Aeon Co., Ltd. has begun to scrap poorly performing subsidiaries due to a missed profit target in its most recent mid-term business plan. One of those to be scrapped is Laura Ashley Japan, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on 19 March. AEON announced in February that it would not renew its licence to operate the brand.
AEON currently owns more than 70% of Laura Ashley’s operations in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and 120 of the shops in these markets will close by September.
AEON missed its operating profit target by ¥100bn.