{"id":31492,"date":"2026-11-06T13:19:04","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T13:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/06\/japans-gunze-h1-operating-profit-surges-81-3-despite-sales-dip\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T13:19:04","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T13:19:04","slug":"japans-gunze-h1-operating-profit-surges-81-3-despite-sales-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/06\/japans-gunze-h1-operating-profit-surges-81-3-despite-sales-dip\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan&#8217;s Gunze H1 operating profit surges 81.3% despite sales dip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.fibre2fashion.com\/Newsresource\/images\/314\/1_326450.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">Japanese materials and apparel manufacturer Gunze Limited has maintained its full-year outlook after stronger profitability in its functional solutions and apparel businesses offset lower consolidated sales. The first-half performance reflected improved plastic-film pricing dynamics, a recovery in overseas profitability and progress in apparel restructuring initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>For the six months ended September 30, 2026, net sales declined 1.8 per cent year on year (YoY) to \u00a564.08 billion (~$405.99 million, as per conversion rate of $1 = \u00a5157.8355 as on November 6, 2026). Operating profit surged 81.3 per cent to \u00a55.78 billion (~$36.62 million), while ordinary profit rose 82.3 per cent to \u00a55.84 billion (~$37.00 million).<\/p>\n<p>Japan&#8217;s Gunze Limited maintained its FY27 forecast for net sales of \u00a5132 billion (~$836.31 million) and operating profit of \u00a58.8 billion (~$55.75 million), as first-half results met expectations.&#13;<br \/>\nFor the six months ended September 30, 2026, sales fell 1.8 per cent to \u00a564.08 billion (~$405.99 million), while operating profit surged 81.3 per cent, supported by improved margins and apparel<\/p>\n<p>Profit attributable to owners of the parent was \u00a54.32 billion (~$27.37 million), compared with a loss of \u00a5658 million (~$4.17 million) a year earlier. Gross profit increased to \u00a522.18 billion (~$140.53 million) from \u00a520.87 billion (~$132.23 million), lifting the gross margin to 34.6 per cent from 32.0 per cent, while operating margin expanded to 9.0 per cent from 4.9 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>Basic earnings per share reached \u00a5137.69 (~$0.87), compared with a loss per share of \u00a520.27 (~$0.13) in the prior-year period. Diluted earnings per share was \u00a5137.45 (~$0.87), according to the company\u2019s consolidated financial results.<\/p>\n<h3>\tFunctional solutions drives earnings growth<\/h3>\n<p>The functional solutions segment delivered net sales of \u00a526.11 billion (~$165.43 million), up 10.3 per cent YoY, and operating profit of \u00a55.25 billion (~$33.26 million), up 56.9 per cent. Plastic films benefited from the time lag between selling-price and material-cost changes, improved overseas profitability and lower product costs, while engineering plastics were supported by rising semiconductor-related demand.<\/p>\n<p>Medical segment sales fell 5.3 per cent to \u00a56.14 billion (~$38.90 million), while operating profit declined 25.2 per cent to \u00a5709 million (~$4.49 million). Strong domestic sales of adhesion-prevention agents and absorbable medical materials were outweighed by the downsizing of the medical laser business and restrained purchasing in China under medical cost-containment policies.<\/p>\n<h3>\tApparel restructuring lifts profitability<\/h3>\n<p>Apparel sales declined 10.2 per cent to \u00a526.75 billion (~$169.48 million), affected by reduced retail floor space at mass retailers and subdued consumer spending. However, operating profit rose 358.6 per cent to \u00a51.14 billion (~$7.22 million), aided by production and logistics consolidation, streamlined indirect operations, brand rationalisation and price revisions.<\/p>\n<p>Within the direct-to-consumer channel, Asedoron sales remained strong, although revenue decreased slightly following a review of promotional activities. Profitability nevertheless improved. The lifestyle creations business posted sales growth of 1.1 per cent to \u00a55.90 billion (~$37.38 million), while operating profit increased 27.7 per cent to \u00a5606 million (~$3.84 million), supported by real-estate facility renovations and higher sports-club sales.<\/p>\n<h3>\tBalance sheet and cash flow<\/h3>\n<p>As of September 30, 2026, total assets stood at \u00a5153.97 billion (~$975.51 million), while net assets were \u00a5111.79 billion (~$708.27 million) and the equity-to-asset ratio was 71.3 per cent. Cash and cash equivalents decreased by \u00a5598 million (~$3.79 million) from the fiscal year-end to \u00a59.34 billion (~$59.18 million).<\/p>\n<p>Net cash generated from operating activities increased to \u00a57.35 billion (~$46.57 million), while investing activities used \u00a52.90 billion (~$18.37 million), primarily for non-current asset purchases. Financing activities used \u00a55.23 billion (~$33.14 million).<\/p>\n<h3>\tFY27 outlook maintained<\/h3>\n<p>Gunze maintained its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, as first-half results were broadly in line with expectations. The company continues to expect net sales of \u00a5132 billion (~$836.31 million), up 0.8 per cent YoY; operating profit of \u00a58.8 billion (~$55.75 million), up 80.3 per cent; ordinary profit of \u00a58.4 billion (~$53.22 million), up 70.7 per cent; and profit attributable to owners of the parent of \u00a55.2 billion (~$32.95 million), up 921.6 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-right f2fdesk\">Fibre2Fashion News Desk (MS)<\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n    <\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fibre2fashion.com\/news\/apparel-news\/japan-s-gunze-h1-operating-profit-surges-81-3-despite-sales-dip-314873-newsdetails.htm\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese materials and apparel manufacturer Gunze Limited has maintained its full-year outlook after stronger profitability in its functional solutions and apparel businesses offset lower consolidated sales. The first-half performance reflected improved plastic-film pricing dynamics, a recovery in overseas profitability and progress in apparel restructuring initiatives. For the six months ended September 30, 2026, net sales&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}