TOKYO -- Takashimaya Co. said Tuesday that it expects group net profit to rise 10% to 20.5 billion yen ($197 million) in the current fiscal year, as the Japanese department store operator aims to counteract the effects of a recent consumption tax hike with aggressive cost cuts.
Retailers watched Japanese shoppers rush to stock up on all sorts of consumer goods ahead of the April 1 sales tax rise, and are now bracing for a corresponding dip in demand. But Takashimaya says it carefully assessed the tax hike's likely impact and is moving to slash costs by around 10 billion yen to ensure profit growth for the year through February 2015.
