| Home > Investor Relations > Top Management Message
Today Lawson announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2014,
or the three months to May 31, 2014. The main consolidated results are listed below:
Operating profit: | 16.8 billion yen (+17.6% year on year) |
Recurring profit: | 16.5 billion yen (+14.5% year on year) |
Net profit: | 9.0 billion yen (+26.5% year on year) |
Click here for more detailed results.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2014 from March to May, we worked tirelessly to extend the business strategies designed to realize Lawson’s Corporate Philosophy:”Creating Happiness and Harmony in Our Communities.” Throughout the first quarter, we offered various superior products and services designed to help actively expand our customer base, and ensure our product ranges satisfied local community needs. We expanded our MACHI café service, where store crews take the time to grind fresh coffee and hand it directly to customers with a smile. This is part of our drive to differentiate ourselves from other competitors who offer self-service coffee. We also offered the “Pure Series,” a range of additive-free products made from superior quality ingredients, in our dessert and bakery categories. These efforts were rewarded in the first-quarter results, when, despite the temporary drag on sales caused by the April consumption tax hike, same-store sales at Lawson Japan increased by 0.7% year on year. The gross profit margin also improved 0.5 point year on year in the first quarter, thanks to our determined development of high value-added products, such as the Pure Series and the “Delicious! Local Specialities” range made from locally sourced ingredients, and also to the development and expansion of high-margin foodstuffs, such as prepared foods and delicatessen items.
As a result of the above activities, Lawson reported significant gains in profit in the first quarter, with consolidated operating profit expanding by 2.5 billion yen, or 17.6%, year on year to 16.8 billion yen, and consolidated net profit increasing by 1.9 billion yen, or 26.5%, to 9.0 billion yen.
We remain dedicated to our current business strategy and intend to press ahead with further active measures in the second quarter of fiscal 2014. We are determined to steer through the current turbulent external environment of aggressive store openings by competitors and unsettled summer weather, so that we can achieve our first-half profit targets for the six months through August 2014. We will also promote further development of our overseas operations, entertainment services and home delivery business in order to build a strong foundation for sustainable mid- to long-term growth of Lawson, Inc.
I would like to thank our shareholders and investors for your continued and unwavering support of Lawson’s management strategy, and I look forward to serving you in the years ahead.
Copyright©Lawson, Inc. All Rights Reserved.