Seven & I Holdings¡¯ new CEO plans to boost investments in its U.S. stores using cash from a planned listing of its American retail operations.

¡°The initial public offering gives us the financial flexibility to invest a bit more aggressively in our stores,¡± Stephen Dacus, who was named to the leadership position last month, said in an interview on Friday.

The Japanese operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores is in the middle of a restructuring to boost growth and shareholder value after years of weak investor returns made it the target of activist shareholders, as well as Canada¡¯s Alimentation Couche-Tard, which proposed to buy the company last year.

The overhaul includes a plan to list the U.S. stores business next year besides revamping its board, selling an underperforming superstore business, divesting its banking unit and undertaking a roughly ?2 trillion-worth share buyback through 2030.

The company has about 1,000 stores with quick service restaurants that outperform normal stores by quite a lot in terms of sales and profit, Dacus said. ¡°We would like to expand that as rapidly as we can,¡± he said, specifying that there are another 1,200 stores that could add such services.

Seven & I operates more than 13,000 convenience stores in North America, making it larger than its next three competitors ¡ª Couche-Tard, Casey¡¯s General Stores and Murphy USA, combined.

Despite the raft of measures to turn things around, the Japanese retailer¡¯s stock has remained under pressure after a management buyout effort designed to challenge Couche-Tard¡¯s offer failed. Seven & I is valued roughly around ?5.5 trillion ($38 billion), lower than Couche-Tard¡¯s ?7.39 trillion offer.

In addition to investing in its North America operations, Dacus is also looking to review the company¡¯s supply chain globally, especially at a time when consumers in the world¡¯s largest economy are becoming more conservative amid U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s tariffs on imports.

¡°We don¡¯t have a global supply strategy, even though we may have the same suppliers around the world for many things,¡± he said. ¡°As a consequence, we¡¯re missing an opportunity.¡±

The shift in consumer behavior reinforces the need for the company to move with speed and discipline to deliver greater value to customers, Dacus said.

There¡¯s a need to ¡°squeeze your costs really tightly,¡± Dacus said. ¡°You need to do everything you can to make your customers happy.¡±