BELC Co., Ltd.

Food supermarket operator Belc announced on the 9th that it is revising its consolidated earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending February 2027. The previous forecast was given as a range; while operating revenue is expected around the midpoint of that range, net profit is revised down to 9.9 billion yen from the previous range of 12.5 billion to 13.6 billion yen, and is now projected to fall below the prior year's actual result of 12.6 billion yen. Amid a stronger thrift mindset driven by rising prices and price competition with rival companies, customer traffic and items purchased per customer declined, causing first-half sales to fall short of plan. On the profit side as well, it became difficult to absorb costs through higher revenue, and rising purchase prices for goods such as packaging materials and soaring energy costs took their toll. The company expects the uncertain external environment and upward cost trend to continue in the second half.