SHOKUBUN CO., LTD.

Business Details

Operates a food retail business delivering dinner ingredients and related items to general households in Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, and Osaka. The company employs a unique home-delivery system in which delivery staff also serve as sales personnel, integrating delivery and sales. In addition to its core menu products (approximately 91.7% of net sales), the company sells special-sale items. In October 2025, the company absorbed and merged its consolidated subsidiary Shokubunka Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., transitioning to a non-consolidated, standalone basis. The company has also implemented cashless payment settlement, freeing up delivery staff to focus on new customer acquisition activities.

Recent Overview

Despite a slight decline in sales, operating profit rose 57% year on year and net loss narrowed by half, indicating ongoing profitability improvement

In FY2026 (ending March 2026), net sales were ¥6,008 million (down 0.8% year on year), reflecting a slight decline as customer numbers failed to recover; however, improvement in the cost of sales ratio (from 62.7% to 61.6%) and greater efficiency in selling, general and administrative expenses led to an improvement in operating profit to ¥29 million (up 57.2% year on year) and ordinary profit to ¥17 million (up 181.7% year on year). Net loss narrowed to ¥32 million, roughly half the ¥66 million loss recorded in the prior period. Extraordinary losses included an impairment loss of ¥28 million and a loss on sale of fixed assets of ¥5 million. In financing activities, the repayment of ¥500 million in short-term borrowings and other factors caused cash balances to decline sharply from ¥1,333 million to ¥474 million. For FY2027 (ending March 2027), the company forecasts net sales of ¥6,140 million, operating profit of ¥43 million, and net income of ¥2 million (a return to profitability).

Key Products

Growth Drivers

• Raising average customer spend through revisions to the ordering system and expanded sales of daily necessities and sundry goods
• Strengthening service development leveraging the last-mile delivery network
• Reallocating delivery staff to new customer acquisition activities through cashless payment adoption
• Continued customer acquisition through promotional measures including the LINE official account, digital investment, and TV commercials
• Integration of operations and administrative cost efficiencies following the absorption merger of Shokubunka Kenkyusho Co., Ltd.
• Efficient execution of selling, general and administrative expenses through staff training and cost-consciousness reform

Risks

• Risk of continued decline in net sales due to lack of recovery in customer numbers (down year on year for two consecutive periods)
• Upward pressure on the cost of sales ratio from rising raw material, packaging material, and fuel costs
• Risk of reduced purchasing due to heightened cost-consciousness among consumers amid rising consumer prices
• Reduced cash balance, down to ¥474 million, following repayment of short-term borrowings, narrowing financial flexibility
• Intensifying competition in the food delivery market (entry and expansion by competitors)
• Risk of economic downturn due to external factors such as US trade policy and Middle East tensions
• Risk of continued recognition of impairment losses (¥28 million recognized in the current period)