Seven & I HoldingsтАЩ profit has declined 24% on broader retail weakness despite some signs of recovery at its convenience stores in Japan and North America, which could make it harder to stave off investor pressure to engage with a takeover approach from Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Operating profit was ┬е128.4 billion ($812 million) during the three months to the end of November, compared with ┬е169 billion a year earlier, the company reported Thursday. Analysts were projecting, on average, profit of ┬е132 billion.
The mixed results mean that Seven & i will probably face challenges convincing investors that it can turn around its all-important convenience store business. The retailer has been spurred into radical action to fend off Couche-TardтАЩs approach, embarking on a separation of its domestic supermarkets and retail business in order to focus on its convenience-store operations.
