9823.T

• Overall Financial Performance

  • The company achieved record highest profit with revenue growth and profit growth for the 2025 September period: consolidated operating revenue was 193.6 billion yen, net profit was 5.246 billion yen, and operating profit was 6.744 billion yen (a 310 million yen increase year-over-year). Sales grew 20.5% YoY, while gross profit margin declined 1.4pp, and gross profit grew 14% YoY. SG&A increased 15.7% YoY, driven primarily by 2.473 billion yen in higher personnel costs from wage hikes and new store openings, plus 1.132 billion yen in higher facility costs from openings and renovations. EBITDA exceeded 10 billion yen, growing steadily YoY.
  • Q4 operating profit was depressed by 620 million yen in temporary one-time costs (including 389 million yen for 4 store renovations, 230 million yen for efficiency/energy-saving investments like LED lighting and in-store tablets, and 88 million yen in special bonuses), plus pre-opening personnel costs for two October-November openings, which management frames as intentional forward investment on top of strong Q1-Q3 results. Seasonal factors also push down Q4 margins due to high sales of low-margin summer beverages.
  • Existing store performance: same-store sales grew 9.9% YoY, outperforming the supermarket industry average, and same-store customer count grew 12% vs. the 2023 target of 10%, outpacing peer supermarkets in Saitama Prefecture.

• Strategic Development

  • The 2nd mid-term management plan (2024-2026) has three core pillars: build dominant local number 1 stores focused on product strength, grow via new openings and existing store conversions, and prioritize human resource development to address industry-wide labor shortages. As of the end of year 2, net profit and EBITDA have already hit the final 2026 targets. The original 3-year target of 12 new openings was raised to 17, while planned new-format renovations were lowered from 23 to 18. Non-financial KPIs: employee satisfaction hit 81.1% (target met), labor productivity growth is 104% (still below target), existing store customer count hit 112% (target exceeded).
  • Product and supply chain initiatives: The company is expanding destination fresh and ready-to-eat items, with strong growth from renewed core products (fried chicken +77% sales, thick cut rolls +76% sales, beef tongue +37% sales) and all 11 categories of the 2025 Obenro・Osouzai Award earned awards (3 top prizes, 4 excellence prizes, the first time any company has won across all categories). In-house producer Saiyu Foods' shipment volume grew 27% YoY, growing faster than overall sales and supporting product differentiation. Procurement: overseas container imports more than doubled (+107%) to reduce costs, with further volume growth planned to expand this advantage. Logistics: the company's return load consolidation program grew from 45 to 55 participating manufacturers, cutting empty return load rates from 32.5% to 20.5%.
  • Store expansion: 6 new stores and 10 renovation projects (8 format conversions, 2 existing format reconfigurations) were completed for a total of 16 store projects, the highest annual number to date. The company expanded to Ibaraki Prefecture with 2 new stores in 2025, and plans to open 2 new stores in Kanagawa Prefecture by December 2027, continuing gradual expansion across the Kanto region. 9 new stores are planned for the 2026 September period, all in the 生鮮市場TOP！format.
  • Human capital investment: The company has introduced multiple new employee benefit programs including housing allowances for young staff, student loan repayment assistance (up to 900,000 yen forgiven after a set tenure), enhanced childcare support above statutory requirements, and a mandatory 5-day consecutive vacation program with 10,000 yen allowance for travel/leisure (targeting longer vacations long-term). Starting entry-level salary is 280,000 yen, a high level for the retail industry, with wage hikes of 5.53% in 2024 and 7.8% in 2025. Foreign worker numbers doubled YoY, with 33 new global hires in 2025, focused on fresh food departments.
  • Capital strategy: ROE remains above the 5-6% cost of equity, and ROIC remains above the 4-5% weighted average cost of capital, with higher growth and higher ROE than most peer listed retailers. The PBR is 1.62, with a target of 2.0. The company prioritizes growth investment in the current phase, maintaining a 20% dividend payout ratio, and will review shareholder returns once sales scale is larger. A 5-for-1 stock split was completed, and shareholder benefits were expanded to include 1,000 yen in vouchers for shareholders holding 100-499 shares, to widen the shareholder base.
  • Corporate structure: The company transitioned to a holding company structure in October 2025 to improve governance, enable more effective human resource allocation, and support future M&A.

