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LAWSON today announced its operating results for the first quarter of fiscal 2009, ending February 28, 2010. A summary of our consolidated results is as follows:
Please click here for more details of our fiscal 2009 first-quarter results.
In the first quarter, we faced a difficult business environment as consumer sentiment deteriorated and the economic slump persisted from the previous fiscal year. Nevertheless, we posted a 1.5% year-on-year increase in consolidated operating profit to 12.1 billion yen. One reason was the ongoing beneficial contribution from the introduction in Japan of cigarette vending machines requiring taspo cards (adult identification IC cards). Our perishable food-format convenience store operations also contributed to the higher consolidated operating profit. These operations have synced well with changing consumer behavior, as well as the needs of elderly consumers.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of card members for our proprietary loyalty point cards reached approximately 9.3 million, roughly 2.4 million higher than at May 31, 2008. Steady sales to these members accounted for 17% of all our sales.
Our operating environment will more than likely remain tough in the second quarter and thereafter in the face of sluggish consumer sentiment and as the benefits we gained from taspo's introduction run their course. We will therefore continue to rigorously enforce our "Three Challenge Practices" of quality, service, and cleanliness (QSC) in store operations and use loyalty point card data to assemble merchandise assortments that mesh with customer needs. These actions are aimed at raising gross profit at existing stores. We will also look to cut unnecessary costs and make structural reforms, such as stripping inefficiencies out of the distribution system. In doing so, we hope to achieve our full-year earnings targets. At the same time, we will continue to invest in perishable food-format convenience store operations and other sources of future growth that have the potential to expand our customer base in order to achieve sustained growth over the medium term.
Going forward, we ask for the continued understanding and support of LAWSON shareholders and other investors.
July 2, 2009
Takeshi Niinami
President & CEO
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