KOSÉ cuts its full-year profit forecast as Japan's mass-market squeeze and fewer China flights hit Albion's duty-free sales
KOSÉ's own figures separate the story from the currency: nine-month sales rose 3.7%, but strip out the exchange rate and growth was just 0.9% — essentially flat, while Japan sales fell and a one-off retirement charge halved net profit.
KOSÉ Holdings cut its full-year profit forecast on 10 November, as nine-month results showed Japan's own cosmetics counters losing ground even as the group's overseas duty-free and American businesses kept growing. Sales for the nine months to September rose 3.7% to ¥249.4bn, but the company's own figures show that on a real basis — stripping out exchange-rate effects — growth was just 0.9%, close to flat. Operating profit fell 6.0% to ¥12.8bn, and net profit fell 25.6% to ¥6.98bn, hit by a ¥2.4bn charge for an early-retirement programme the company calls "Special Life Challenge" (特別ライフチャレンジ).