Hi everyone, I'm Stephen Dacus. Thank you all for joining us today. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share the status and direction of our business with you over the next few hours. We look forward to sharing with you where our business is today, where we are going and how we will get there. Let me start with where we are today. As you all know, over the last couple of decades there have been some clear macro trends that have driven consumer behavior with regard to food and consumables. One is the clear shift to value that we see all over the world. Consumers are becoming more and more value conscious and those retailers that deliver greater value have been the winners. Over the last several years, this shift has accelerated and is likely to continue to do so, especially as the middle and lower income segments continue to feel greater economic pressure.
Another macro trend that we've been seeing is that consumers are seeking better quality. Food expectations continue to rise. What was considered good before is often no longer. One corollary of this is that the distinction between QSR and convenience stores has blurred significantly as customers expect great quality freshly prepared food everywhere. And then a third really big shift has been customers' expectations with regards to convenience. It used to be that customers considered driving a few blocks or walking down the block to buy whatever they needed as convenient. Today, customers' definition of convenience has changed. Now convenience is being able to get anything you want, whenever you want, delivered to your home in 30 minutes or less.
All of these shifts in consumer behavior represent a huge opportunity. Those retailers that can deliver high quality at a great value anytime, anywhere will be the winners in this new landscape. That is what we intend to do. As we think about the current retail landscape, we have a number of strengths that we can leverage. First, we know how to make quality products as that's what we've built our business on. Today in Japan we sell 20% more per store than our competitors do. Even in the U.S. we sell 10% more per store than our national competitors do. There are many factors that influence that, but quality is certainly one.
Second, we know how to run stores really well. We have our Retailer Initiative system, also known as Tanpin Kanri in Japan, which helps us to ensure that we have the right products in the right amount in the right place at the right time, thereby maximizing sales. We have great field support teams which in combination with our network of really entrepreneurial franchisees, ensures that our customers always come first. But perhaps our greatest advantage may be our unmatched store network of 21,000 stores in Japan and 13,000 stores in North America with more than 30 million customers coming into our stores every day in just those two geographies. In North America we also have a strong QSR base which is with several different brands to choose from. And in both North America and Japan we have new format stores which have proven very successful and which will be rolling out aggressively. The 34,000 stores that we have in North America and Japan represent an incredibly valuable platform to leverage as we think about the future of convenience.
In Japan, over 90% of the population is within 2 kilometers of a 7-Eleven store. That's about 1.2 miles. In North America, over 50% of the population is within 2 miles of a 7-Eleven store. No other food retailer has a network anything like that. It's a significant advantage for our 7NOW delivery products platform. This short last one mile allows us to deliver hot fresh food, milk, eggs, pet food, toilet paper, what have you to your house in 30 minutes or less from the time we receive the order.
This extreme convenience in combination with a really user friendly app and customer focused innovations has helped us to grow the 7-Eleven business to $1 billion this year and low double digit profitability. None of our national competitors have anything like this. We have an opportunity to grab a significant share of the quick commerce market. We will lean into this in both North America and Japan. Leveraging these strengths, we seek to be our customers' first choice for convenience. To do that we'll need to accelerate the pace of our innovation to ensure we stay ahead of our customers' expectations.
We will differentiate ourselves with the quality of our food and the extreme convenience of 7NOW. We will invest in our existing stores to improve our customer's shopping experience and provide new and better food options including QSR. We will expand our store base with our new QSR formats as well as new high performing standard format stores and we will focus on attracting and nurturing global talent to allow us to leverage our strengths globally and become customer's first choice convenience. In more and more geographies.
I've talked about where we are today and where we want to get to next. The team will share with you how we plan to get there. This slide was shared with you previously. It summarizes the key initiatives we are executing to transform our business. We will go through them in a bit more detail than we have previously with both quantitative and qualitative targets. So with that I think I'd like to hand over to Stan Reynolds who will take you through our initiatives in North America.
With that we conclude the opening session. We will move to the next session. Please wait while we prepare. Next is the second session, the explanation by 7-Eleven, Inc. The speaker is 7-Eleven, Inc. President Reynolds. After the presentation during the Q&A, in addition to President Reynolds, COO Rosencrans will also respond to your questions. Mr. Reynolds, the floor is yours.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Stanley Reynolds, President of 7-Eleven, and it's a great pleasure to brief our investors on our business today. As Steve noted, consumer behavior is changing rapidly across the globe and the United States is no exception. Though we are facing headwinds, it represents opportunities for us to redefine convenience in the U.S. market. Providing customers with what they want, when and where they want it, and at a great value and quality is exactly where 7-Eleven can lead.
At SEI, we take pride in three core strengths that we share with our global business: outstanding merchandising, operational excellence, and our unmatched store network. These strengths enable us to be more customer centric, digitally focused, and efficient across our entire value chain. As outlined in The Transformation of 7-Eleven, released on August 6, we are taking concrete actions to lay the foundation for SEI to realize its full potential and serve as a growth engine for the Seven & i Group, which I will cover in this presentation. In the next few minutes, I will share how we are transforming the strategy into action and further strengthening 7-Eleven's leadership in convenience retail.
Let's start with how we are investing in our food strategy. Our restaurant portfolio serves as a key differentiator and provides us another opportunity to deliver value that resonates with customers. With more than 1,000 locations across three brands, we're able to provide customers with craveable fresh hot food options and the benefits are meaningful as stores with restaurants drive 42% more traffic. 34% more average per store day sales and carry an additional 50 basis points of margin as compared to our non-restaurant locations.
We plan to accelerate growth and increase the contribution from restaurants as we add 1,100 new restaurants by 2030 and we have room to grow on a same store basis as we leverage our restaurant footprint to take advantage of delivery and catering options.
Proprietary products are an important part of our future and private brands allow us to deliver high quality differentiated products and value to our customer while producing better margin and enhancing the 7-Eleven brand. The margins on our private brands in North America are over 18 percentage points higher than national brands which equivalent or better quality. We have already launched 162 new items through Q3 and we'll continue to add new categories as we continue to deliver high quality and value to our customers.
Over the next few years, we expect private brands to grow from $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion by 2030. In addition to the long-term growth outlook, we are seeing strong momentum today. Our private brand APSD sales is growing by over 7% year over year, reflecting strong customer response to value-focused offerings.
While penetration remains relatively low compared to SEJ, we see significant runway and are strengthening our PB team and external partnerships to broaden our category reach, driving both customer loyalty and margin improvement.
Our customers have said that they want larger format mod ern food forward stores including restaurants in many cases with an expanded product assortment and frictionless shopping experiences and a meaningful fuel offering, and they expect a easily navigable large lot with ample parking and we know this to be true. Traffic at our new standard stores outperform our existing stores by 27%. With sales per store expected to be 45% higher at maturity.
We are accelerating the pace of our rollout in the U.S., we plan to grow an additional 1300 stores over the next five years with an estimated EBITDA impact of $400 million. The focus of our new store pipeline growth is on these new standard stores. Given the amount of white space in North America, we believe there's an opportunity to accelerate even more over time.
7NOW our delivery platform provides quality food and immediate consumables to our customers. With an industry leading average delivery time of 28 minutes, our physical stores create 13,000 distribution points. With greater than 50% of the population living within 2 miles of a store giving us a competitive advantage. The delivery business continues to deliver strong results with an increase of 21.3% in same store sales for Q2 '25. With an average basket size of over $15, the business is profitable with a healthy operating margin of 12%.
The 7NOW network has expanded to cover substantially all of our operating footprint. Today we plan for continued expansion with a goal to reach 8,500 delivery stores by 2030. The additional coverage will help us load balance as sales volumes grow so that we can maintain our strong service levels and we'll extend our delivery radius as we expand into new trade areas over time.
We remain focused on cost discipline in this inflationary environment. We've been successful at driving efficiencies across the expense base while investing back in the business. For the first half of 2025, our SG&A expenses were $75 million below prior year, a 1.6% reduction. Our plan for 2030 is to continue to sustain our cost leadership by managing business such that our gross profit growth rate exceeds the growth rate in SG&A which will lead to improved profitability and operating margins.
SEI is the largest fuel retailer in the U.S. because of our scale. We have an opportunity to build best-in-class vertical integration capabilities to improve the margin profile of our fuel business. We will do this by strategically moving up the fuel supply chain, leveraging our size and scale and optimizing movement of fuels through the system to reduce cost, gaining access to logistics infrastructure, opportunistically supplying fuel to other customers, arbitraging sources of supply to reduce cost while continuously optimizing our own network. We have made progress towards our goal by hiring an industry expert Senior Vice President, initiating scoping and development of the Energy Trading and Risk Management Platform, and evaluating current supply portfolio and partnerships.
We will continue this momentum through 2028 by continuing to grow organizational capabilities. Ultimately, our goal is to add $400 million in annual EBITDA by 2030. It may not be a linear progress year to year, but we are very confident in the scale of this opportunity. As we have shared earlier, our goal is to achieve key operational KPIs by 2030 to maximize growth. We plan to add 1,100 restaurants and 1,300 new stores to our expanding store network.
We plan to continue the growth of 7NOW by adding 200 stores per year, reaching $1.25 billion in delivery sales. We're focused on maintaining financial and operational discipline and building on success from recent cost reduction efforts. In addition, we're focused on continuing to expand and enhance our private brand portfolio, growing sales at a 6.5% CAGR. Finally, through pursuit of vertical integration opportunities, we expect to achieve $400 million annual EBITDA uplift in our fuel business by 2030. We are confident that our focus on disciplined execution with speed and accountability will deliver sustainable, profitable growth in the evolving U.S. market. Thank you.
Like to take questions? The answer will be provided by Mr. Reynolds, the President, and also Mr. Rosencrans, COO. Those who have questions, please use the raise hand button on the screen below. We will call your name amongst those who have asked questions. If your name is called, the Secretariat will ask you to be unmuted, so please unmute yourself before speaking.
If you are in Japanese language, please use the Japanese language in asking questions, and if you are in English channel, please use English for questions. If you are in the original language, then you can ask either in English and Japanese. Please mention your affiliation and name before you ask your questions. We have many participants today, so we will limit questions to two per person.
Due to time restrictions, we may not be able to take all questions. I ask for your understanding. Now in this session we will accept questions only for 7-Eleven, Inc. and to make the answers more accurate, we would like to have consecutive interpretation. If your question tends to be long, then please pause in between, then we'd like to take questions. B of A Securities. Mr. Nishizawa.
