrative expenses rose 16.3%. The company cites higher materials costs linked to petroleum products such as naphtha, stronger price and promotion measures, higher labour costs, and renovation spending.
The supplementary results material shows soft traffic. Same-store sales for the first half were 100.1% of a year earlier, with customer numbers at 100.0% and spend per customer at 100.0%. Same-store sales were below 100% in each of June, July and August, and customer numbers were 98.1%, 99.0% and 98.6% of the year-earlier level. At Kasumi, customer numbers were 97.5% for the half and 94.8% in August.
On a non-consolidated basis, AEON Food Style lost ¥2.72bn at the operating level on revenue of ¥87.1bn, and Kasumi lost ¥675mn. Maruetsu made ¥1.12bn and Inageya ¥200mn.
Write-downs and reform costs
The ¥8.0bn net loss forecast sits below a forecast operating profit of ¥1.0bn and ordinary profit of ¥0.8bn. The notice attributes the gap to special losses: store impairments linked to weaker results, plus store-closure losses and asset write-offs for structural reform from next fiscal year onward. It gives no amounts for these items. Special losses in the first half were ¥1.25bn, up from ¥290mn. They included ¥476mn of integration costs, ¥325mn added to the store-closure provision, ¥181mn of impairment, ¥174mn of closure losses and ¥86mn of head-office relocation costs.
The balance sheet absorbed the loss without much strain. The equity ratio was 49.7% at the end of August, against 52.9% at the end of February. USMH left its dividend forecast unchanged at ¥8 at the interim stage and ¥16 for the year. The interim summary is not subject to auditor review, and the company says its forecasts rest on information available now and may differ from actual results.
These are one group's figures, not a measure of Japanese household spending. The forecast loss is a projection, while the interim loss is a reported result, and the notice gives no amounts for the closure and write-off charges it builds into the full-year forecast.