Business Jul. 06, 2008 - 04:12AM JST ( 2 )

TOKYO —

Convenience shop operator Lawson Inc said its group net profit for March-May surged 61.1% from a year before to 6,486 million yen, a record for the period, thanks to strong sales of cigarettes.

The introduction of “taspo” age-verification cards for use at cigarette vending machines helped boost cigarette sales at its outlets in the first quarter of the current business year to February 2009. A drop in asset impairment losses also contributed to the net profit growth, company officials said.

Lawson said sales rose 4.4% to 76,817 million yen, and operating profit grew 12.6% to 12,011 million yen. Same-store sales increased 2.7%, with the introduction of taspo cards helping boosting the sales by 2%, the officials said.

Its all-store sales rose 3.7% to 3,596 billion yen, bolstered by brisk sales at Natural Lawson shops and other new-type outlets.

The company also benefited from a strong performance of a financial service unit that increased the number of automated teller machines installed at Lawson outlets and other places.

JCN