The Lawson Group Sweeping Transformation Executive Committee entered its third year of operation in FY2022. The Committee was launched to realize our Challenge 2025 medium-term vision and mark our 50th anniversary in 2025. While working hard to increase the degree of execution of each Committee project, we declared our strategic concept for “community-based × individual customer and individual store-focused operations” and introduced an area company system starting in the Hokkaido and Kinki regions. Within those area companies, we reviewed the comparative roles and discretionary power of the head office and area managers and sought to speed up the decision-making process and the hypothesis and validation cycle by granting greater authority and discretionary power to our frontline operations.

In our Domestic Convenience Store Business, we have been expanding the range of products for everyday use, such as frozen foods, renovating stores, and establishing frameworks to enable us to better satisfy customer demand in FY2022. Since the start of FY2021, we have renovated a total of 7,290 stores.*1 We also increased the number of stores equipped with a Machikado Chubo kitchen to 9,191 stores*1 and expanded the total number of stores that offer MUJI products (something that we started in earnest from May onwards) to 9,621 stores*1 including the experimental stores launched in FY2021. Furthermore, we increased the number of stores offering food delivery services to 3,558 stores.*1

We implemented various measures as part of our HAPPY LAWSON PROJECT, which we launched in June, to enable customers to enjoy shopping at stores that have been newly transformed by store renovations and new and extended product ranges. We also worked hard to capture fresh demand generated by a recovery in people flows following the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the above initiatives, existing-store sales in Japan rose 3.6% year on year in FY2022.

With regard to our Seijo Ishii Business, sales slackened in the first half of FY2022 compared to the previous year’s efforts to capture strong stay-home demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, sales of Seijo Ishii’s own deli items and other products proved firm in the second half after we strengthened specific individual measures and our public relations activities. Following the launch of our latest in-house Central Kitchen in July, we working to further enhance the development of deli items and increase the ratio of items produced in house. Meanwhile, on December 16, 2022, following a comprehensive review of stock market trends and other factors, we decided to withdraw the application to list SEIJO ISHII CO., LTD. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that we had initially submitted on September 9, 2022.

In our Entertainment-related Business, ticket handling volumes in FY2022 exceeded the pre-COVID levels achieved in FY2019, thanks primarily to the enthusiastic holding of more concerts with no restrictions on movement for the first time in three years.

As for our Financial Services Business, we have been working to expand new services that use the Lawson Bank ATM network and ATM infrastructure, and to expand the number of collaborating operators and financial institutions.

Regarding our Overseas Business, the business environment proved severe throughout the year due to the adverse impact of the blanket lockdowns imposed on Shanghai in April and subsequent intermittent restrictions on movement imposed across China. The Chinese government’s decision to relax its zero-COVID policy in early December actually forced us to temporarily close some stores or operate shorter operating hours due to an increase in positive cases among store employees. At the same time, we worked hard to provide more high-quality, original products and to strengthen food delivery services that are expected to generate greater demand, while also striving to expand our store network. Thanks to those efforts, the number of Lawson stores in China had increased to 5,620 stores.*1 Furthermore, from January 2023 onwards, we started to witness a steady increase in people flows initially in cities where infections had already peaked, and daily sales have also now moved back onto a recovery track.

■ FY2023 Initiatives and Full-year Plan

Regarding our outlook for FY2023, we already introduced a nationwide area company system from March in order to further promote our "community-based × individual customer and individual store-focused operations." To ensure we can connect even more closely with our customers’ everyday lives and better respond to local community demand, we intend to create store displays that not only seek to offer superior taste, but also focus on providing a wider product lineup and more plentiful inventory.
Now in its fourth year of operation, the Lawson Group Sweeping Transformation Executive Committee will strive to establish new projects and update existing projects in FY2023, while also promoting aggressive growth investment and encouraging structural reforms from a medium- to long-term perspective.

Going forward, we will continue to develop various measures from the perspective of our customers and the SDGs to help realize our vision of turning our stores into "new hubs of refreshment in every community" as we approach our 50th anniversary in 2025.

In FY2023, we expect Lawson business*2 in Japan to achieve 4.0% growth in existing-store sales year on year. We also expect to achieve a gross profit margin of 31.4% and net income of 29.0 billion yen.*3

We are scheduled to pay a dividend of 200 yen per share in FY2023.

We ask all our shareholders and investors for their understanding and support of our management strategy for the business year ahead, and beyond.

*1 Number of stores at the end of February 2023.

*2 Lawson business results include the performance figures from Lawson and Natural Lawson stores operated by Lawson, Inc. (excluding sales of tickets and gift cards, etc.).

*3 Lawson, Inc. has decided to apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from the consolidated financial statements included in our annual securities report for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023 (FY2022). As such, the consolidated business forecasts for the fiscal year ending February 29, 2024 (FY2023) have been compiled using IFRS standards.