ASKUL Corporation (2678): FY2025 Results Summary — Ransomware Attack Pushes Full Year to an Operating Loss

This article is based on publicly available IR materials and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific securities.

Note: ASKUL’s fiscal year runs from May 21 of each year to May 20 of the following year. This article covers the fiscal year ended May 20, 2026, which the company labels “FY5/2026”; it is classified as FY2025 under this site’s convention, while all headings, tables and figures below keep the company’s own year labels as they appear in the source material.

ASKUL Corporation reported consolidated net sales of ¥400,199 million for the fiscal year ended May 20, 2026, down 16.8% year on year, and an operating loss of ¥(17,445) million against operating profit of ¥14,004 million a year earlier. The company states that the decline was mainly due to the impact of the ransomware attack, and that both net sales and operating profit achieved the revised plan, coming in ¥5,199 million and ¥3,054 million above the plan respectively. Loss attributable to owners of parent was ¥(22,150) million, which includes an impairment loss on AP67 Co., Ltd. For FY5/2027 the company plans net sales of ¥490,000 million and a return to operating profit of ¥7,000 million, positioning the year as the starting point for reaccelerated growth.

Consolidated Results (Full-Year Actual)

The company describes FY5/2026 as having “achieved the revised plan for both net sales and operating profit.” Gross profit fell 24.0% to ¥89,313 million and the gross profit margin declined to 22.3% from 24.4%, while SG&A expenses rose 3.1% to ¥106,758 million, lifting the SG&A ratio to 26.7% of net sales from 21.5%.

Item (¥million)	FY5/2025 Actual	% of net sales	FY5/2026 Plan	FY5/2026 Actual	% of net sales	Difference from plan	% of plan	YoY change (%)
Net Sales	481,101	100.0	395,000	400,199	100.0	5,199	+1.3	-16.8
Gross Profit	117,538	24.4	86,300	89,313	22.3	3,013	+3.5	-24.0
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses	103,534	21.5	106,800	106,758	26.7	(41)	0.0	+3.1
Operating Profit	14,004	2.9	(20,500)	(17,445)	-4.4	3,054	–	–
Ordinary Profit	13,816	2.9	(22,000)	(19,062)	-4.8	2,937	–	–
Profit Attributable to Owners of Parent	9,068	1.9	–	(22,150)	-5.5	–	–	–

Segment Results

ASKUL reports in three segments: E-commerce Business, Logistics Business and Other. Within the E-commerce Business, ASKUL Business net sales fell 21.1% to ¥282.9 billion and LOHACO Business fell 23.8% to ¥28.0 billion, while Group Companies, etc. grew 6.7% to ¥82.0 billion. E-commerce Business operating profit swung to ¥(16.2) billion from ¥14.2 billion, a change of ¥(30.5) billion. Quarterly disclosure shows consolidated net sales bottoming at ¥78.1 billion in Q3 before recovering to ¥113.3 billion in Q4.

Item (¥billion)	FY5/2025 Full-year	FY5/2026 Full-year	YoY change	YoY change (%)
Net Sales: ASKUL Business	358.4	282.9	(75.5)	-21.1
Net Sales: LOHACO Business	36.8	28.0	(8.7)	-23.8
Net Sales: Group Companies, etc.	76.9	82.0	5.1	+6.7
Net Sales: E-commerce Business	472.2	393.0	(79.1)	-16.8
Net Sales: Logistics Business and Other	8.8	7.1	(1.7)	-19.8
Net Sales: Consolidated Total	481.1	400.1	(80.9)	-16.8
Operating Profit: E-commerce Business	14.2	(16.2)	(30.5)	–
Operating Profit: Logistics Business and Other	(0.2)	(1.1)	(0.9)	–
Operating Profit: Consolidated Total	14.0	(17.4)	(31.4)	–

Impact of the Ransomware Attack and Impairment Loss

The materials attribute the operating profit decline mainly to the impact of the ransomware attack. For reference, the company discloses the impact below operating profit as depreciation of inactive non-current assets of ¥1.26 billion recorded in non-operating expenses, and system failure response costs of ¥5.10 billion recorded in extraordinary losses. The breakdown of the fixed cost increase is given as Kanto DC -2,110 million (of which depreciation -1,600 million, cleaning/security, etc. -170 million, and start-up expenses (one-time) -330 million), base reorganization (one-time) -270 million, and core system replacement -130 million.

