House Foods Group Inc. <2810> surged in afternoon trading. The company announced its consolidated earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2027 at around 2:30 p.m., projecting sales of 322.5 billion yen (up 1.7% year-on-year), operating profit of 18.5 billion yen (up 1.4%), and net profit of 17 billion yen (up 2.3 times). The announcement that the annual dividend forecast would increase by 30 yen from the previous year to 100 yen was well received.

While the core spice and seasoning processed food business is expected to see revenue growth driven by household products, a decrease in profit is anticipated due to increased depreciation costs. However, the overseas food business is expected to see profit growth through sustained growth in the Chinese curry business and accelerated restructuring of the U.S. soy business. The health food and restaurant businesses are also expected to see revenue and profit growth.

For the fiscal year ended March 2026, sales were 316.977 billion yen (up 0.5% year-on-year), operating profit was 18.246 billion yen (down 8.8%), and net profit was 7.36 billion yen (down 41.1%).

The company also announced a share buyback and cancellation of treasury shares, which is also viewed as positive news. The share buyback has an upper limit of 12 million shares (13.16% of issued shares excluding treasury stock) or 26 billion yen, with an acquisition period from May 12 to April 23 of next year. All acquired shares are scheduled to be cancelled. Additionally, the company will cancel 6.4 million treasury shares (6.50% of issued shares before cancellation) on May 29.

Source: MINKABU PRESS

*Translated by generative AI. Click here for the original article.