Convenience store chain operators Seven & i Holdings Co. and Lawson Inc. separately said Thursday their earnings deteriorated in the March-May quarter due to the government's stay-at-home requests issued across Japan as part of efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Seven & i, the country's largest convenience store operator with about 21,000 outlets, reported a 73.2 percent plunge in its consolidated net profit from a year earlier to 13.94 billion yen ($130 million) on sales of 1.39 trillion yen, down 12.8 percent.

For the year through next February, the company expects its sales to gradually recover on the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic will ease during the second half of the fiscal year.

It now estimates yearly sales to fall 14.3 percent to 5.69 trillion yen, with net profit also plummeting 45.0 percent to 120 billion yen.

Meanwhile, Lawson said the same day it incurred a group net loss of 4.19 billion yen in the first business quarter through May with its sales and operating profit down 13.1 percent and 81.6 percent from a year earlier to 155.36 billion yen and 2.62 billion yen, respectively, as people refrained from going out.

The third-biggest convenience store chain operator with some 14,400 shops across the country estimates its yearly sales to sag 8.2 percent to 670 billion yen, with its net profit projected to dive 75.1 percent to 5 billion yen.

According to data released by the Japan Franchise Association, overall same-store sales at the seven major convenience store operators declined from a year earlier for three straight months through May.

In April, sales dropped 10.6 percent, the sharpest monthly decline since comparable data became available in 2005, while May sales also posted a 10.0 percent fall, the industrial body said.

==Kyodo

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