Thank you very much. This is Eiichi Nishizawa from Bank of America Securities. I would like to ask a question about the page 8 gasoline fuel business, and I'll split it into part one, which is about regarding the numbers-wise. You mentioned that the $400 million might not be linear, but you said that 2025, you probably want $50 million. But how are you looking to build this $400 million? Is it like every year, $50 million or so? Or what kind of image do you have? And also regarding the numbers, why you're showing the range for each category. How do you what does this range mean? Because you just simply add it up. The low range is 200ish and the high range is about 460. So if you could help us. Understand the numbers behind it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you very much for your question. You know, our focus with fuel is really on building the capabilities that we need to take full advantage of this vertical integration opportunity. We've noted some of the areas where we'll be focusing on page eight at the presentation. And you know, we expect benefits as we've noted in each of those four pillars. So what I meant by nonlinear is that we're going to have to build these capabilities and some of which we have and some of these things we do today. But we will continue to build both our organization.
Our platform that we talked about in terms of systems. So that will take some time to develop. And I think the scope of the opportunity will increase over time, over the course of a five-year time frame. We feel very good about the $400 million target and that's what we've, we've noted. But my point with saying nonlinear is it's not a, it's not an even increase year to year. The fuel business is volatile by nature. Volatility is actually good for profitability in the fuel business. So it'll take us some time to build out all these capabilities and take full advantage of the opportunities we've kind of laid out on this page.
Also, if you could add about the range of what, what it means for each category, that'll be great.
The range is simply an assessment as we sit today of what the five-year opportunity is. I would say, you know, it's a. As we build out these capabilities and as we fill out our organization, you know, we'll be able to fine tune this a bit more. So part of it is we're early in the journey on building the fuel integration business. And then also the range reflects the fact that fuel, even in a fully developed business, is volatile. You have big years. 2022 is a great example in our industry where margins and kind of opportunities within fuel are very, very strong. Other years, not so much where you don't have that level of volatility. So by nature this business is a bit volatile and you have to look at it on an overall kind of growth basis and look at kind of the range of opportunities. I think $400 million is a very achievable target by 2030. And you know, each of these four pillars will contribute towards achieving that $400 million. Exactly.
Which one in a given year is going to be at the high end of the range versus the low end of the range is going to depend on market dynamics for that year. But once again, we're very comfortable with the opportunity. We sell a lot of fuel more than anyone in the U.S. and everything in between the fuel leaving the refinery gate to the inventory being placed in the tanks at our store is in game for us from an opportunity perspective. So it's a big landscape. We got a big business and we're very confident in the number we've articulated.
Thank you very much. My second question will be more focused on the expanding trading to the optimized supply because this is the biggest portion you expect. How? What were you not able to do before and what are you able to do in the next five years? Especially, you mentioned about hiring an external person or about the platform business. If you could explain a bit further in this category. Thank you.
Good morning, this is Doug Rosencrans with 7-Eleven. Thank you for your question. When we think about opportunistic trading, the first thing to recall is that we're talking about physical barrels of product and a couple of areas where we see opportunities. One, in expanding the sale of unbranded product to other retailers. Given our size and scale, we see that as a chance to bring more product to the marketplace. And then there are other considerations in terms of how we source product, where we source product, as well as the delivery mode for taking in that product at our various distribution points.
So you combine all of those things together and there are opportunities day to day, month to month, within a very efficient, but also ever changing system across the U.S., so we see significant opportunity there. But again the important thing to recall is that this is all being done with physical products.
How was external hire help in this building number?
This is Doug. Again, great question. So Dan Gordon is a significant. addition to our company and while we always look to develop internal talent, sometimes we need to accelerate as we are doing with this transformation. Dan's a well-known industry expert, years of experience across multiple entities including Colonial Pipeline and so bringing in his knowledge and know-how in regards to managing systems building capabilities, making contact with potentially new customers. He's an important addition to the leadership that will help us to accelerate on our path to $400 million.
Thank you very much, and thank you for adding more color on the fuel business. Thank you.
Next, Mr. Kazahaya from UBS Securities.
I am Kazahaya of UBS Securities. Thank you very much for providing us with the breakdown of $400 million. I have two questions today. First of all, you have presented your five-year growth strategy and is this not possible to be achieved without the IPO of SEI? That is my first question. My second question is how SEI perceives the significance of IPO. If IPO is being done then in what areas or fields would you like to allocate the funds, the fund being raised by IPO? That is my second question.
Kazahaya-san, thank you for your question.
Thank you very much.
With respect to the five-year plan, yeah, I think in our five-year plan we can and we will execute whether we were in an IPO environment or without an IPO. We throw off a lot of free cash flow and can fund the development needed to hit the 2030 plan without IPO proceeds. In terms of our focus in the U.S. with our operating teams, we're focused on executing the plan we've laid out and we have the resources and team to do that. With respect to allocation of the IPO funding, I'm going to leave that to Mr. Dacus and Maruyama to perhaps talk about during their session.
Thank you very much for your answer. I'm very relieved to hear that the five year plan, the growth plan can be achieved without an IPO and I'm looking forward to hearing from Mr. Dacus and Mr. Maruyama. Regarding my second question.
Next is Goldman Sachs' Kawano-san, hello.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Oh hi Stan. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I have a t wo questions considering I think overly I've been talking about, you know, the why ROIC for Seven & i Inc. has been low compared with others due to the difference in gasoline and also the m ultiple mergers that you have done, which impacts the balance sheet. But could you remind us of w hy there is divergence with others and how you plan to narrow that divergence?
Number two would be that, you know, this. I think this talks about vertically integrating the gasoline business has come out in August, and I heard that there were discussions before that on the inside that you wanted to do it. But I don't know with the talks with the headquarters or whatever, it didn't pass through. And now is the timing. Are there areas that you see that a re on the plate that could come out as like this type of new initiatives coming out? Because $400 million is a pretty big one.
Kawano-san, thank you for your question. Your first question was about ROIC. In terms of the differential versus some of our peers. I just want to quickly hit on two factors and really want to talk about what we're doing to c orrect that delta. But the two things that kind of structurally drive some of the difference today are first, which we've talked about the relative penetration of fuel in our network. We have fuel in 63% of our sites. Our public C-store peers have fuel basically at all sites, 93%, I think, on average. Real estate ownership: We own 36% of our real estate. I think our peers own about 52% of the real estate. Structurally, that creates some differences in ROIC, particularly given the dynamics we've seen in the industry over the last few years where fuel margins and fuel profitability have offset rising operating cost.
What I'm more focused on though, is what we're doing to narrow that gap and improve our ROIC. It's really both around getting more efficient as a business and driving more value from our network. I'll stop for a second and allow translation. So first talking about cost, you know, we disclosed in the presentation today our plan over five years is to grow GP dollars about 2.6% CAGR while holding SG&A growth to 0.6%. So basically 2% spread.
You know, our costs 2024 were down over 2023. Our costs through the first six months of this year are down year over year. So we're doing a lot to focus on taking costs out. And we're taking these costs out despite the fact that we are investing back in the business, growing new stores, growing restaurants, investing in our digital business, our 7NOW business. So we are continuing that focus, looking at really every dollar we spend from store operating expenses.
G&A and just their headquarters cost, occupancy cost, doing a lot to take cost out of the four walls of the store. Everything from the maintenance of the store, the equipment package, our value chain and getting products to the store everywhere possible. We're looking to take cost out in a smart way. So that's first focus. Second focus is around all the growth which we've talked about, adding 1,300 new stores. And these new stores are resonating great with customers, driving high sales and good return. We're looking at adding 1,100 restaurants. The restaurants really transform the store experience significantly, more traffic, and I think it's really resonating extremely well with customers. And then the 7NOW business, it grew over 20% in the second quarter. Continuing to grow that business as well.
Yeah, t he third part I would mention in terms of the ROIC improvement strategy is really around improving our margins. We have such an opportunity. We are so underpenetrated in private brands in the US versus Japan. You know, it's only about 6% of our business. It's growing 7% clip, you know, thus far this year. But we have so much runway to expand the private brand business. You think about that being 1,800 basis points higher margin. There's an enormous opportunity if we can significantly grow the PB business. We're investing in the team and the capabilities to do that. We also part of our transformation is really focused around the way we do pricing and the opportunities to increase, you know, our offers to be much more personalized, we think and more regional in our pricing as well.
Growth, margin, expansion, cost reduction, and trying to do that in the most capital efficient way possible and really scrutinizing every project from a return on capital perspective through all of those measures. Our goal is to get above 10% on an ROIC basis by 2030. I think we have a strong plan to do it and team's committed to accomplishing that.
Kawano-san, this is Doug Rosencrans, g ood morning. On your follow up question regarding fuel and other potential ideas going forward, I'll take us back to Steve's opening comments around the shifting global landscape, changes with customers, changes in the macro economy. We have a very clear plan and very clear communication between SEI and Seven & i. We have alignment and enablement and you see that in the goals that we've set out. The KPIs moving towards 2030, 1,100 restaurants, 1,300 new stores, expanding delivery to grow to $1.25 billion. Managing our costs in a very disciplined manner while growing gross profit, private brand sales growth at a CAGR of 6.5% and then the fuel opportunity that we've also discussed.
All of these things coming together really to transform, to meet the customer's ever-changing needs and to bring value back to Seven & i and to shareholders. So all these things combined are the result of conversations of where we are and where we must go, and with that open dialogue, we'll continue to evaluate new opportunities as we move forward.
Thank you. Thank you for your thorough explanation.
Next, Mr. Shigeoka from Daiwa Securities.
Thank you very much. This is Shigeoka and thank you for your explanation. I have two questions. My first question is regarding the change in the organization under the leadership of Mr. Dacus. I hear that there is more communication between Holdings and SEI.
With regards to SEJ, I do have an opportunity to hear more about the changes in the organization of SEJ from Mr. Akutsu. So I do have a pretty good understanding regarding the organizational changes of SEJ. However, when it comes to the organizational change in SEI, personally I do not have a full understanding how things have changed. What I would like to know is after the changes in organization, how has the mindset of SEI, you yourself, as well as the mindset of or the awareness of the management level and also the employees at all levels changed.
Thank you for your question. I think the change with the management team and change with communication has been very positive for SEI. We're talking very frequently with the Holdings management team. Frequent trips, both, you know, visits for Doug and myself and others to come to Japan, the HD team coming to Dallas. We have a formal monthly business review to review kind of the whole business. We do that once a month, but more kind of informal communications throughout the course of the month. Just checking in, you know, everything from sales on a daily basis to how the business is trending, all the key discussions about all the key growth levers of the business. So I'd say the communication, both in terms of frequency, depth, and just, you know, openness to communication has been really, really strong.
It's, it's really, I think, working very well. I think there's a real sense of us being one team globally. I think also the focus on the common areas that are key to our global business, whether they're in the U.S., Japan, Australia, etc. We're really honing in on that and I think that's going to drive a lot of synergies.
