By Kosaku Narioka
Seven & i Holdings projected a drop in annual net profit and pushed back the planned listing of its North American convenience-store business as recent sharp gains in oil prices cloud the outlook for gasoline demand.
The 7-Eleven owner said Thursday that it will list its North American convenience-store business in the fiscal year starting next March at the earliest. It previously planned for an initial public offering by the end of 2026.
Chief Executive Stephen Dacus said consumers are under economic pressure due to higher energy prices and drivers may travel less if prices at the pump stay elevated for a long time.
Seven & i announced a series of measures in March 2025 to raise its shareholder value as it sought to head off Alimentation Couche-Tard's $47 billion takeover attempt, which the Canadian owner of Circle K abandoned in July.
The IPO of the North American business was a key step. It also sold a group of superstores and other businesses for $5.4 billion. The company is using proceeds from both to fund a $13 billion share buyback, for which its plans are unchanged, it said.
The 7-Eleven owner has been taking steps to boost earnings, such as improving its offerings of proprietary and freshly made food items.
Seven & i's net profit for the three months ended February fell 14% from a year earlier to 94.30 billion yen, equivalent to $594.7 million. That beat the Y60.6 billion estimate in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.
Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 18% to Y2.379 trillion, partly due to the recent sale of superstores and other businesses.
Operating profit from the company's overseas convenience-store business rose 17% to Y69.23 billion, while that of its domestic convenience-store business declined 13% to Y43.99 billion.
For the new fiscal year that began in March, the 7-Eleven owner projected revenue to decline 9.4% to Y9.448 trillion and net profit to fall 7.8% to Y270.00 billion.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 09, 2026 09:27 ET (13:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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