Separately, the company recorded an impairment loss of ¥4.8 billion on AP67 Co., Ltd. (whose core company is FEED Corporation), explaining that it revised the growth plan because procurement costs rose on the weaker yen, expansion of the customer base slowed, and, as FEED was a separate legal entity, there were challenges in accelerating synergy creation. The materials note that this matter is also described in the “Notice Regarding the Recording of Extraordinary Loss (Impairment Loss)” announced the same day, and that ASKUL will reorganize AP67, with FEED as its core company, to maximize synergies.

FY5/2027 Forecast

For FY5/2027 the company plans net sales of ¥490,000 million, up 22.4% year on year and 1.8% above FY5/2025, with operating profit of ¥7,000 million and profit attributable to owners of parent of ¥4,000 million. By business, the plan calls for ASKUL Business net sales of ¥353.1 billion, LOHACO Business ¥40.0 billion, Group Companies, etc. ¥88.6 billion, E-commerce Business ¥481.8 billion and Logistics Business and Other ¥8.1 billion. Capital expenditures are planned at ¥6.5 billion, down ¥6.4 billion year on year.

Item (¥million)	FY5/2025 Actual	FY5/2026 Actual	FY5/2027 Plan	% of net sales	YoY change (%)	vs FY5/2025 (%)
Net Sales	481,101	400,199	490,000	100.0	+22.4	+1.8
Gross Profit	117,538	89,313	116,000	23.7	+29.9	-1.3
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses	103,534	106,758	109,000	22.2	+2.1	+5.3
Operating Profit	14,004	(17,445)	7,000	1.4	–	-50.0
Ordinary Profit	13,816	(19,062)	6,300	1.3	–	-54.4
Profit Attributable to Owners of Parent	9,068	(22,150)	4,000	0.8	–	-55.9

Shareholder Returns

The annual dividend per share for FY5/2026 is ¥10 (interim dividend ¥0 and year-end dividend ¥10). For FY5/2027 the company forecasts an annual dividend per share of ¥20 (interim dividend ¥10 and year-end dividend ¥10). ASKUL states that it plans to achieve a total return ratio of 45% based on its shareholder return policy, and that it will ensure stable shareholder dividends and systematically acquire treasury stock.

Dividend per share (¥)	FY5/2026	FY5/2027 (Forecast)
Interim dividend	0	10
Year-end dividend	10	10
Annual dividend	10	20

Medium-Term Management Plan and Financial Discipline

ASKUL says it will focus on achieving the committed targets under its announced Medium-Term Management Plan. The FY5/2029 targets shown are a consolidated operating profit margin of 3.7% (2.9% in FY5/2025) and consolidated ROE of 20% (12% in FY5/2025), together with a consolidated net sales target of 5,400 versus 4,811 in FY5/2025 (the slide does not show a unit label for net sales). The company notes that only the ROE target has been revised from the previously announced figure.

On financial discipline, the company reports liquidity on hand (cash and cash equivalents to monthly sales ratio) of 1.48 months in FY5/2026 against a guideline range of 1.0 to 1.5 months, financial leverage of 4.81x against a 3.0x guideline, and a D/E ratio of 1.47x against a 1.0x guideline, and assesses these increases as temporary. ROE and the total return ratio for FY5/2026 are shown as “-” because they were temporarily negative due to the net loss. Capital expenditures in FY5/2026 were ¥12,976 million against an initial plan of ¥15.2 billion, including ASKUL Kanto DC of ¥6.9 billion and IT-related spending of ¥1.6 billion.

Topics

The company plans to reduce the number of directors from 13 to 10, including 6 independent directors, newly appoint an independent outside director serving as an Audit & Supervisory Committee member, and change the representative director, naming Takeshi Narimatsu as the candidate for new representative director. In its growth strategy ASKUL cites lessons learned from the business recovery, including that appropriate pricing is critical to retaining and restoring customer demand, that original products provide a competitive edge, and that logistics quality is a key competitive advantage, and it intends to maximize the use of proprietary big data and AI to increase customer lifetime value. The number of original products reached 21,809 items in May of FY5/2026, up 3,218 year on year, with a non-consolidated net sales composition ratio of 33.8% (39.5% for the ASKUL business).

This article is an analysis based on publicly available information and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific securities. Investment decisions are your own responsibility.