One thing I would add to that, you know. I talked about there is more communication and I think deeper communication. But at the same time, I think once we are aligned on a strategy as a global team, whether it's private brand growth or opening our new standard stores or the fuel integration, the team locally in the U.S. is empowered to go get it done. We have the resources, the authority to make the decisions and take the actions needed to bring the strategies to fruition. So it's a good balance of good communication and deep discussion. But once we're aligned, we're empowered to go execute in our business.
With that, we will conclude the session and we will now start the next session. Please wait as we prepare. Next, the explanation by 7-Eleven Japan will start. 7-Eleven Japan President and Representative Director Tomohiro Akutsu will be the speaker. After the presentation, a Q&A. The questions will also be answered by Mr. Akutsu, Akutsu-san, over to you.
Good morning everyone. I'm Akutsu from 7-Eleven Japan. It is a great pleasure to update our investors today on the current state of our business. First, t he path toward 7-Eleven Japan's transformation. 7-Eleven Japan has grown. As an innovator in Japan's retail industry. The environment surrounding 7-Eleven Japan is changing at a pace far beyond expectations. I understand that many of you may have concerns or questions, uncertainties about our future growth. However I firmly believe that 7-Eleven Japan still has significant room to grow.
Since assuming the role of President in May. It's been six months and during this period I have been working closely with our new management team in order to envision the future of 7-Eleven Japan. I have also visited stores across the country, listening. Carefully to the voices of over 200 franchise owners and many of our employees. Through these conversations I have gained a renewed appreciation for both the challenges we face and the strengths that define us. Our product development capabilities, operational excellence, and robust store network. Today, I'd like to share how we are responding to these realities and what kind of future we aim to build. I will walk you through the direction of our transformation and the challenges we are taking on.
On the next page, I would like to talk about the engagement strategy with our customers or our communication measures. If we look back at the past several years as society has changed, the public perception of 7-Eleven has tended to be less favorable. I felt it was time to revisit the origin of our brand. As a starting point, we revamped our TV commercial.
Of course everything will not change just with TV commercial. But once again, what kind of value should we provide and we need to question what is the existence of our company? And in the ad in the commercial, actress Yuki Amami plays a franchise owner who says, "My dream is to make the people of this town happy through this convenience store. This is our declaration to employees, franchisees and customers, a reaffirmation of what 7-Eleven stands for. In addition, w e also introduced a new catchphrase, "What's in store at 7-Eleven?" It reflects the idea that there's always something new to discover at our stores.
This CM h as o ut of the 3,000 TV commercials in Japan, we were evaluated as the second best commercial, meaning that is favorably accepted by customers. Until now, our marketing was led by three divisions, Operations, Merchandising, and Marketing. In September, we added a Communications division, creating a four division structure for better collaboration. In addition, we have shifted from a somewhat inward looking organization by incorporating fresh external insights, building a collaborative marketing structure where our headquarters staff work hand in hand with external experts to drive new initiatives. With advice from this creative and distinctive team, we are now executing marketing ourselves, making it more engaging and fun.
For mainly younger audiences. Especially, we are expanding communication beyond TV commercials, using social media to share the appeal of 7-Eleven and strengthen customer engagement. Even now, this week, Seven Café's story h as been distributed at SNS Video. I think many of you have seen this, but this is very popular nowadays. The Communication division and external marketer creators have contributed largely. Without their help, we were not able to realize this. Going forward, we would like to focus on communication with customers to make it more firm.
Next, I would like to share how we are refining our merchandising strategy to focus not only on taste, but also on novelty and visual appeal. While we have traditionally offered standardized products across our 21,000 stores. We have remained committed to creating new items even if they are limited in quantity or available only in certain regions. 21,000, so t he raw material, procurement and productivity there have been a lot of challenges. However, as a result. Over the past several years, we have been making similar products year after year and.
We have shifted our mindset to t hink out of the box. As part of this shift towards freshness and visual impact, we launched a new Aimori Rice Ball in September. Boosted by the impact of our TV commercial, sales in the rice ball category improved by 116% year on year with double-digit growth across the entire rice-based category. This was the largest growth among all product categories. In October, even in the new month, we introduced the.
By having this new category t he momentum is not lost, and in October we introduced the Yosooi-Gae Men, a concept to refresh how we present our noodle offerings. The category is now on track to achieve year on year growth for the first time in 25 months. Because our performance have been staggering in the past 24 months, the categories we have focused on are clearly showing results in numbers and we are feeling confident about the impact. For November.
We plan to strengthen our counter items such as hand-roasted coffee and fried foods supported by targeted TV commercials as well as SNS. So we will continue expanding these initiatives across more categories. What's in store at 7-Eleven? We hope you will look forward to what's coming next. Another key initiative is the expansion of our Just Made merchandise which continues to deliver fresh value to our customers. Our Seven Café Bakery offerings including freshly baked bread and pastries have been rolled out to approximately 4,000 stores as of the end of October.
On all store basis these stores have seen a plus 0.2% uplift in daily sales on a total store basis. Along with a 0.1% improvement in gross profit margin. We plan to expand 7 Café Bakery to 8,000 stores this fiscal year and up to 18,000 stores next year. In addition. As for Seven Café Tea that have been growing from October, this is also contributing to gross margin. The Seven Café Tea. Is to be planned to be expanded to 2,000 stores this fiscal year and 8,000 stores next year. As for some n ew items such as freshly made noodles and soft serve ice cream. We are testing them in select stores and customer feedback has been very positive.
We see these not as one-off initiatives but as offerings with the potential to transform our store-level profitability, and going forward we would like to continue actively testing new ideas to deliver customer experiences combining freshness, great taste, and innovation tailored to evolving customer needs. Next is about store expansion strategy. We believe that there is still room for further store expansion.
Our 7-Eleven stores we consistently achieve high APSD compared to industry standards and we will continue to leverage this trend to drive both store growth and new openings. Until now our expansion was primarily based on a single format model with a standard store size of approximately 190 square meters. Given the evolving time to changing location dynamics, a variety of store formats are going to be required. For example, we are testing the rollout of compact stores in urban areas and as well as end the rural and the depopulation regions. Prefabricated units using a modular construction already started and yesterday we made a press release at Fukuoka Prefecture in Yame we had a new store opening with the local authority in a low cost method we have opened a low cost store. This Yame model is also being there.
We're receiving a lot of inquiries from other municipalities as well. Also the satellite stores including the labor saving formats are also being expanded. And, per year, the net increase of 200 stores, which has constantly been achieved. We believe that opening 1,000 new stores by 2030 is fully achievable. This expansion is expected to generate an impact of $35 billion in gross operating profits and additionally. Next slide please. Also, by promoting the multi-store operation, we believe that further store opening is possible at 7-Eleven. Due to the high profitability of each individual store, many franchisees continue to operate single stores, and 65% of the single-store operators are exceptional in operational excellence, and there are owners who possess a strong desire to contribute to the local communities.
We are committed to supporting these franchisees and expanding the multi-store operation. When operating and opening a new store, consideration for existing stores has become increasingly. Important and it has become even more s ince these years with the multi-store. Operation even with some overlapping trade areas provided that enhances the franchise's overall profitability. We believe that it is possible even with overlapping trade areas. Also this will also curb the opening of our competitors with a net growth in store count. Also.
This will not just benefit t he franchisees, but also the community, customers a nd also business partners headquarters alike. To facilitate multi-store management, we are exploring the introduction of a new. More flexible and owner friendly franchisee agreement. With a goal of launching it within fiscal year 2027. By simultaneously improving franchisee profitability and encouraging new franchise participation, we aim to update our franchise model to support sustainable medium to long term growth.
Next is another initiative that will support our future growth. 7NOW excluding certain areas where delivery. Is not yet available. We have expanded 7NOW nationwide during this fiscal year. Compared to the same period last year, sales has more than doubled demonstrating steady and significant growth. Although there are some challenges, we are committed to address all of them to achieve further growth. What will change is the usability and a lso adapting to the evolving customer lifestyles.
These are the remaining challenges i n Japan, the habit of ordering everyday food items via mobile phones has not yet to become fully embedded in society. We believe that we need to really b e embedded into the daily life. The 7NOW and improving usability at t he time of ordering. In order to lower the barrier. No p re-registration or prior membership signing will be required. And also the 7NOW ordering functionality is now integrated into the 7-Eleven app. Also, to further embed the habit of ordering food online in daily life, we are adding a mobile order feature to.
The 7NOW app so that you can p ick up freshly prepared items at a nearby convenience store. We are going to make that option possible by enabling customer select between delivery and in-store pickup depending on their lifestyle needs. We aim to offer a new kind of shopping experience and it is designed that it can happen in the same app. So we are hoping that the ordering everyday meals via mobile phone is going to be expanded and we are moving forward with this rollout and we are.
Now in preparation for a spring launch next year. Next is about the comprehensive transformation program and I would like to talk about the cost control that will enable the next growth. We have launched a diagnostic initiative in July 2025 to support the revitalization of 7-Eleven and we are currently identifying the key areas for transformation and cost control. To enable sustainable growth investments w e recognize that controlling SG&A cost is essential.
Improvement areas in SG&A costs include headquarters-related rent, maintenance, store operations such as utilities, marketing-related c osts such as payment processing fees. The resources generated through these cost reductions. Will be reinvested into initiatives that support f ranchise growth such as enhanced promotions and a lso, store renovations, labor-saving equipment, and workforce support. And through these reinvestments it will ultimately drive the top-line growth.
We aim to refine and polish the t ransformation plan within the fiscal year and s hare the full details by next spring. However, for initiatives that are immediately a ctionable, we will proceed without delay to generate tangible results. And finally, t he initiatives that I've explained for the full implementation and to achieve the 2030 KPI. We are very much committed to the relationship with our customers, with the franchisees and the business partners. We are going to improve the profitability and with the entire value chain we are going to maximize the value. And also back to the principles and inheriting the DNA and with the trial and error and the learnings we are going to take on the challenges what is now in 7-Eleven. And also we hope that you have high expectations to the change of 7-Eleven. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much, w e will now like to take questions. Those who have questions, p lease use the raise hand button down below. First mention your affiliation and name. We would like to limit questions up to two per person. Questions please, Mizuho Securities, Mr. Takahashi.
This is Takahashi of Mizuho Securities. Thank you very much for your explanation. I have two questions. Number one. I asked the same question the first half results. Stores are changing and CM is changing, and I think I'm able to witness varied changes as one consumer, but the difficulty in franchise business exists if we go around 7-Eleven stores. It's not necessarily that everything is complete or these initiatives are thoroughly implemented, especially new products on the counter. To be honest with you, I do not have much opportunity to buy these. Many stores do not have them yet. So it may still take some time to have all these new products in stores. Now, on top of that, I have a question. You're seeing good results to accelerate the penetration to all stores. And also we focus on monthly same store results or improvement in gross margin.
