Yoshinoya

Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/itocy_japan-s-yoshinoya-to-push-overseas-expansion-after-buyback-1427182.html#

JAPAN'S YOSHINOYA TO PUSH OVERSEAS EXPANSION AFTER BUYBACK

TOKYO, Jan 18, 2011

Note: Freed from a decade-old capital alliance with a giant trading house, Yoshinoya Holdings Co. will accelerate efforts to tap overseas markets on its own and improve business efficiency at domestic beef bowl restaurants.

The company plans to buy back up to 21.07 per cent of its outstanding shares for 105,900 yen (US$1,280) apiece through off-the-floor trading Tuesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Yoshinoya, Itochu and Chinese food company Ting Hsin Group began in 2009 planning a joint venture for beef bowl operations. Yoshinoya, which had sought to take charge of how the operations should be developed, soon found itself hampered by its relationship with Itochu. To this day, the joint venture has not gotten off the ground.

The buyback will allow Yoshinoya to strengthen its operations in China and other growth markets more aggressively.

At the same time, the company hopes to leverage its greater business freedom to make domestic operations more efficient. Yoshinoya incurred a group pretax loss of 476 million yen for the year ended February 2010 on intense price competition from beef bowl restaurant rivals and other factors. But for the current year ending Feb. 28, it expects to bounce back to a 4.8 billion yen profit thanks to a popular beef dish rolled out last September as well as the reorganization of unprofitable restaurants.

Yoshinoya plans to make more of its eateries models of operational efficiency by adopting streamlined layouts and distribution improvements.