ITOCHU Corporation (8001): 1Q results: Strong core profit; ¥300 billion share buyback, aircraft leasing business investment announced

Research evidence excerpt

ITOCHU Corporation (8001): 1Q results: Strong core profit; ¥300 billion share buyback, aircraft leasing business investment announced

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research

04 August 2026

ITOCHU Corporation (8001)

1Q results: Strong core profit; ¥300 billion share Neutral

buyback, aircraft leasing business investment 8001.T, 8001 JP

announced Price (03 Aug 26):¥1,996

Price Target (Dec-26):¥2,100

Positive: Core profit (excluding extraordinary items) growth in 1Q FY2026 was Japan Equity Research

stronger than expected. The announcement of a ¥300 billion share buyback is in

Trading Companies, Energy

line with initial guidance and thus not particularly surprising, but CFO Hiroyuki

Naka said at the results briefing that additional share buybacks are possible. We Jiro Iokibe AC

have a neutral impression of the roughly ¥300 billion investment in US-based (81-3) 6736-8668

jiro.iokibe@jpmorgan.com

Aviation Capital Group (ACG), a subsidiary of Tokyo Century, but we like the JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd.

smooth progress on executed investments relative to the FY2026 planned amount

of ¥1.5 trillion.

• Profit growth in all segments: 1Q FY2026 net profit rose 3% YoY to ¥293.8

billion, or 31% of full-year guidance of ¥950 billion and above our ¥253 billion

estimate. One-time gains in 1Q FY2026 were ¥44.5 billion (¥103 billion in 1Q

FY2025). All segments generated YoY profit growth, but of particular note are

the machinery segment (core profit up ¥18.8 billion YoY), where North

American power and Hitachi Construction Machinery did well; the metals &

minerals segment (up ¥12.8 billion YoY), where the iron ore and coal

businesses were both solid; and the energy & chemicals segment (up ¥10.3

billion YoY), where the chemicals business did well thanks to high prices. We