So how much time do you think it will take to have all these initiatives penetrate throughout all the stores? Or what kind of activities are you conducting in order to accelerate these movements? I would like to ask that question once again. So that's my first question.
Mr. Takahashi from Mizuho Securities, thank you for your question. As for the transformation applied to stores, I think your point was that there are still challenges in actual stores. In franchise stores, I do not necessarily introduce them all, as you have rightly mentioned. I believe that there are still challenges in operations and what we are promoting, whether it is fully communicated to customers or regional customers. There is still a lot to be improved.
If I may touch upon what we are working on right now. We have zone conference. Over the past two months, I have been conducting that type of conference. Our operational system is divided into 20 zones nationwide. And I am visiting all the 20 zones. I have all the owners in the zone gather, and I directly communicate with them, giving direct messages to them.
The transformation of 7-Eleven and growth and challenges. Once I talk about them, many franchise owners give very positive feedback. That's my true feeling. So. In order for the image of the stores to change, the awareness of the owners or the changes in the owner's behavior will be necessary. In order for their motivation to be increased and they need to change and improve their morale. Therefore, u nless this is fully reached to all owners, I would like to visit all zones and give direct messages. Another thing, what is important is the success experience need to be felt in each of the fields. The growth in the Onigiri rice ball in September and the improvement in noodles will be reflected in numbers. Franchise owners need to feel that what we are promoting right now is being consumed at the fields and so that they will be changing their awareness that they have to change. That is the change that I am expecting and what I have discussed today as 7-Eleven to make people in the community happy.
Owners are that kind of presence, and the presence of the owners should be backed by U.S. Headquarters. I wanted to reaffirm this once again. The owners are doing very good jobs to make the community happy, so we need to motivate them. So through zone conference and success periods, we are trying to accelerate this movement and we would like to start that from scratch. As for the operation headquarters work, we are checking stores. This is the basics of the basics to, from the consumer's perspective, talk about what kind of challenges each individual stores are having. And we also hire counselors for that. And in order for the owner's behavior to change, DX tools iPad is being used. A sales support system is being introduced within the operation. So if you go to stores and have a customer's eye, hopefully you will feel that the operation of the stores have also changed. Thank you for your question.
My second question related to cost reduction. There are some marketing initiatives and a lso, support to the franchisees. I understand that there is going to be support and investment, and I am going to refer to a competitor Q2 results. What was most surprising is that Lawson in the second quarter JPY 11 billion increase in marketing costs. That's. It is quite a gigantic amount of budget which is resulting in the performance. So it is a balance of investment and return. I am not requesting that the same happen to 7-Eleven, but I did want to mention that in the past you were very profitable. Also, when we think about the absolute amount of the marketing expense, it was far exceeding the two other competitors. But recently I do feel that in recent years you.
Well, b ecause they became not a public company, you are a little bit behind. Of course you need to make profit, but the marketing initiatives can you be more proactive, aggressive or to be more efficient? What would be the possible means, and could you elaborate on that?
Thank you for the question. I am not in a position to speak of other competitors, so I would like to explain our own initiatives. What I explained today about the rent, maintenance expenses, energy cost. There are various costs that we are facing in an increase. With the marketing spend, although it is an important spend, as we are trying to control the entire cost, it is not that only that the marketing expenses could be increased.
While we are controlling the overall so part of the SG&A cost, we believe that it is should be also curbed as well. Personally, I do believe that there is a way to have more efficient marketing spend and creating results. Actually what I explained the SG&A cost reduction and also where there is areas we have identified to further reduce SG&A cost, although there are areas that will be reduced, there are going to be expenses efficiently that will be allocated for marketing and also promotion. That is what we want to start.
Another pillar of our revenue is retail media, retail data. That is also, as we have announced, that is going to be one new pillar of revenue. Once it has grown, the generated profits can be used as sources for new marketing and new promotional initiatives. That will be the new way, the new means and sources to support the franchise owners. First is increasing the marketing spend, the entire pie. But also what kind of promotional initiatives are going to be the most effective? We do have to scrutinize that. Since I've assumed the position, we have had the Onigiri rice ball super sale and also the premium brand 15% discounts. Also the revamp of the commercial TV commercials and also the usage of social media. All of these, w e are, w e have identified that we need to create an impact that really resonates to our customers. So instead of having small sized m arketing we do need to have an impactful initiative, and also together with the digital we are going to talk and come up with a comprehensive marketing initiative. That is the response to your question.
Thank you very much.
Next, Okasan Securities Kanamori-san, please.
This is Kanamori, Okasan. Net increase of the SG&A below 12% as a cost control. If that is implemented, 20-30 SEJ's EBITDA level or operating profit. How much are you aiming at? I wanted to confirm what you have in mind. The level of EBITDA and operating profit when this is executed.
Thank you for your question. The KPI numbers of 2030 EBITDA level JPY 400 billion is what we are aiming at b y increasing stores. That's one thing. And also growth in same store revenue and controlling SG&A, all in all, comprehensively. By achieving all these, 400 billion EBITDA is what we'd like to achieve. That concludes my answer. Thank you.
From this term towards next year, I think you are taking a lot of countermeasures or initiatives. This is my second question, by the way, and the market is expecting you to recover your business performance. But I do have some anxieties. When it comes to the evaluation. This is related to the evaluation Seven & i Holdings. So I don't know who I should direct this question but SEJ Japan's convenience stores in a medium term. 7-Eleven, Inc. Well, excuse me, 7-Eleven Japan will be compared with the 7-Eleven, Inc. after IPO because the convenience store market in Japan compared to the North American market. When it comes to M&A, of course you said that you have more room to increase stores. But compared to 1980s and 90s, it's very difficult to understand that you'll be enjoying high growth. Meaning that relatively the North American growth is much higher than if the market believes so. If that is the case, then when Seven & i does an IPO, why is it parent-child IPO or listing.
Are you? Well, so the shareholders, are they going to have stocks of SEI Seven & i Holdings? Because if SEI is growing more, then the shareholders will not feel much value Seven & i Holdings but more in SEI. So as SEJ, how do you perceive this fact as the top of SEJ, how do you perceive this?
Thank you very much. Kanamori-s an. In my position, I think this should be answered by Holdings. If this is your question is directed to the domestic operation in Japan, then I would be answering, but that question should be directed to holdings.
Okay, thank you.
The next question. We would like to take the next question. UBS Securities Kazahaya-san, please.
This is UBS Securities. Kazahaya, thank you for the opportunity. I also would like to ask two questions. First is about the merchandising strategy of merchandise, and next is a store opening. First, about the MD strategy. I think it was a very interesting presentation. The new MD strategy and the vendor strategy. I believe that also needs to be updated. And President Nagamatsu, in the five-year roadmap, the vendor initiatives, the vendor measures. Could you also elaborate about how you're going to work with vendors?
Thank you very much, Kazahaya-san, for the q uestion within the MD strategy. Inclusive of the vendors in the MD strategy, it is also an important essential part in t he short term with the current resource. We need to create something novel and deliver that as a value to o ur customers and beyond that comes with the new organization. The entire supply chain transformation together with the partners is going to be necessary. So far what we have done, we h ave been supported by the new store o penings and our vendors has been very cooperative together with the new organization to achieve growth together. At the moment, as we are facing rise in raw material costs as well as labor cost, the vendors profitability is also being pressured. Against such backdrop, how can we change?
The current system, the current structure, in order to have more efficiency in the logistics and the value chain that is going to be the very core of the transformation. We are now working on diagnostics in order to identify the key challenges and in order to move ahead with this transformation, we want to have a conversation dialogue with the vendors. In the past it was more of a request we were asking our vendors but we would like to engage the vendors in this journey so that for the entire value chain, how can we optimize the overall value chain? We need to have the same understanding mindset. So that is the stage where we are so moving forward it will be in a more scrutinized way and we are sharing the mindset in order to move forward with the transformation. We are already on track in that direction anyway.
In the short term, there is this momentum of the merchandise changing and with the change that is happening at the moment, also the fundamental cost reduction and also the optimal pricing that is affordable to the customers and also that resulting in improved traffic. That is what we are trying to achieve. This is a response.
Thank you very much and I'm looking forward to the future IR Day update. My second question is about the multiple store operation. So, for the multiple store operation, too, if it is successful, where do you find the potential area of store openings? And y ou say 1,000 stores in five years, which does sound ,r ather not that a nd aggressive on a personal level. So I would like to ask the question this way in the long term. So in Japan, what is the new store opening potential? So from your view, what do you believe is visible? What i s your vision of how many stores in the long term? That is my second question.
Thank you for the question. First, about the room for multiple store openings and multiple store operations. At the moment there are many franchise owners with a single store operation. If there is an overlapping trade area, there needed to be consideration. Of course there has been consideration, but it has become even more sensitive nowadays. If there are multiple store operators, franchise owners and if there are overlapping trade areas, what happens is what needs to be necessary. It has to be a residential area with dense population. Those would be the potential areas of multiple store operations.
We are now asking franchisee owners whether they wish to possess multiple stores. Also we are now in the process of selecting the candidate store area nationwide. We will take these candidates w e are making a pool of candidates, and I believe that if once we have the multiple store operation scheme, we will have more multiple store operations. You said that 1,000 may not be aggressive, but once it is established, we could have a more grand target. So I believe that higher than 1,000 store openings is going to be possible, another point. So in the future, what would be the future store opening potential?
About that a t this point from my position I will refrain from saying figure it is going to be even more difficult. For the store openings, I would rather say it is about the store format, the depopulated areas. For example, in this case that we made an announcement in Yame City, the size is about half of ordinary format, 100 sq m. Because of that, it has a low new opening cost. It is not 24 hours operated, no, two times a day delivery for this store. This new type of store format, it becomes more expanded.
I think the number of store count is coming to become meaningless because it's not going to be the same store format with 30,000 or more. It could be a more diverse variety of store formats that we have in openings. In that context we would like to further expand store openings. Thank you. About that, the same question. I have a follow-up question. When you say if this all goes successful the 1,000 stores in five year, you may raise the target of new store opening. Is that what you are applying? And the five years after that you personally hope that it's going to be with diverse variety of store formats, new openings. That is going to be the long-term future plan. Am I right?
As of today, the current pace of new store openings 200 per year and 5-year 5,000. And if there's more room, we are going to upgrade and revise upward. And the next five years we will have to be very prudent in planning. So please keep your expectations high. But I will refrain from saying even a more aggressive or ambitious target which will still be under discussion internally. That will be the response to your question, thank you.
I understand very well, t hank you.
Thank you very much.
