Japanese retailer Aeon has overtaken rival Ito-Yokado to become Asia’s biggest retailer by sales.


This week Aeon reported sales of ¥3.546trn (US$33.4bn) for the full year to 29 February, ¥4bn higher than Ito-Yokado’s sales of ¥3.542trn.


Ito-Yokado posted a group net profit of ¥53.63bn for the year, an increase of 15% year-on-year, helped by the strong performance of convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan, which is 51% owned by Ito-Yokado.


Seven-Eleven Japan reported a 12.4% rise in net profit to ¥93.14bn. The company’s sales increased 11.8% to ¥474.28bn.