Rakuten first-half profits decline but reports strong revenue growth

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Aug 5, 2016

Rakutens’s first-half revenue grew by 11.1% to 368 billion yen as the Japanese economy continued its gradual recovery, said the company in a statement on Thursday.

Despite this, Japan’s largest e-commerce retailer reported a 4.2% fall in net income to 26.55 billion yen on the back of increased sales expenses and the deteriorating stock market, which hit the group’s securities business. Operating income for the period stood at 48.7 billion yen, down 11.8% year-on-year.

In the first half of 2016, Rakuten implemented a series of initiatives to drive growth in its core domestic market, including enhancing the customer experience, aggressive sales activities, and introducing new services for smart devices.

Revenue from the e-commerce segment, which includes digital shopping centre Rakuten Ichiba, online cash-back sites, travel booking sites and digital content sites, was up by 14.4% year-on-year to 227.6 billion yen.

Rakuten estimates its full year consolidated revenue, excluding the securities business, to achieve double-digit-growth.