BofA Securities, please.
this is Eiichi Nishizawa of B of A Securities. I also have two questions myself. One is about cost, y ou said that you would like to proceed with whatever you can do this year. But after three months, what do you believe can be done within this fiscal year? Operation h as been well controlled. But where? Where do you feel room in cost reduction? In which areas do you think there's further room for cost reduction?
Well, thank you, Nishizawa-san. We are trying to identify which area we can reduce cost right now. I was also the equipment and construction division manager in the past, and I believe a maintenance and service cost could come down. 7-Eleven is enhancing, beefing up, revamping its equipment serving café bakeries, baking machines as well as ovens or it is baking cooled products. So refrigerators are being updated, and smoothie machine and refrigerating facilities are being.
Revamped and they can sometimes go out of order and needs maintenance and repairs. In the past, once we introduced them, we also had them maintained. But we would like to have a structure to make this maintenance and repair more effective and efficient. For example, buildings. Construction companies that does the repair does the building and repair used to be different. However, we will make them together and have a full package of both repair and maintenance as one package. Then, I think this will be effective in reducing cost. We are conducting a pilot test from this year, so the end hopefully we'll be able to deploy this to other areas as well. Maintenance and repair is something that we are working on, and also rent. As the C-type stores increase in 7-Eleven, the rent for buildings and lands are happening increasing.
As we operate stores for long years, we do know locations where APSD. Daily sales is very effective and high. APSD is very high. So we would like to buy land in those locations in order to avoid paying rents. And we believe that that will be conducive in reducing costs. That concludes my answer.
Thank you very much. And my second question is, I have a question regarding franchise owners. You said that you received positive feedback through your conversation with franchise owners. But as you have actual dialogues, specifically what kind of expectations do they raise? If you can share that with us? Sales and profit per store is high compared to your competitors, but franchise profit may be coming down. Therefore. What can be done by the headquarters to improve their profitability? The franchise owner's profitability.
We have 20 zones nationwide and in 18 zones w e have conducted zone conference. We have direct voices being raised as well as requests raised to the headquarters. The largest voice that we hear is from this November, the minimum rent is going up. The personnel cost will also be going up from this autumn. That is the largest concern of owners. As for the raise of labor cost, of course improving top line will be one solution. However w e need to also promote hiring less personnel, l abor-saving efforts. For example, freshly baked products being cooked within the store and being provided at stores to customers. That model. Now the labor-saving largest factor is the self-registration, self-cashier ,c heckout, but these two are rather contradictory, so if we have self checkout and it's difficult to cook inside the store.
However, we are changing the layout of counters and if we promote fresh foods. We are changing the way of operation. At the same time, achieving self checkout. And we are able to identify the way to do that. And in zone conference we are showing through with a video how we do that to owners. And this has been highly evaluated. Some store owners say that they want to do that themselves and they feel the seriousness of the headquarters of introducing self checkout and labor saving without reducing sales is a big challenge. However, this momentum is something that we would like to increase this year, next year so that freshly baked products provision as well as self checkout both can be achieved. So this labor saving and new value creation, these two are the areas that have been favorably accepted mostly by store owners. That's all. Thank you very much.
Thank you, wi th this, we would like to conclude the session and Q&A of 7-Eleven Japan. Thank you for waiting. Now we would like Seven & i Holdings IR Day 2025 Autumn. The next session is 7-Eleven International LLC. The speaker is 7-Eleven International, Director, President and CEO, Mr. Ken Wakabayashi . For the Q& A session, in addition to President Wakabayashi, Director and Chairman Shinji Abe will also respond. Wakabayashi-san, the floor is yours.
Good morning, I am Wakabayashi. Today I will be reporting on the growth strategy of 7-Eleven International. Next slide, please. Under the leadership of Steve, 7-Eleven team h as been concentrating management resources on the CVS business and 7-Eleven International is moving forward with initiatives aimed at entering a new stage of growth for the group. Based on our two strong foundations, Japan and North America, we aim to deliver the values of the 7-Eleven brand, convenience, quality and trust to more customers around the world by working more closely with partners and master franchisees in each country and region.
On the other hand, while leveraging our past achievements and foundations, we intend to pursue market development around the world with a bold, bolder approach than before. Capturing demand as 7-Eleven, we are committed to being more hands on in the growth of businesses in each country and to delivering new value to customers worldwide.
Next slide, please. 7-Eleven was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1927 and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in two years. Today it has over 85,000 stores, making it the largest chain store in the world by number of locations. Moreover, more than 60 million customers visit those 85,000 stores every day. However, the number of markets we have entered is only 19 countries and regions, which is relatively small compared to other global chains. Therefore, we believe there is significant room for growth in the global market.
The limited number of markets is the result of our store opening strategy. If focused on concentrated expansion and market concentration, whether at the national or city level, once we enter a market, our strategy is to concentrate store openings. This strategy has enabled us to achieve logistics efficiency, store support efficiency and improvements in brand strength and recognition, not only in Japan and North America, where we directly invest, but also in many existing markets in Asia where the license model is predominant.
However, in Europe, we currently have only 365 stores in the Nordic region, leaving large areas without a 7-Eleven presence. We hope to pursue concentrated expansion in these areas moving forward e ntering new markets will be one of the key elements in the growth strategy of the 7-Eleven business. And we are significantly changing the model used when entering these new markets. On the left side, we have what was previously called the Master Franchise Agreement, in short, a license model where we granted the rights to operate 7-Eleven in each country to high-quality local companies. Under the license model, it was the local companies, not us, that directly operated the business in each country. So our involvement was indirect.
Supporting growth from behind the scenes. For us, it was certainly efficient and low risk as we did not invest but still received brand royalty income. However, returns were very limited. That is a characteristic of this model and for us who now aim to achieve greater returns, this license model no longer aligns with our strategy. Therefore, t he current model is what you see on the right side, the so-called equity model. That is our strategy model. In other words, when entering new markets going forward, we will, except in special cases, basically invest through acquisitions or joint ventures, meaning involving investment.
By doing so, we will dispatch directors and b ecome directly involved in the management of the companies we invest in. In terms of execution, we will also send senior management and sales experts to the local sites. Together with local members, we will transplant our know-how in a way that fits the local context as one team. Of course, since we will be investing management, resources, money, people and know-how we will be taking risk. We aim to achieve high returns quickly in a way that is completely different from the license model in the past.
Next slide, please. A s I mentioned earlier, Europe, excluding the Nordic region, is currently a white space area for 7-Eleven. As you can see in this map. By executing concentrated store openings through the equity model going forward in Europe, we hope to develop Europe into the fourth major pillar of growth for the group, following Japan, North America and Asia.
Next page please. This slide shows a simplified version of the unique process we use when selecting countries to enter and companies to partner with. As I mentioned earlier, Europe is a whitespace for 7-Eleven, but that does not mean that we are simply going to Europe because of that, just because of that. There are m ore than 170 countries worldwide where 7-Eleven has not yet entered. But by using 30 carefully selected indicators, we eliminate high risk markets and those with low return potential. Narrowing down to 10 top priority markets o f those 10 selected, narrowed down markets, eight, as a matter of fact, are European countries.
This is the basis for our aim to expand i nto Europe. Within these top priority countries, we identify high quality retail companies that possess the capabilities we are looking for. We have selected those companies and we approach them to begin discussions. Negotiations regarding equity investment.
Next page please. So, in order to make Europe the fourth pillar of revenue following Japan, North America and Asia, what exactly should we be doing? As I mentioned earlier, we will be deploying our know-how into new markets. So what kind of know-how will we be deploying? Merchandising, operational excellence, and store network is the three core pillars of our convenience store business. Our strength, and we will thoroughly inject these know-how to strengthen these three key pillars because this is our 7-Eleven's winning formula for improving and enhancing the performance of the companies we invest in. As I will mention later, in Australia, where we carried out our first global acquisition last year, we have already seen promising results by applying the same know-how.
This slide shows the cycle through which we continuously strengthen our know-how in merchandising, operational excellence, and store network. Our winning formula s tarting from the top left, the start of the cycle. Since we will be investing money along with know how going forward, we must continue to strengthen our investment decision making process to incorporate stricter investment criteria and risk mitigation measures across the group.
Secondly, the top right u nlike before when we entrusted management to local partners, under the license model, we will now directly manage operations in each country ourselves, so thorough governance will be essential. Thirdly, the bottom right, as I mentioned earlier, we will be investing money along with know how. But under the equity model, we will also be deploying people on the ground, injecting our know how in the three core pillars of sales more directly and in ways tailored to each local market. And lastly, number four, the bottom left. By executing steps one, two and three of this winning formula cycle I just explained, we aim to achieve high returns and further enhance corporate value. And achieving that will bring full cycle back to the top left leading to the next round of investment execution.
Since we have long operated under the license model globally, the equity model is still a new and developing initiative for us. Therefore, in the center of the cycle we have a listed growth enablers which we recognize as areas that require particular strengthening. Going forward, there are three i n order to deliver returns that meet and exceed the expectations of our shareholders, we recognize the need to further strengthen our investment processes, rules, and criteria. And secondly a s we accelerate investment and dispatch personnel to various countries, we will need to develop a significantly larger pool of global talent than ever before. This applies not only to the personnel that we dispatch, but also to the headquarters functions that manage them. Globalization of these functions is an urgent priority. Furthermore, in expanding our global business, strengthening partnerships and collaboration with external companies will be indispensable. For example, in merchandising we possess the know-how to analyze local food preferences.
Develop products that meet local needs. The process is our know-how, h owever, in Europe for instance, we do not own food production bases or supply chains ourselves physically. Partnerships with good standing local companies that possess these capabilities are essential.
Next slide please. As I mentioned on the previous slide, our winning formula is still new and needs further strengthening. In Australia we are seeing promising results by applying this strategy in line with this cycle. I would like to briefly introduce them to you today. The acquisition of 7-Eleven Australia in April last year was our first acquisition in a global market outside of North America. So it will be very important to test and see whether our winning formula will be applicable globally.
First, the top left. After carefully examining the potential for large returns and risk mitigation measures, we made the decision to invest and acquire in April last year at the holdings. Second, moving to the right. For the 7-Eleven Australia directors, there are Seven & i, SEJ, SEI and 7-Eleven International, a total of five, ensuring thorough corporate governance as a group company. Moving to the bottom, the third. In order to directly apply our know-how, which is a concrete winning formula, to the local market, we have dispatched a total of six people from SEJ, mainly experts in merchandising, operational excellence and store network. In addition to these six people.
