Japan's Seven & i agrees business alliance with H2O Retailing (updated)

H2O RETAILING

06/10/2016 08:14

* Seven & i to transfer Kansai department stores to H2O 
    * Seven & i to give customers loyalty card ID numbers 
    * Seven & i to close 40 Ito Yokado stores 
 
 (Adds detail of business plan) 
    TOKYO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd  3382.T , 
Japan's second-biggest retailer by sales, on Thursday said it 
has entered a capital and business alliance with smaller peer 
H2O Retailing Corp  8242.T , with both companies planning to 
take a 3 percent stake in each other. 
    Under the agreement, Seven & i will transfer its department 
stores in the Kansai region of western Japan to H2O, which in a 
separate statement said the partnership would help bolster its 
dominance in the area. The two said they will look at other 
areas for possible cooperation. 
    That pact is part of a new business plan also released 
Thursday by Seven & i, in which the retailer said it aims to 
boost annual operating profit to 450 billion yen ($4.34 billion) 
by the business year ending Feb. 28, 2021. 
    The plan includes issuing loyalty cards with identification 
numbers to customers to map shopping habits in order to refine 
offerings and marketing activities. It also calls for the 
closure of 40 Ito Yokado general merchandising outlets, while 
expanding income from its Seven Eleven convenience stores. 
    Seven & i last week lowered its full-year operating profit 
forecast for the current year ending Feb. 28 to 353 billion yen 
from an earlier estimate of 379 billion yen amid a downturn in 
consumer spending. 
    In the six months ended Aug. 31, operating profit rose 5.2 
percent to 181 billion yen, the company also said on Thursday. 
    For the three months ended Aug. 31, operating profit rose 
10.3 percent to 100 billion yen from 90.6 billion yen a year 
earlier. Thomson Reuters calculated the quarterly number by 
subtracting the previous quarter from the half-year figure. 
 
($1 = 103.6000 yen) 
 
 (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Christopher Cushing) 
 ((tim.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1311;)) 
 
Keywords: SEVEN&I RESULTS/