TOKYO, April 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Aeon Co forecast on Thursday a 1.5 percent rise in operating profit this financial year, with demand for basic goods likely to limit the impact of a post-quake decline in overall consumer spending for the nation's second-biggest retailer.
Aeon, which competes with Seven & I Holdings , forecast 175 billion yen ($2.1 billion) in operating profit for the year that began in March. That is lower than the average estimate of 178.9 billion yen in a poll of 13 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
While Japanese consumers are expected to curb discretionary spending after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami, and ensuing nuclear crisis and power shortages, demand for food and other essentials is seen helping general retailers such as Aeon to weather the downturn.
For the business year that ended in February, Aeon booked a 32.4 percent rise in operating profit to 172.4 billion yen, which was well-flagged to the market after the retailer lifted its profit estimate to 171.6 billion yen last month. [ID:nL3E7EP08S]
Shares in Aeon and rival Seven & I have fallen about 7 percent since the quake, as of Wednesday's close, compared with a 6 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei average . ($1 = 83.890 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Edmund Klamann)