CP All, the operator of 7-Eleven stores in Thailand, reported a 6.6% fall in third-quarter net profit to 6,162 million baht after its wholesale and hypermarket unit CP Axtra booked the cost of shutting hundreds of small Lotus's stores.

The headline number hides a split inside the Thai retail group. The convenience stores earned more on wider margins even though fewer customers came through the door, while the big-box and mall business took a one-off hit that management says will cut costs from this quarter.

Total revenue for July to September rose 4.5% from a year earlier to 262,011 million baht, CP All said in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand dated Wednesday. Excluding expenses tied to the store closures under CP Axtra's optimization plan, adjusted net profit rose 7.2% to 7,070 million baht. The gap between the reported and adjusted figures is 908 million baht.

Profit before finance costs and income tax fell 13.0% to 10,837 million baht. Earnings per share were 0.68 baht.

7-Eleven Thailand sells more per store to fewer shoppers

Revenue from sales and services in the convenience store business rose 6.6% to 121,390 million baht. Same-store sales grew 2.5%, and the average store took in 82,695 baht a day from 926 customers who spent about 89 baht each, according to the filing.

Customer traffic slipped slightly from a year earlier. CP All cited seasonal factors, flooding late in the quarter that curbed domestic travel, and fewer foreign tourists as energy prices stayed above last year's level. It also said 7-Eleven did not take part in the government's “Thai Chuay Thai Plus” spending stimulus program at any point in the quarter.

Capital Times has separately covered foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand.

Margins moved the other way. Gross margin in the convenience business widened to 29.6% from 29.4%, which the company attributed to a larger share of higher-margin products. Food accounted for 77.4% of goods sold, up from a year earlier. Delivery and online orders through 7Delivery and All Online made up about 11% of sales.

Other income, mainly from renting out space in and around stores, rose 12.4% to 8,612 million baht. Selling and administrative costs grew 6.2% to 36,118 million baht, slower than revenue.

That left the convenience business with operating profit of 9,605 million baht, up 15.3%, and net profit of 6,366 million baht, up 22.4%, in CP All's separate financial statements. Those statements include 1,151 million baht of dividends from subsidiaries.

The chain opened 207 stores in the quarter and had 16,491 at the end of September. About 52% are run by the company and the rest by franchise partners and sub-area licensees; 86% are stand-alone shops and the remainder sit in PTT gas stations. CP All also had 35 7-Eleven stores in Laos and 23 in Cambodia.

CP Axtra closes 673 Lotus's Go Fresh stores

The drag came from CP Axtra, which runs the Makro wholesale chain and Lotus's hypermarkets and malls. Across the group, CP All's distribution and administrative expenses rose 7.8% to 54,970 million baht, faster than the 4.3% growth in revenue from goods and services.

CP Axtra posted a net loss of 563 million baht for the third quarter after 2.3 billion baht of one-off restructuring costs, mostly from closing 673 Lotus's Go Fresh small-format stores, Thai financial news outlet Kaohoon International reported, citing Kiatnakin Phatra Securities. The brokerage put core profit at 1.7 billion baht, down 8% from a year earlier, with Makro's sales to business customers up 5% and Lotus's retail sales down 1%.

CP Axtra's own statement on Nov. 6 gave total revenue of 130,362 million baht and what it called normalized profit of 2,013 million baht, and described the charges as one-time, non-cash accounting expenses without stating the amount. Group Chief Financial Officer Tanik Tarawisid said the quarter “marks an important milestone in our long-term growth transformation.”

The closed stores were unprofitable, and shutting them reduced selling space by about 7% and revenue by about 6%, Kaohoon reported after a company briefing on Nov. 9. Management told that briefing it expects cost savings from the fourth quarter, plans to redevelop some sites into larger stores and kept its full-year targets.

Investors took the cleanup well. CP Axtra shares were up 4.2% at 14.90 baht late on the morning of Monday, Nov. 9, according to Kaohoon. Kiatnakin Phatra kept a neutral rating on CP Axtra, called the third quarter a possible low point for earnings and noted that CP All owns 60% of the company.

Through the first nine months of 2026, convenience stores and related businesses supplied 53% of CP All's revenue before eliminations and 81% of its operating profit, the filing showed. Wholesale, retail and malls supplied 47% of revenue and 19% of profit.

Debt, cash and CP All's 2026 store plan

Cash and equivalents fell 31.5% from the end of 2025 to 36,451 million baht, mainly because CP All repaid debentures. Interest-bearing debt excluding leases rose 2.0% to 332,771 million baht. Net debt was 0.84 times adjusted equity, against a bond covenant limit of 2 times.

CP All kept its 2026 plan to open about 700 7-Eleven stores in Thailand and to add stores in Laos. In Cambodia, it said only that it had adjusted its strategy to suit changed operating conditions.

Capital spending for the year is projected at 12,000 million to 13,600 million baht, including 3,800 million to 4,600 million baht for new stores and 2,900 million to 3,500 million baht for renovations.

The company gave no numerical sales target. It said convenience store revenue should grow in line with Thailand's economy, depending on inflation, raw material and energy prices and private consumption, and that it expects gross margin to keep widening.

CP All warned that energy prices began rising again toward the end of the quarter because of tensions in the Middle East, which could weigh on its operating costs and on shoppers' purchasing power. The fourth quarter will show whether CP Axtra's promised savings arrive.