Seven & i Holdings' domestic convenience-store profit falls 9.8% in H1 as overseas operations nearly double

Seven & i Holdings said operating profit at its Domestic Convenience Store Business segment — anchored by Seven-Eleven Japan — fell 9.8% to ¥109,899m in the six months to August 31, even as the group's Overseas Convenience Store Business segment, built around 7-Eleven, Inc. in North America, nearly doubled operating profit, up 87.7% to ¥150,422m, according to the company's interim (決算短信) results, filed October 8.

The overseas gain more than offset the domestic slide. Consolidated operating profit rose 11.5% to ¥232,280m on revenue of ¥5,460,274m, down 2.8%, and net profit attributable to owners of the parent rose 2.2% to ¥124,444m, the company said. The domestic segment's own revenue, ¥467,322m, rose 1.0% even as its profit fell — growth and margin pressure moving in opposite directions, which is where the squeeze actually sits.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd., reporting separately within the same release, said chain-wide sales across its directly run and franchised stores rose 1.6% to ¥2,810,379m, with existing-store sales ahead of a year earlier as average basket size rose. The company credited its Seven Café Bakery and Seven Café Tea freshly made food lines, sold under a "Live-Meal" push, and its 7NOW mobile-order delivery service. But selling, general and administrative costs rose faster than sales, on investment in store-kitchen equipment and next-generation in-store systems plus broader cost inflation, and the operating company's own operating profit fell 9.3% to ¥110,221m.

In North America, the company said, low-income households kept pulling back on food and essentials spending amid concerns over rising prices, but 7-Eleven, Inc. pursued cost discipline under the "7-Eleven Transformation" plan it announced in August 2025 — expanding fresh-food and beverage ranges, converting more directly run stores to franchises, and redesigning its supply chain. A weaker yen helped too: Seven & i said currency effects alone added roughly ¥311.0bn to group revenue and ¥9.4bn to group operating profit this half, as the dollar averaged ¥158.29 against ¥148.40 a year earlier.

Seven-Eleven Japan remains the country's largest convenience-store chain and the segment Japan's retail industry watches most closely for a read on margins. This result shows one that is still growing basket size and chain sales but is losing the race between store-level investment and cost inflation on one side and revenue growth on the other — a different pattern from the overseas business, where cost-cutting under a formal turnaround plan, not sales growth, is doing the work. Seven & i left its full-year forecast unchanged from the one it issued July 9: revenue of ¥10,430,000m, flat on the year, and operating profit of ¥425,000m, up 0.5% — guidance that now leans on the overseas business being large enough to cover the drag at home.