TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese trading house Itochu posted on Thursday an increase of 11% in nine-month net profit to December of 676.5 billion yen ($4.44 billion) from the corresponding period a year earlier.
The company kept unchanged its full-year profit forecast of 880 billion yen for the fiscal year ending in March.
Itochu is considering whether to invest in Seven & i Holdings, but no decision has yet been made, Chief Financial Officer Tsuyoshi Hachimura told a press conference.
“We have built a track record of firmly implementing investment criteria and only investing in projects that contribute to future growth,” Hachimura said.
There was nothing special about the investment in Seven & i, he added, saying Itochu would only invest if stakeholders were satisfied.
Seven & i, the operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, is trying to fend off a $47-billion buyout offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT).
After ACT’s bid, the Seven & i group’s founding family started talks to take the company private for an estimated $58 billion, in what would be the largest management buyout in Japanese history.
Some media have said the family sought cooperation from Itochu, which was considering an investment of 1 trillion yen in the company.
Hachimura suggested there are no funding issues, saying it has improved shareholders’ equity over the past years and its credit rating has gone up.
($1=152.2100 yen)
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)
