VIA HOLDINGS INC.

Business Details

The Group consists of five subsidiaries forming a single foodservice business segment: Ogiya Higashi Nihon Co., Ltd. and Ogiya Nishi Nihon Co., Ltd. (yakitori izakaya formats "Bincho Ogiya" and "Yakitori no Ogiya"), Foodream Co., Ltd. (commercial facility-based formats such as "Pastel"), Icchou Co., Ltd. (sashimi izakaya "Uoya Icchou"), Ichigen Co., Ltd. (general izakaya "Ichigen"), and Beniton Co., Ltd. (charcoal-grilled skewer restaurant "Nihonbashi Beniton"). As of the end of FY2026 (ending March 2026), the Group operated 287 stores (including 25 franchise stores). The Group is promoting a revenue structure reform under its mid-term management strategy "Future Plan Next."

Recent Overview

In FY2026 (ending March 2026), net sales increased slightly, but the company fell into an operating loss; signs of profit improvement emerged in the fourth quarter amid accelerated structural reform.

For the full year of FY2026 (ending March 2026), net sales were ¥17,405 million (up 0.2% year on year), a slight increase, but the company fell into an operating loss of ¥68 million (compared to operating profit of ¥198 million in the prior year) due to rising raw material and logistics costs, increased personnel expenses associated with minimum wage hikes, and initial costs from logistics structure reform. With 20 stores closed (including 4 franchise stores) and extraordinary losses of ¥260 million, including an impairment loss of ¥189 million, net loss expanded to ¥512 million. On the other hand, operating profit for the fourth quarter (3 months) improved by approximately ¥70 million year on year, turning positive. In October 2025, the company issued Class E preferred shares (raising ¥1,470 million) and partially redeemed Class C preferred shares (¥787 million), working to stabilize its financial base. The company has also begun unifying head office functions with the headquarters of its operating subsidiaries ("One Company" initiative), aiming to achieve optimal allocation of management resources and faster decision-making from April 2026 onward.

Key Products

Growth Drivers

• Organizational streamlining and reduction of headquarters costs, along with optimal allocation of management resources, through the "One Company" initiative (unification of head office functions and operating subsidiary headquarters) launched in the fourth quarter
• Reform of the F/L cost structure (raw material and personnel costs) through DX utilization and introduction of new store equipment, together with productivity improvement through redesign of store operations
• Redefinition of the format model and profitability improvement through rollout to existing stores of insights gained from the new model stores of the Beniton format (Iidabashi Higashiguchi and Shinjuku Higashiguchi)
• Improvement in per-customer value added and thorough cost management through menu revisions and mix reviews (with a track record of cost ratio improvement at Icchou Co., Ltd.)
• Promotion of three key strategies under the mid-term management strategy "Future Plan Next": "redesign and transition of the revenue structure model," "redefinition of the format model," and "evolution of the human resources empowerment model"
• Forecast for FY2027 (ending March 2027): net sales of ¥17,500 million and a return to profitability with operating profit of ¥300 million, reflecting the effects of F/L structure improvement and headquarters cost reduction from April 2026 onward

Risks

• Rising cost ratio due to persistently high raw material and logistics costs (cost of sales for FY2026, ending March 2026, was ¥5,892 million, up ¥212 million year on year)
• Structural increase in personnel expenses and deterioration of the hiring environment due to minimum wage hikes and accelerating decline in the working-age population
• Continued consumer thrift-consciousness amid price increases and widening regional disparities in foodservice demand (existing store customer count year on year remained at 98.2%)
• Risk of recording extraordinary losses such as impairment losses and losses on disposal of fixed assets associated with closures and format conversions of unprofitable stores (total extraordinary losses of ¥260 million in FY2026, ending March 2026)
• Net assets per share of common stock remain negative (△¥96.56), reflecting continued fragility in the financial base
• Long-term borrowings due within one year surged to ¥1,627 million (from ¥305 million in the prior year), increasing short-term liquidity risk
• Cumulative dividend provisions on Class C, D, and E preferred shares are expected to create an obligation to pay preferred dividends in FY2027 (ending March 2027) (Class C: ¥170,000/share, Class D: ¥60,000/share, Class E: ¥44,794.52/share)
• The impact on the financial statements from the application of the new lease accounting standard (ASBJ Statement No. 34) in FY2028 (ending March 2028) remains undetermined at this time