The participating members, Mr. Abe as executive chairman, the highest decision maker, has joined the local site to work closely with the local CEO and the senior management team to ensure that our strategies are implemented and verified on a daily basis. As I will note later, the Australian convenience store industry, as you may know, is facing a sharp decline in tobacco sales. Also I've seen the situation in other countries, but it is Australia that is facing the sharpest decline and competitors are seeing the same store sales fall below last year's figures. Yet 7-Eleven Australia has managed to surpass last year's sales figures. This success is not just by chance. There are reasons factors which is driven by significant growth in strategic categories such as fresh food. That is the reason for the growth and that is the reason.
In addition, while store network expansion will take time and also it will be more long-term. It's not that after acquisition last year we are going to gradually and instantly increase direct network, but we are moving beyond a long-standing 700-store plateau that has existed for many years. We are currently accelerating the development of new stores, more than tripling our development staff, and aiming to have o ver 1,000 stores in the future. So both infrastructure and personnel is what we are strengthening. And number four, as shown on the bottom, for the enhanced corporate value shown in the bottom left, is gradually beginning to be realized in Australia. That is the current status. Next slide, please. Also, I will continue with the case of Australia. Merchandising has grown significantly since last year's acquisition, both in fresh food and regular gondola categories.
First, regarding fresh food, top left, we are working on new product development and improving the quality of existing products on a completely different level than before the acquisition. As of September year to date, the two major categories of fresh food which is chilled food and hot food have grown by double digits, 13% and 21% respectively year on year. Also, the number of SKUs per store has also increased from an average of 1,700 items before the acquisition to 2,400 items recently, which means that this is not just some stores, but this is across the board which means that the number of SKUs has increased by an average of 700 items.
Categories with significant increase in number of items are performing extremely well. Packaged beverages and snacks, the two major categories that contribute after fresh food. Both h ave grown 17% double-digit year on year. On the other hand, expanding item count in each store to this extent, it is inevitable that there will be items whose sales will decline over time which needs to be removed from the shelves on a timely manner and continue to introduce new products that is the most important to meet customer needs. That is on the top right. We have introduced the Retailer Initiative or Tanpin Kanri to achieve operational excellence in store operations.
We will, w hile the standard practice is to tailor product based on the needs of customers at each store and change the product lineup daily, this principle was not properly implemented in Australia under the licensing model before the acquisition. After acquiring a store through the equity model, we will station more store management experts locally and initially operate pilot stores in each region, specifically Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth so that local franchise owners and employees can learn about the Retailer Initiative. Retailer Initiative is not enough for headquarters staff to understand the initiative, but having each store employee understand it will increase the thoroughness and drive at the site. We will provide thorough education over repeatedly again striving to ensure that each store can provide the product lineup that customer wants. Next slide please.
To the left. Regarding the store network, please take a look at the upper graph. Before the acquisition, the number of stores remained flat at 700. But after the acquisition we stepped on the gas and now implemented plan to strengthen and accelerate store openings. Also to the right, we are promoting the provision of digital products as to increase customer convenience. App scan and usage rate in stores was 18.5% at the beginning of the year, but recently increased to 25%. And delivery service also is increasing and recently it has grown to account for 8% of sales.
Next please. If you look at the top left bar chart, you can see the decline in cigarettes and tobacco sales over time due to further tightening of regulations. This year, flavored tobacco, menthol, which are no longer available for sale. As a result, the entire tobacco category has decreased by 44% compared to the previous year. Those who are familiar with the convenience store business with a significant change that is tobacco category decrease in 44%. You understand the magnitude. On the other hand, if you look at the line chart on the bottom, you will see while competitors are struggling with the tobacco regulations, 7-Eleven Australia's product has also been able to exceed the previous year's figures. You will be able to confirm that, and to the left, very left, that is June last year, right after the acquisition. At that time, there was no difference between us and competitors.
Since then, we've been directly investing money. People now know how it's working as one team with a local team. As time elapsed, we've been able to create a bigger gap with our performance compared to other competitors. This was not possible with the previous license model. This is possible only with the equity model. We're not just seeing positive results with the equity model, but we are also beginning to see numerical results, and we intend to continue improving and strengthening this equity model as a pillar of growth.
And in addition to sales, bottom right EBITDA also is progressing smoothly as initially planned and we aim to continue growing as planned and final slide. As explained today in Australia, the equity model is beginning to show results and we're not satisfied with the current model and we are committed to continuous improvement. We plan to further accelerate investment in the future. We will invest in companies that meet the expectations of our shareholders and ensure returns that exceed those expectations. We will further strengthen our investment process, rules, standards and also work together with the Holdings. As investments accelerate, we will need many talent to be sent to each country. We urgently to develop executive talent to lead the companies we invest in as well as experts who can improve sales.
At the companies we invest in? In the global market, we do not have infrastructure such as production facilities or supply chains. So rather than doing everything on our own, we plan to strengthen our winning position by strengthening collaboration partners with excellent external companies. That will conclude my presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much, f rom now, we would like to take questions. As for questions, in addition to Mr. Wakabayashi, Chairman and Director Mr. Shinji Abe will also respond. Those who have questions, please use the raise hand button. Please mention your affiliation and name first. We will limit questions up to two per person. Questions please. First, Daiwa Securities. Mr. Shigeoka.
This is Shigeoka, Daiwa Securities. I'm sorry there were trouble in the network earlier. Thank you for appointing me. I have two questions. First, on page six, selection of the priority markets. In terms of developing countries. If you make direct investments, you can expect return. But at the same time there will be risks. Basically, t he weight of the advanced developed nations like Europe, you will target almost more of developed countries. Is that the case? As for the convenience store market in Europe, it's not a mature market. Do you believe that there's still ample room for you to enter into the European market?
Thank you very much. Mr. Shigeoka. As for our priority markets, developing market and developed markets, percentage or ratio? I think w as your question. Weight-wise or price-wise? I think we will have. We are aiming more on into the developed markets, the advanced nations. However, t here are a lot of competitors and regulations differ depending on countries. Therefore, we would like to fully examine s o that we will be able to have partnership in the best with the best partner in the best countries.
The developed nations that have major cities. The reason why we would like to do business there is the 7-Eleven business model from the global perspective. H igh, densely populated, high population major cities where medium incomers are growing. These are the cities that are very attractive for us. And as a matter of fact, those are the countries or cities where 7-Eleven business is very successful. For example, take Tokyo or Manila in the Philippines or Bangkok in Thailand or Taipei in Taiwan, Hong Kong. These cities in the developed countries are our strong business models in those cities that are our strengths. Therefore, we would like to prioritize the major cities in Europe, which are developed countries. Excuse me. Thank you very much.
My second question is about the Asian market. The master franchise contract. As you do so through acquisition, I believe you might want to increase royalty income. But as you change the mechanism of the partner's contract with the partners, I think that will be very difficult. So how do you feel right now? And as for indirect, do you think that direct investment is still possible in the Asian market? If you can update us on how you perceive the Asian market.
Thank you for your wonderful question. As you have rightly pointed out, in Asian markets it's mostly the licensed model that we do business. 7-Eleven International has been founded four years ago, almost four years ago. So we are still a young company. And before that w e were one department of the company. As doing international activities, so we cannot simply compare, but in the past. In Thailand, b efore 7-Eleven International was established, how much people did we send on an annual basis or even on a business trip basis? Well, we were only sending people for around two weeks period just to talk about high-level strategies. So compared to those days, even if it were the same license model in the same country.
The regional director in charge of Thailand, I talked with him and I was asking how many days in a year do you visit the country said 130 days or more, so it's incomparable. Even if we are doing the same license model in Thailand, the support has been much enhanced, and the details of the support, as I may repeat, is about merchandising, operational excellence and store network. The experts of these on a business trip basis are going to the license model areas and together with the local members are having deep discussions to implement the strategy.
Therefore, t he quality and the quantity of our support has increased much more than compared to before. And increasing royalty percentage or changing the structure. These are not simple things. But a s we communicate with licensee partners, what we are saying is. We are the licensor and the partners are licensees, but we are no longer licensor licensee relationship. Let's stop that kind of partnership. In the past we only supported on a very high level, only visiting the location several weeks and receives a small amount of royalty. That kind of transactional relationship is now gone. Let us become strategic partners. Let us work together on this global business.
Grow 7-Eleven business throughout the world. This is what we are saying to franchisees today. I would like to refrain from what that specifically means. But talking about your last question. Is there any direct investment to licensees, the current licensees? Well, what was surprising to me was that ever since 7-Eleven International was founded and as I mentioned in the presentation, the models have largely changed. We changed model from a license model to equity model and we set that to the licensees that will be making direct investment. And then surprisingly, many licensees have responded that they would like to consider that new model. Therefore, o f course, we will mainly be entering into European market as new markets. But in addition to that, we are already discussing with several companies in the existing markets. And as a result, Australia was one success case.
Thank you very much. You are going to strengthen the relationship with licensees and you are also creating a new foundation. A new investment projects. You're seeing more investment projects and that's a new change. Understand? Thank you very much.
We would like to take the next question. Mizuho Securities Takahashi-san.
This is Takahashi from Mizuho. I also have two questions. First, p erhaps maybe I should ask the question to Abe-san. I would like. I also thank for the full explanation of Australia. I can also understand that you are on good track in performance. I would imagine that there must have been a lot of challenges and more.
In a year as you have been dealing and facing the Australian business, what has been on track? And on the other hand, what are you still struggling or what has not been the same as expected? So what were the differences that were different from what was expected? Some are good, better than expected, some are not, so could you elaborate on that? That is my first point.
Thank you, Takahashi-san for the question. I think yes, as you said correctly, Mr. Abe is more fit to answer your question.
Thank you very much for your question. Last year around in August I started being stationed here. So it's now more than 12 months and as I've been in the business, in more than a year it's struggling. The most choke point is the decline i n the tobacco business. The National Tobacco Strategy NTS up to 2030. The Australian government policy is to curb the smoking population to 5%. One package of tobacco will c ost JPY 5,000 which is going to go up every year.
The law revision this year, as Wakabayashi-san said, all of the flavored tobaccos are banned, meaning that 45% of our sales has disappeared. In 2019, before COVID, 43% was the sales ratio. Now it is below 12%, and next year it is going to be less than 10% composition rate. In order to offset this decline, the creation of a new category is what we have been working on the product merchandise development. That speed needs to be faster than the decline in tobacco or else we will be r ecording weaker sales than the previous year.
But, as explained, other competitors, the industry peers, are struggling year on year. There's a decline of merchandise of 10% while we are surpassing the previous year's level. So we believe that is because of a ll the initiative measures that we have taken. So that is on track. And because of our history and our legacy, we have been. There hasn't been the practice of the looking at the items on a daily basis. But today, every day we are seeing a new product lineup.
What we are struggling the most at t he moment is because globally there is. The highest personnel cost and the wage is about AUD 40 per hour. That is more than 4,000 JPY, and that is for the weak hours, day hours and in the night hours it's even could be one times five or double, so how can we curb and control the personnel cost? That also needs to be controlled, then the gross profit grows because if the personnel cost rises higher, it will hurt.
