¥904.81 billion in sales and ¥115.61 billion in operating profit required in Q4 to meet the FY2026 plan

For the nine months ended 31 May 2026, sales were ¥3.065 trillion, operating profit was ¥614.389 billion, and net profit was ¥426.077 billion. The FY2026 full-year forecast is sales of ¥3.970 trillion, operating profit of ¥730.000 billion, and net profit of ¥500.000 billion. Progress against the full-year forecast was 77.2% for sales, 84.2% for operating profit, and 85.2% for net profit, indicating that the profit figures are ahead of sales.

A simple calculation of the shortfall against the full-year forecast gives the Q4 requirements of ¥904.818 billion in sales, ¥115.611 billion in operating profit, and ¥73.923 billion in net profit. The required operating margin on sales is 12.8%, below the 20.0% margin for the nine-month period and the 18.4% margin implied by the full-year forecast. Accordingly, in addition to whether the plan is achieved, it will be important to determine what factors caused the Q4 margin to move.

The FY2025 Q4 equivalent, calculated from the prior-year figures, was sales of ¥783.831 billion, operating profit of ¥113.313 billion, and net profit of ¥93.910 billion. The Q4 figures required to meet the FY2026 plan represent a 15.4% year-on-year increase in sales and a 2.0% increase in operating profit, while net profit could decline 21.3% and still meet the plan. This combination indicates that the required net profit is relatively low compared with sales and operating profit, making it necessary to examine the composition of bottom-line profit, including taxes, financial income and expenses, and other non-operating items.

The financial summary currently available does not include the company's standalone Q4 forecast, Q4 profit by region or brand, or the outlook for taxes and financial income and expenses. In the next results release, we will review how far Q4 results exceeded the required figures above, why the operating margin was around 12.8%, what drove any decline in net profit below the prior-year Q4 level, and the variance from the full-year plan.