Nikkei Plunges 2% on Euro Zone Worries; San-A and Yondoshi in Focus

Hiruki Nakamura
06 Jul, 2015
New York City

Nikkei in Tokyo and market indexes in Asia dropped after Greece rejected terms set by international lenders in a referendum. Finance minister resigned and Greece prepared to negotiate with lenders with leaders in the euro zone sending mixed signals.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei in Tokyo and market indexes in Asia dropped after Greece rejected terms set by international lenders in a referendum. Finance minister resigned and Greece prepared to negotiate with lenders with leaders in the euro zone sending mixed signals.[/R]

Market indexes in Japan dropped more than 2% after Greece rejected terms of bailout and finance minister resigned.

The deepening chaos and growing uncertainty in the euro zone has begun to draw global investor’s attention. The yen perked up and the euro edged down and crude oil prices plunged more than 2%.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 427.67 or 2.1% to 20,112.12 and the broader Topix index dropped 31.73 or 1.9% to 1,620.36.

The yen closed at 122.65 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Ichibanya Co., Ltd slid 0.2% to 5,140 yen after the specialty restaurants operator reported net sales in the year ending in May jumped 3.4% to 44.01 billion yen from 42.57 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the year surged 14.2% to 2.73 billion yen compared to 2.39 billion yen and earnings per share increased to 170.80 yen from 149.62 yen in the same period a year ago.

For the first-half, Ichibanya forecasted net sales to drop 1.4% to 21.50 billion yen and net income to decline 11.1% to 1.34 billion yen.

The restaurants operator forecasted net sales in the year ending in fiscal 2016 to edge down 0.3% to 43.90 billion yen and net income to increase 3.1% to 2.81 billion yen.

San-A Co., Ltd decreased 0.2% to 5,730 yen after the convenience stores operator reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in May jumped 5% to 42.29 billion yen from 40.28 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter climbed 14.2% to 2.19 billion yen compared to 1.91 billion yen and earnings per share rose to 68.42 yen from 59.91 yen in the same period a year ago.

The retailer forecasted net sales in the first-half ending in August to increase 1.2% to 84.38 billion yen and net income to gain 2.8% to 4.01 billion yen.

The company forecasted net sales for the year to increase 1.8% to 167.53 billion yen and net income to jump 5.3% to 7.97 billion yen.

Yondoshi Holdings Inc fell 0.9% to 2,900 yen after the apparel and accessories retailer said net sales in the first-quarter ending in May slipped 2.9% to 12.31 billion yen from 12.67 billion yen in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter increased 2.5% to 1.21 billion yen compared to 1.18 billion yen and diluted earnings per share rose to 45.53 yen from 43.30 yen in the same period a year ago.

Yondoshi forecasted net sales in the first-half ending in November to edged up 0.8% to 24 billion yen and net income to climb 15.7% to 1.30 billion yen.

For the year, the company forecasted net sales to jump 3.5% to 52.50 billion yen and net income to soar 12.6% to 4.10 billion yen.

Separately the company launched share buyback program for up to 1.10 million shares at the price of 2,600 yen each to raise as much as 2.89 billion yen between July 7 and August 4.