Yoshinoya Holdings raised its operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending February 2027 to ¥10bn from ¥8.5bn, after first-half results beat the guidance it set on April 9. Management also warned that further increases in raw material and labor costs are expected to weigh on earnings.
The first half against forecast
For the six months to August 31, sales were ¥121.5bn against a forecast of ¥119bn. Operating profit was ¥5.78bn against ¥4.6bn, and net profit attributable to owners of the parent was ¥3.81bn against ¥2.8bn. Against the same period a year earlier, sales rose 10.0%, operating profit 30.3% and net profit 44.1%. Same-store sales across the group rose 6.2%.
The company credited product campaigns at Yoshinoya that drew customers, digitalization and new stores. It said that although raw material and labor costs kept rising, its cost management and efficiency efforts alongside higher sales left operating, ordinary and net profit above forecast.
The raised full-year forecast
The full-year forecast for sales rose to ¥248bn from ¥242bn. Ordinary profit is now forecast at ¥10.4bn, up from ¥8.8bn, and net profit at ¥6.0bn, up from ¥4.9bn. The company's earnings release puts the new operating profit forecast 23.6% above last year's result.
For the second half, Yoshinoya said it will keep running customer-acquisition measures. It expects further rises in raw material and labor costs that will affect profit, and still raised the full-year forecast on the strength of the first half.
Dividend
The board set the interim dividend at ¥12 a share, ¥1 above the earlier forecast and last year's ¥11, with a total payout of ¥768mn. It also raised the year-end forecast to ¥12, which puts the annual dividend forecast at ¥24, against ¥22 previously forecast.