Isetan Mitsukoshi promotes Toshihiko Sugie to CEO, Onishi steps down

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Mar 8, 2017

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. at a board meeting on Tuesday promoted Senior Managing Executive Officer Toshihiko Sugie as the next president of the major Japanese department store operator, succeeding outgoing chief Hiroshi Onishi. The change is effective April 1. 

According to local news agency Jiji Press, Sugie has the massive task of returning the group's operations back to health, as personal consumption continues to dwindle in Japan. Most recently, Sugie was chief of the holding company’s Strategic Planning Headquarters, where he was in charge of the group’s structural reforms.

Onishi will remain as a board member after stepping down from the post of president on March 31. However, Onishi and Isetan Mitsukoshi Chairman Kunio Ishizuka, could resign at a general meeting of the firm’s shareholders in June, as reported by local media.

In the meantime, Onishi, who became Isetan Mitsukoshi president in February 2012 after serving as Isetan president, will act to improve slumping earnings and weak sales, with a particular focus on apparel.

The company has pushed back its goal of achieving ¥50 billion (US$439 million) in operating profit in the year ending March 2019. In the year ending March 31, its group operating profit is expected to tumble 27.5 percent from the previous year.

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings was created in April 2008 combining the operations of Isetan Co. and Mitsukoshi Ltd. Onishi and Sugie hail from Isetan, while Ishizuka is from Mitsukoshi.