How can we control? If w e raise the price, the customers will not purchase and the more higher gross profit products, for example coffee and other products. By focusing on that, we'll be able to earn higher gross profit than the rising personal cost. That is my response to your question.
Thank you, m y second question. Australia and also in the selection of priority markets, there was a mention about selecting the best partner, for example, retailers. And there were several times a mention of the best retail partner. So what kind of a function, or p erhaps it's not a function, but cultural fit or what kind of elements are you looking into a potential partner selection?
Thank you for the question. Our view in selecting the local partner, the capability we have been listing up the capabilities and the more elements that m atch with the elements among the potential partners we are trying to reach out. So what kind of elements are being listed up? As you mentioned first, cultural fit is what we focus the most emphasize the most as we invest and as we will be working together. It's similar to a marriage w e need to share the same values set. We would wish to see an organization that we share the same values.
Another requirement is a s we target the retailer the existing convenience store, if they have existing small box channel. With a licensing model. Once we sign the master licensing agreement, we start for the first store and after a year the first launch. From scratch it was opening the first store, second store, as you know, the 7-Eleven business. A convenience store with a 50 or 100, it's not good from economy of scale. You need to have the proprietary plan. So 200, 300.
Network will be required. A current existing operator with that size of a store network is what we will target. From day one after acquisition, that the necessary infrastructure would be in place. That is also one of a potential partner. During my presentation, I mentioned actually the capabilities that we lack, for example and Nordic countries and, excuse me, and North America. The food production capability and also merchandise supply chain where a company would have the local footprint. This is a learning from the Australia transaction and project. The local management has to have excellent capability. That has been proven through the experience in Australia. That was a learning for us. In my presentation, it may have seemed that we've sent the people to trigger the success, but that is not true. It was the local management, the local expertise that grasped the local requirements. So the partnership collaboration with them was the key to success. So for the future joint ventures and acquisitions, it will require a strong local management team.
Thank you very much, I understand w ell.
Thank you very much.
With this, the 7-Eleven International's Question Session is over. Next, t his will be the very last session. Please wait for a while until we get prepared. Now this will be the closing session. The Seven & i Holdings Director and Managing Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimichi Maruyama. At the very end of the presentation, CEO Stephen Hayes Dacus will also make some words and after the presentation and the question session, both Mr. Dacus and Mr. Maruyama will be responding. Maruyama-san, over to you.
Thank you, t his is Maruyama. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today and for your kind attention throughout the session. This IR Day marks our first under the pure CVS Group and our newly established management structure. In August, we announced the transformation of 7-Eleven, outlining our growth strategies for each CVS business and the upgrade of our holding company functions to better support future business domains. Setting a clear direction towards 2030 following our interim financial results briefing, we have engaged with shareholders and investors and received valuable feedback including a desire for more concrete plans on how we will achieve our 2030 goals. Requests for further clarification on our capital allocation approach, particularly regarding growth investments and shareholder returns.
In response to these comments from you, today's presentations from each operating company have addressed the business strategies. I would now like to explain the financial indicators and plans that underpin these business initiatives. Building on the roadmap to fiscal year 2030 that we shared in August, we are now disclosing our consolidated plan for fiscal year 2028, which marks a key turning point to achieve our 2030 targets. We expect EBITDA to reach. In 2028, JPY 1.1 trillion, driven by the steady execution of the strategies presented today, this will serve as a milestone towards our fiscal year 2030 goal of JPY 1.3 trillion. EPS is projected to increase to 148 yen in fiscal year 2028 and 210 yen in fiscal year 2030, supported by profit growth through structural transformation and execution on strategic initiatives, including share buybacks. As for ROIC, which I will explain in detail on the next slide, we aim to improve it to 8.6% in fiscal year 2028 and reach 12.6% by fiscal year 2030.
In improving capital efficiency. Improving capital efficiency is an urgent priority in enhancing shareholder value. Regarding profit growth, the numerator of ROIC, fiscal year 2025 will be a transitional phase as we work toward a return to business growth. However, beyond 25 we will strengthen two-way communication with customers, anticipate emerging needs and lead the industry in each region through innovation. By regaining strong business momentum and expanding revenue, we believe we can demonstrate sustainable growth, ultimately providing reassurance to our investors. We will achieve profit growth, the numerator, by completing our structural transformation program and shifting to a liner, linear business model that improves profitability. As for invested capital, the denominator of ROIC, we will continue share buybacks as part of our enhanced shareholder return policy while steadily reducing interest-bearing debt to compressed capital.
At the same time, under our disciplined capital allocation framework, we will pursue optimal capital structure through strategic investments. Through these initiatives, we aim to improve ROIC in fiscal year 2028 to 8.6% and reach 12.6% by 2030. There are no changes to the capital allocation policy announced under our new management structure. We plan to allocate approximately JPY 7.5 trillion in total generated from operating cash flow and proceeds toward growth investments and shareholder returns, each accounting for roughly 40% and debt payment and other uses approximately 20%. Growth investments will continue to focus primarily on our global CVS business.
As for shareholder returns, we aim to repurchase JPY 2 trillion worth of shares by fiscal year 2030. Regarding the current share buyback program o f JPY 600 billion scheduled through the end of February 2026, we have already executed JPY 352.5 billion as of end of September, achieving a progress rate of 58.8%. In line with our plan. We will also continue our progressive dividend policy, constantly increasing dividends per share. In addition, we are steadily advancing the repayment of interest-bearing debt. Now, let us take this opportunity to reaffirm the disciplined approach behind our capital allocation strategy. We see significant potential for profit growth across our businesses through top line expansion. Therefore, for investment opportunities that contribute to long-term shareholder value, we will apply stricter capital efficiency criteria and pursue them proactively.
To that end, we will maintain and strengthen our financial discipline, ensuring the capacity to execute large scale strategic investments when the time comes. Our current plan does not yet incorporate major investment projects, and while we have set a debt/EBITDA ratio of 0.6 times for 2030, this should not be viewed as a target. Rather, it reflects our readiness to seize substantial growth opportunities as they arise. This will be my final slide, our updated value creation algorithm, which we shared in August. As outlined today, we remain committed to driving sustainable value creation through our growth strategies, both transformation initiatives and disciplined capital allocation. We will continue to provide consistent and timely updates, including future IR Days, and we look forward to maintaining constructive dialogue with all of you. Now, to close today's presentation, our CEO will share a message. Mr. Dacus, over to you.
Hi, this is Steve Dacus. Thank you all for bearing with us for the last few hours. We've shared a lot with you over the last few hours, so I'll wrap things up by trying to summarize some of the key takeaways from our discussion today. First and foremost, across all of our businesses, we will lean into quality and value to accelerate our global growth. Our transformation programs that are currently underway will enable this by driving costs out of all aspects of our business, especially SG&A and our supply chain. It will allow us to sustainably deliver value and serve our customers better while improving profit margins. In both North America and Japan, we will drive our 7NOW digital delivery business. Although it is already large, growing rapidly and profitable in North America, it is still early days in Japan. As you heard from Akutsu-san, we still have some hurdles to overcome. However, I am confident that this will become a major pillar of our business.
In Japan, we will further accelerate innovation with a return to our roots and a customer first mindset. In North America, we will focus on turning private brand products in our fuel operations into major profit and growth drivers. Outside of our two core markets, we will expand our successful equity model as we have done in Australia with direct investment alongside local partners to deliver higher growth and higher absolute returns. Lastly, we are and will continue to remain focused on driving value creation for our shareholders with the initiatives discussed today and with an aggressive and disciplined approach to capital allocation. So that wraps up our presentation today. I believe we now have some time for any final questions you may have. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Now we would like to take questions. The answer will be provided by CEO Mr. Dacus and CFO Mr. Maruyama. Those who have questions, please push the raise hand button below your screen. Please mention your affiliation and name first. We would like to limit the questions to two per person. Mr. Dacus will be answering in English in order to accurately convey the message. His answer will be t ranslated consecutively. Please ask your question in Japanese. There was a question regarding holdings during the session of the OpCo. One of the operating questions.
Thank you, I just wanted to confirm. I believe Kazahaya-san of UBS had a question earlier about our IPO and the reasons for doing the IPO. I wanted to confirm. Kazahaya-san, if you're still on the line. Did the presentation and explanation from Maruyama-san address your question? Can you confirm?
This is Kazahaya. Thank you very much, I was understanding the purpose of the Holdings, but what I asked was it's 7-Eleven, Inc. that is doing IPO. So as a top person of 7-Eleven, Inc. There are not only financial impacts, but for 7-Eleven, Inc. What kind of Seven & i and 7-Eleven, Inc. have? That was the purpose of the question. The benefit of 7-Eleven, Inc.
Did we adequately answer your question?
Yes. Yes, there was a sufficient answer from Holdings.
Thank you very much. Next, we had a question from Kanamori-san of Okasan Securities. I believe his question was with regard to a potential risk that investors will see Seven & i Holdings as simply SEJ and potentially shift from Seven & i Holdings to SEI in the event of an IPO. I'd like to address that question now.
I think a couple of points are really salient in this regard. I think the first of all, SEJ, our Japan business has plenty of opportunity for growth and it remains and will remain a very attractive business. And secondly, you heard from Wakabayashi-san about our fundamentally new approach to growing our global business that is our business outside of our two core markets. You heard him and Abe-san talk about the success of this new model in Australia and how we wish to take this new approach to grow our business globally. I believe that has huge opportunity for us both in terms of growth and profit. And I think that will become much more apparent over time as we execute this strategy. And lastly, Seven & i Holdings will remain the significant majority shareholder of SEI. Taken altogether, I do not believe that an IPO of SEI will make Seven & i Holdings any less attractive to investors. I think if anything, it gives them an opportunity to double down their investment. Having said that.
If I may, Kanamori-san's question, I think you are trying to say Holdings need to do more, work harder. I totally agree. In the 2030s roadmap that we showed you in August. That is our numbers based on the assumption that we are doing IPO for SEI and EPS will largely grow based on that. And as for capital efficiency, more than SEI improvement will be made. That is how we are promoting our initiatives. In other words, if we are not able to implement this, maybe something that you have been anxious about will happen. So we would like to complete this 2030 roadmap. And that concludes my answer.
So we will take the next question. If you have a question, please use the raise hand function. Please state your company name, affiliation and your name. We will take up to two questions per person. JPMorgan Murata-san, please.
Hello. Checking the audio.
We hear you fine.