• For the 2026 September period, operating revenue guidance is 225 billion yen, an upward revision of 10 billion yen from the original mid-term plan target, reflecting stronger-than-expected sales growth.
• Operating profit guidance is unchanged from the mid-term plan. Net profit guidance is slightly raised to 5.3 billion yen, even after accounting for a 300 million yen negative impact from losing the wage increase tax credit due to the holding company transition.
• Investment cash flow guidance is 13 billion yen. After the 5-for-1 stock split, the dividend per share guidance is 21.2 yen, which is a slight increase from the pre-split equivalent of 21 yen (105 yen pre-split), maintaining the 20% payout ratio policy.

マミーマートHD operates three retail formats: 1) マミーマート: 8 store net reduction to an undisclosed total, all reductions driven by conversion to new formats; it has the highest price point, highest gross margin, and highest selling, general & administrative (SG&A) rate among the three formats. 2) 生鮮市場TOP！: 7 store net increase to 34 total stores; it is a mid-range price format targeting broad-area customer draw with a focus on fresh products. 3) マミープラス: 7 store net increase to 15 total stores; it is the lowest price point format, with the lowest gross margin and lowest SG&A rate, designed for smaller, dense urban locations. As of the end of the prior period, ~60% of all stores have converted to the two new formats. For converted stores over 3 years post-renovation, profit reaches ~5x the pre-conversion level after a temporary first-year drop from investment costs.

• Industry-wide: Rising construction costs, land rent, and general commodity price inflation increase operating costs. Persistent labor shortages across the retail industry create challenges for staffing new and existing stores.
• Internal: Rapid store network expansion has created capacity constraints at the company's distribution centers and in-house production factories, requiring new facility investment and expanded management capacity. A new fresh fish processing center is scheduled to launch in spring 2026 to address this.
• Operational: Scaling up the store network requires accelerated talent development, particularly for store managers, as the historical 15-year average promotion timeline is too slow for the current expansion pace. The company is developing accelerated training programs to address this gap.
• Competitive: Expansion into new areas of Kanto such as Kanagawa increases competition with other expanding supermarket chains, potentially pressuring margins and same-store sales.

Q: What challenges are created by rapid store network expansion, and how are you addressing them? / A: The main challenges are capacity constraints at logistics centers and prepared food factories, which have hit limits from sales growth. This requires building new facilities, which also requires expanding management capacity when splitting existing operations into multiple sites. The second major challenge is accelerated talent development: with more new stores, the company needs to train store managers much faster than the historical 15-year average timeline, so an accelerated training program is being developed to shorten the timeline to under half the original duration. The company is actively working through these growing pains as part of its growth phase. (330 chars)

Q: What are your criteria for selecting which business format to use for new openings and conversions, and how do you select expansion areas? / A: The company evaluates site selection flexibly based on local conditions including access and demographics across the entire Kanto region. 生鮮市場TOP！requires at minimum 500 tsubo (≈1650 m2) of sales floor space (preferably 600 tsubo) and sufficient parking to draw customers from a broad area, so this format is prioritized for sites meeting these criteria. マミープラス reduces in-store preparation to cut backroom space requirements, so it is used for smaller locations in dense residential areas where customers access via walking/biking, even without large parking lots. (388 chars)

Q: Can you comment on the trend of existing store gross profit margins after format conversion? / A: The company's strategy is focused on maintaining gross margin levels for existing converted stores. Low prices are a core competitive advantage that the company intends to keep. Any future gross margin increases will come from further reducing procurement costs rather than raising retail prices, which will allow the company to keep prices low for consumers while expanding total gross profit. This aligns with the company's ongoing procurement reform to increase lower-cost direct container imports from overseas. (322 chars)

Q: Do you have any plans to stop selling tobacco, as some other Japanese retailers have done? / A: The company currently has no plans to implement a policy of ending tobacco sales at new or renovated stores at this time. (87 chars)