Profit growth led in Q1; can the company maintain its strong progress toward the full-year plan through cumulative Q2?

Revenue in Q1 of the fiscal year ending February 2027 was ¥43,277 million, and operating profit was ¥3,378 million. Progress against the full-year forecasts of ¥171,000 million and ¥9,000 million was 25.3% and 37.5%, respectively, with operating profit progress 12.2 percentage points ahead of revenue. Profit before tax was ¥3,221 million, or 40.3% of the ¥8,000 million full-year forecast, while profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent was ¥2,217 million, or 38.9% of the ¥5,700 million forecast.

By category, Q1 revenue progress against the full-year forecast was 25.5% for CR, 25.3% for Specialty Brands, 23.8% for Izakaya (formerly SFP), and 26.8% for Overseas. Category cash flow progress was 30.0% for CR, 29.2% for Specialty Brands, 23.1% for Izakaya, and 27.5% for Overseas, indicating that profit and cash-flow measures were running ahead of revenue overall. However, these figures reflect progress as of Q1 and do not reflect first-half seasonality or summer demand.

The simple 50% FY2027-H1 benchmark is ¥85,500 million for revenue and ¥4,500 million for operating profit. Based on Q1 results, reaching these levels would require standalone Q2 revenue of ¥42,223 million and operating profit of ¥1,122 million. These are reference figures obtained by mechanically halving the full-year forecasts, not the company's reported half-year forecasts, so the actual assessment should also consider cumulative Q2 results for the previous year and category-level seasonality.

As of Q1, the company left its full-year forecasts unchanged and assessed progress against them as being on track. However, it has not disclosed the remaining amounts required for cumulative Q2, standalone half-year plan figures, or the amounts of revenue and profit growth expected from M&A. At the next results announcement, the focus will be not only on whether the full-year forecasts are maintained, but also on how far revenue progress has moved from 25.3% toward 50% and whether the strong operating profit progress reflects temporarily low expenses.