Thank you for the detailed presentation. I have two basic questions. First, about the growth investment and the philosophy 3.2 trillion JPY in five years. So for the holdings, the standard for the payback period, the expected return, what is the standards for the investment? And is there any difference between Japan and North America? Risk uncertainties. Expected returns may differ. So what is the philosophy approach? That is my first question.
Thank you for the question. About that, I would like to respond. As you mentioned correctly, for enhanced capital efficiency, a more stringent investment standard will be required. Also, with an investment standard, the North America risk growth, Asia, Europe, the risk and growth potential because of the difference in economy also the hurdle rate will differ for sure. Obviously, at the moment in each region for the.
Region or whether it is an early level or a mature level. We're taking in several elements to decide and study of the investment. And each operating company is now studying and starting to enter the execution phase. So we will need to fully understand the risk level and that is also incorporated into our investment standards. Thank you. So just for confirmation for the global convenience store investment, so JPY 3.2 trillion. A large proportion of that would be for North America and for international. Am I right? For growth investment, I will repeat and saying that no strategic projects is included. So that is organic investment and some part of bolt-on investment is included. That adds up to JPY 3.2 trillion. And the allocation of this investment, Seven & i, North America and 7-Eleven International for sure, but also for the domestic.
As President Nagamatsu mentioned, through the investment we are expecting to once again recover and go back to the growth trajectory. So a certain ratio of investment will be earmarked for the domestic business as well. Thank you. My second question about the optimal capital allocation and I would like to understand the approach the large scale strategic investment for a potential M&A. Whether it is going to happen or not will really change the story. So that is something difficustelt to throw back. So just generally speaking, in the stock market, the SEI IPO, if it is not to happen, just using the financial leverage and strengthening the shareholder return may raise the stock price. That is one approach. What is your take on that? Or do you believe that the strategic M&A.
The probability of the strategic M&A happening is high. Thank you for the question. So for your second question in my presentation, I noted that t hat strategic investment which may grow the top line and also the profit. We are in a business that has ample opportunities. But we cannot incorporate anything that is undecided. Several M&As and also partner collaborations. The negotiations are happening as we talk a nd Debt/EBITDA ratio being 0.6 times. So that is the assumption, s o I will keep it there. Thank you.
Thank you very much. BofA Securities, Nishizawa-san, please.
This is Nishizawa of Bank of America Securities. 2028 plan has been disclosed and I would like to know the assumption. For example, when we look at EBITDA, say, SEJ, Inc. You have numbers or operational KPIs, what will change in the first half and second half and then Holdings. You talked about reducing cost at the headquarters as well. So how will the measures change in the first half and second half?
Again I, Maruyama, would like to answer. What I would like to mention is w hether or not we will do IPO for SEI is being full-fledgedly discussed among ourselves right now. So SEI's individual r ecent. Excuse me, near future. When it comes to disclosing the near future numbers in the process of IPO, there it may imply some. Entail some risks, s o this time around we have avoided to disclose any near future figures. When things become clearer, we would like to set another opportunity to explain more in details. Thank you very much. Other than SG&A, for example headquarters expenses or operational KPI, how will that change in the first half and second half of your plan? Can you make a comment? In order to have a leaner organization at Holdings. Until the milestone in 2028 that we have disclosed, we would like to accomplish a leaner organization of Holdings. So 2028 will be a milestone beyond which we will be able to accelerate our profit growth. That's all
Understood, m y second question is related to Murata- san's earlier question. You were saying? that there will be a large-scale opportunity, but as for returns to shareholders, JPY 2 trillion. Well, of course it depends on the size of M&A, but this 2 trillion will be implemented or executed. I would once again like to ask about the strategic investment and the balance with the return to shareholders.
Thank you, t he 2 trillion yen to shareholders is what we have already committed so it will be executed. Of course, we have the purpose is to increase the value to shareholders, but in a medium- to long-term perspective, in order to increase our shareholder value, what is most necessary is to improve the quality of our finance. ROIC should be improved or capital efficiency should be improved, and that is one of our major challenges. Therefore, of course, return is important. However, t he capital optimization is also very critical.
Therefore, from that perspective, this is something that we would like to execute for sure. That's all for myself. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry, I may repeat once again. Even without IPO, even if without IPO, you are committing to the JPY 2 trillion. Is that correct?
Yes.
We made the commitment. We will stick with the commitment.
Next, UBS Securities Kazahaya-san, please.
Thank you for the opportunity. This is UBS Securities Kazahaya. One question. To Murata-san and also Nishizawa-san, I would like to also build on that about the EBITDA target. Earlier Maruyama-san made a clear explanation, so you are saying. With a strategic M&A and w ith the ratings 0.8 times or 1-2.5 times was the range, so if we need to make them both compatible. What is the financial capability in terms o f EBITDA is the plan? Please, if you could elaborate.
Thank you for the question. As of now, our target, the credit rating of A, is what we target for in S&P, and with Moody's, A-, A3 is the current. We do wish to see a one notch increase for that debt/EBITDA ratio the times. At least we need to maintain the debt/EBITDA ratio, and so that is why we want to set a target. So what would be, f or example, paying down the debt interest r ate and also the balance between the i nvestment is going to be the most essential crucial part for 2526. There is some financial background for us to take on more opportunities, so we think explained about the businesses Seven & i. And we are going to accomplish the growth. And the profit and we are going to further strengthen monitoring the status.
So I hope this answers your question. So you are saying that you wish to raise one notch of the ratings. In the past, 1.8-2.5 times this range is h as not changed much or is there a change to this range? Basically, the financial discipline, the approach has not changed. That i s our understanding 1.8 times or 2.5 times? If there is no strategic investment, 1.8 t imes is going to be the target level. Our philosophy, our approach has not changed. I understand. With a large scale strategic investment, so it is linked, correct? That is correct. Now I have a better understanding. Also thank you very much for the 0.6 times explanation as well, t hat is all from myself.
Next, from Goldman Sachs. Kawano-san, please. Please.
This is Kawano of Goldman Sachs. Can you hear me?
Yes.
I have two questions. One is a question directed to Dacus-san . As holdings i nclusive of the Inc. and international. Compared to the past, the communication, you have more frequent communication and deeper communication a nd we have also heard about that. But as for Inc., t o what level, a re you committing? Or entering into their business? Like the financial structure, even in abstract manner. Can you explain what you are doing with Inc. or how you are working directly with Inc.?
And my second question is to Maruyama-san he Seven & i Holdings perspective, ROIC of North America is still low. And various initiatives was explained more towards the numerator. But invested capital per store I think is very high. Of course there are acquisitions of Speedway. I do understand that. But in listing the company, the thinking about the denominator. Is there anything that can be done between Holdings and Inc. in doing an IPO? I f you are to be listed in the U.S. market. As Holdings, well, you are adopting the Japanese Accounting Standard. But what will become of the holdings accounting standard once EI is being IPO'd?
Kawano-san, thank you for your question. I'll go first. Specifically with regards to SEI, but this actually applies to all of our operating units. They all run with a degree of autonomy, but with a very clear framework of what they need to do. And that allows them to move a lot faster and to execute well. So in terms of what we do, I mean, we communicate very regularly. As I've said before, you know, actually, as Stan said as well, we speak constantly. We also have some formal processes, including regular phone calls, monthly business reviews with both management teams, etc. That accelerated cadence of communication.
And because of this regular cadence of communication, it helps us at holdings understand the SEI business much better. And it helps the SCI leadership team understand our perspective as well. And I think that results in higher levels of trust, understanding, execution, et cetera. They can move a lot faster. Also, I would add that working together, we put together strategies. Working together, we discuss opportunities for the future, and the more and more we do this, the more excited I get about the North American business because the more we understand, the more we see how much opportunity there truly is there.
Did I answer your question, Kawano- san?
Yes, understand. Understand very well.
And as for the second question, I, Maruyama, would like to answer. ROIC improvement of SEI. After acquiring Speedway. We wanted to improve our capital efficiency as soon as possible. We have been working on that initiative. Therefore, we would like to further e mphasize that and strengthen that process. But what is more important is w e are not reaching the profit level that we are anticipating. Therefore, for that the business strategy that we explained needs to be executed to put ourselves back on track for profit growth.
Now, SEI will be listed in the U.S. market. So, Holdings, and your question was what to do with the Holdings accounting standard on a consolidated basis. We are already. We have a project team that to shift to IFRS. In 2028, s o far we are working in order to make the change shift in 2028.
Thank you very much.
We will take the final question. Daiwa Securities Shigeoka-san, please.
This is Shigeoka from Daiwa Securities. Thank you for the opportunity. I have one question. For SEI- IPO. I know I've been asking several times. To unlock the intrinsic value has been the objective and but also the outflow of the profits. I think that part requires some further explanation, and the holdings is I believe leading the process. And SEJ and SEI are both going through the fundamental transformation. IPO would require some resources which is an area of concern. So if you can look at the macro environment and I think that it should be better that come back to the IPO possibility after all the structural reforms has been bearing fruit. So I wonder what kind of internal di scussion is taking place?
I would like to respond to your question. This is Maruyama speaking. So as, IPO is not the goal, but the objective of the IPO is the crucial. M eaning, f irst, that SEI's portion f or IPO and parts of the minority s hareholder and also the proceeds from the IPO. How can we unlock the value? That is the most important part. It will depend on how much of the block will be sold and what will be retained. We are not considering a certain large percentage of block to be sold. Also for the IPO to be successful, SEI's profit growth needs to be on recovery track. Recovery trajectory. By all means, it is not that the IPO will happen by all means. In the second half of 2016. We did not intend to decelerate our initiatives, but please understand that we are not going to slow down in all of our initiatives.
I'd like to add a couple of comments as well to what Maruyama-san just said. I think it's important to bear in mind what our objectives are, as he said. We believe that getting a public listing of SEI in the U.S. will crystallize the value of SEI and be of great value for our shareholders of Seven & i Holdings. It'll be reflected there. In addition, the proceeds from the sale of part of SEI will allow us to execute our capital allocation program with speed and aggression. It will contribute to our aggressive growth plans that we have. I think it's very, very important in that regard. Concerning the timing, there are many factors that play into that. Obviously one is the performance of SEI, but the overall market conditions are an important factor and there may be others as well. We will take all of that into account and we'll make sure that when we do this, we do it in a way that maximizes value for our shareholders. Thank you.
I understand the approach so SEI's IPO to be successful. I understand that the holdings is taking the lead and SEI and SEJ are both involved and to bring the transformation to fruition. I have high hopes and high expectations. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. With this, we would like to end the Q&A session. Thank you very much for your time out of your busy schedules. Today we have a survey questionnaire for you. If you close the Zoom screen, you will see a questionnaire screen. I would like to ask for your cooperation in responding to the survey. With this. We Seven & i Holdings IR Day 2025 Autumn. Thank you once again for your participation.