H2O Retailing Corp., the parent of Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores Inc., said Friday its net profit for the fiscal first half fell 74.5 percent from a year earlier to 6.91 billion yen ($44 million) due to a decline in duty-free sales following last year’s surge in inbound demand.
Overall sales, however, rose 0.5 percent to 333.02 billion yen in the six months ended Sept. 30, helped by the solid food business. A special sales campaign to celebrate the Hanshin Tigers winning Japanese professional baseball’s Central League title also contributed about 2 billion yen.
The Hanshin Tigers is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co. The railway company and H2O are both part of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group.
Toshihiko Yamaguchi, H2O Retailing representative director, told a press conference in Osaka that the company saw a rise in the number of foreign customers thanks to the World Exposition in Osaka.
But rising accommodation costs in the Osaka area have increased the burden on travelers, he said.
Still, H2O raised its net profit forecast for the year to March 2026 to 24 billion yen from its previous outlook of 18 billion yen, reflecting gains from the sale of shareholdings.
The company now sees sales of 689 billion yen for this fiscal year, down from the 690 billion yen projected earlier.
