AEON Mall Co., Ltd. (8905) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

I will explain the overview of the financial results for fiscal year 2024. Please refer to the handout. First of all, in terms of consolidated results, operating revenue has reached a record high. Operating income grew by 12.4% year-on-year or JPY 5.7 billion. Ordinary income also rose by 14.9% or JPY 5.5 billion year-on-year and met our full year target for the first time in 4 years. Net income attributable to owners of parent decreased in connection with advancements in business restructuring planned at the beginning of the current fiscal year and the recording of extraordinary losses, but all other profit levels exceeded the previous year's results. Please go to the next page. Next is the domestic market. Operating income was JPY 42.7 billion, an increase of JPY 6.9 billion from the previous year. This is a 19.5% increase year-on-year, achieving double-digit growth. The graph on the right shows existing mall specialty store sales and customers. The number of customers visiting the 92 existing malls was up 2.2% year-on-year. The average amount spent per customer has also increased due to inflation. So existing specialty store sales rose by 5.4% year-on-year, and lease income percentages also increased. The graph also shows the quarterly sales in customer numbers. Only the fourth quarter customer numbers decreased by 0.6%, but this is because there was 1 fewer business days than the previous fiscal year, a leap year. Basically, domestically, sales and the number of customers have both exceeded the previous year's figures for the entire period. Next, overseas operations. Operating income decreased by JPY 1.2 billion year-on-year to JPY 9.3 billion. By country, as you can see on the right, operating income increased in Vietnam and Indonesia but decreased in China and Cambodia. China saw a decrease in profits of JPY 1.7 billion, while Vietnam saw an increase of JPY 300 million (sic) [ JPY 334 million ]. Well, I will explain Vietnam and China separately later. In Indonesia, in addition to improvements in vacant floor spaces in existing malls, the number of customers visiting existing malls grew by 7.4% year-on-year, resulting in an improvement in operating income of JPY 500 million (sic) [ JPY 529 million ]. On Cambodia, operating income decreased by JPY 300 million (sic) [ JPY 305 million ]. But as we have been telling you before, the infrastructure facilities around our third store, Mean Chey, and the new airport have been delayed. So things have worsened, but we think that this is a bottom in Cambodia. So we think that things will improve from now on. This is China. As I mentioned earlier, there was an operating income decrease of about JPY 1.8 billion. But as you can see from the graph on this right, sale at existing mall specialty stores were up 1.7%, and the number of customers was up 8.2%. So sales at existing stores are increasing. Well, the reason why they have deteriorated since last year is the opening of new malls, which opened in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. The negative impact of this is significant. That is JPY 1.8 billion decrease in operating income. Moving on to Vietnam. Operating income rose by 8.6% year-on-year, an increase of JPY 334 million. Existing specialty store sales rose by 7.4%. Customer traffic increased by 2.5% year-on-year, although we opened a new mall in Hue last fiscal year. If we exclude the impact of this, we are maintaining double-digit growth in operating income. So Vietnam is continuing to perform well. From here, I'd like to explain some of the specific measures we're taking. But we have been showing this chart every time. But our domestic specialty stores are performing very well, thanks to things like renovated malls and malls enacting priority measures for inbound customers. We have been carrying out mall renovations at Lake Town Outlet and AEON Mall Ota. In the Lake Town Outlet, the floor space has increased by 30%, and sales have increased by about 39%. And Ota, the floor space has increased by 22%, and sales have increased by 1.5x. And also regarding inbound tourism by taking various measures, we have doubled our duty-free sales year-on-year. We think there's still room for growth in this area. Throughout the year, we're working to attract customers from a wide area by strengthening events and festivals during the busy season. I won't go into the details, but we've also seen significant growth in this area, including Golden Week holidays, Black Friday and the year-end and New Year holidays. In addition, the Cool Share initiative, which made use of last year's hot summer, has been very successful, with customers spending more time at AEON malls. We would like to continue with these initiatives this year as well. For the year, sales were up 5.4% year-on-year, and the number of customers increased by 2.2%, as I explained earlier. Regarding the Urban Shopping Center Business, we implemented a fundamental business structure reform last fiscal year. There are 2 main points. We improved profitability by revitalizing existing stores. As started here, we've been renovating 19 urban shopping center facilities, and the sales here have increased significantly by 9.8% year-on-year. On the other hand, regarding malls with low profitability and no future potential, and we had already decided to close one mall in fiscal 2023. Well, last fiscal year, we resolved to close 4 malls. We will continue to consider this. And for properties with good profitability, we will continue to expand them. For properties with no future potential, we will think about our next move. We will continue to work on this. The same is true for China, and we have been working on increasing revenue and reducing costs here as well. However, in terms of improving profitability, we have been revitalizing existing stores by working on the malls mentioned. There's still some weak points in our strategy. We intend to continue to work on this. Also, regarding the restructuring and turnaround of unprofitable malls, we have decided to close 2 malls in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Also, regarding costs, we are reviewing our system to move from a high-cost structure to a low-cost structure. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the new malls have led to a deterioration in our figures. So we're currently working on a plan to reverse these new malls. Regarding dividends for this period, we will pay a year-end dividend of JPY 25 as planned, making the annual dividend JPY 50. We signed a share exchange agreement with AEON on April 11 based on the signed memorandum of understanding as of February 28 to become a wholly owned subsidiary of AEON. The future schedule is as shown on the slide, but after shareholder approval at the General Meeting of Shareholders in late May, we'll be delisted on June 27. On July 1, the share exchange will take effect, and we'll become a wholly owned subsidiary of AEON. The share exchange ratio with AEON is as you can see here. For details of the calculation, please refer to the press release of April 11. AEON shares will be allowed to AEON Mall shareholders according to the determined exchange ratio. Based on the signed memorandum of understanding dated February 28, we have been holding in-depth discussions on the possibility of measures to enhance AEON Mall's corporate value and the method of making it a wholly owned subsidiary of AEON. As a result, we have reached a common understanding that measures to enhance corporate value are feasible. As stated in that slide, we will leverage AEON Group-owned assets. And by having our company take on the entire group developer function, we will build an integrated development strategy and expand business opportunities. In addition, through customer data integration across the entire AEON Group, we will enhance retail support for specialty stores, and we will aim at capturing new sources of revenue through shifting to in-house production. Through these measures, we'll expand domestic cash flows and establish a robust financial base that enables proactive investment, including overseas, even amid rising interest rates. That concludes the explanation of the slides. As I explained earlier, the Domestic Business has clearly seen a recovery in existing malls, and operating income grew significantly by 19.5% year-on-year, driving consolidated performance. On the other hand, there has been a divergence from the plan in our China business, but we are implementing measures as soon as possible, including a review of our area strategy in this difficult environment. It's been a year since we adopted the new system, and we have been steering the management of AEON Mall. And I think we have shown a certain degree of progress in the path to recovery and renewed growth in our Domestic Business. And we have also been working to reorganize unprofitable stores. We also made decisions to turn around the Urban Shopping Center Business. And we also tackle the unavoidable issues that have been overlooked up until now. And I think that the fact that we were able to complete the business structure reform as planned is also a certain achievement. Even after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AEON, we will continue to lead the developer business as a platform for the AEON Group. And we will continue to work to enhance our corporate value. Since our stock was listed in 2002, we have received a great deal of support from our investors over the years, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude. Thank you for listening. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]