On May 18, Nichirei Logistics Group Headquarters held its 2025 business report meeting and announced that for the fiscal year ending March 2026, the group's consolidated sales reached 301 billion yen (an 8% increase year-on-year) and operating profit reached 186 billion yen (an 18% increase), showing both increased revenue and profit.
Domestic operations saw sales of 1990 billion yen (up 5%) and operating profit of 180 billion yen (up 25%). Overseas operations saw sales of 926 billion yen (up 11%) and operating profit of 30 billion yen (down 10%).
<President Moriai>
Regarding the company's performance, President Moriai Yoko explained, "For the first time in the group, sales have exceeded 3000 billion yen. We are steadily expanding our business scale." He attributed the strong performance of the domestic business to "successfully capturing logistics needs in storage, transportation, and 3PL, as well as the expansion of our retail business, and the effectiveness of measures such as changes in depreciation methods."
In particular, looking at the transportation and delivery business, the growth was attributed to the increase in joint deliveries and the development of "SULS," which focuses on speedy inter-base transportation by having loading and unloading operations performed at group bases rather than by truck drivers.
Regarding overseas operations, President Moriai explained, "We have positioned these as growth areas and have pursued M&A and capital investments in each region. Our total cryogenic capacity overseas is approximately 102 million tons (76 in Europe, 25 in ASEAN, and 1 in China), reaching 100 million tons. We want to further enhance our presence overseas."
In Europe, while business expanded through the construction and expansion of warehouses in Poland, a key focus area, profits were negatively impacted by delays in operations. However, overall growth in existing businesses, such as the expansion of port 3PL and the expansion of value-added services at UK warehouses, offset this. There were also synergies with the full-year effects of the UK forwarding company acquired in fiscal year 2024.
In Asia, revenue increased due to the opening of new facilities in Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the completion of the acquisition of Malaysia's ICCL Group in February 2026. However, profits decreased due to the recording of M&A-related expenses and the start-up costs for the new facilities. Sales in China remained at the same level as the previous year.
President Moriai stated, "We aim to create synergies through cross-border transportation functions within the ASEAN region, connecting our businesses in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam."
Expanding storage and transportation capacity within Japan
They are also expanding overseas, into Indonesia.
At the briefing session, which marked the midpoint of the medium-term management plan (2025-2027), the company also announced its progress and key initiatives for fiscal year 2026.
Domestically, the company is working to expand its storage and transportation capacity nationwide. President Moriai explained, "We aim to expand our storage capacity and collection capabilities through investment in our own assets and utilization of other companies' assets, and to strengthen 'SULS' in response to the growing demand for frozen foods."
Specifically, the company plans to add approximately 28,000 tons of its own assets in Kyushu, utilize approximately 21,600 tons of other companies' assets in the Kanto region, and is also considering utilizing other companies' assets in the Okayama and Osaka areas. For "SULS," the company will increase its trunk line transport capacity by adding 15 trailers and will work on multi-turn operations on regional branch lines.
Furthermore, amidst a worsening labor shortage, the company will accelerate the deployment of automation technologies to actual sites through its "R&D Center," which was fully operational in fiscal year 2025 as a place to verify the use of material handling and robots in low-temperature environments.
Regarding overseas business expansion, the company plans to continue building and expanding facilities in Europe, as well as acquiring MEGA in Indonesia, which is maintaining a high economic growth rate. They anticipate increased demand for cold chain logistics due to population concentration.
Furthermore, in fiscal year 2026, following Nichirei's change of fiscal year end from March to December, Nichirei Logistics also changed its domestic fiscal year end from nine months to twelve months. After revising its consolidated sales forecast upward, President Moriai stated, "We aim to achieve sales of 340 billion yen and operating profit of 226 billion yen in fiscal year 2027, as planned."
