Analysis of Operating Results (Quarter)

Consolidated Results

Revenue

  • For the six months ended September 30, 2024, revenue increased by ¥218.3 billion (7.4%) year on year to ¥3,152.1 billion, increasing across all reportable segments. Revenue increased by ¥131.4 billion*1 in the Distribution segment mainly due to solid increase in revenue from ICT related products for enterprise customers and recurring revenue products, by ¥47.1 billion in the Consumer segment mainly due to increases in revenues from sales of goods and others and mobile revenue, by ¥44.2 billion in the Enterprise segment mainly due to an increase in demand for solutions associated with digitalization, by ¥35.6 billion in the Media & EC segment mainly due to increased media revenue and commerce revenue, and by ¥20.4 billion in the Financial segment mainly due to the growth of PayPay Corporation and PayPay Card Corporation.

[Note]
  1. *1
    Excluding the effect of inter-segment transactions related to AI computing infrastructure, the revenue increase was ¥94.8 billion.

Operating income

  • For the six months ended September 30, 2024, operating income increased by ¥71.5 billion (13.9%) year on year to ¥585.9 billion, increasing across all reportable segments. The Media & EC segment saw an increase of ¥43.5 billion in operating income mainly due to the recording of profits associated with the loss of control of subsidiaries in LY Group (LY Corporation and its subsidiaries). Furthermore, operating income increased by ¥15.6 billion in the Financial segment, by ¥12.5 billion in the Consumer segment, by ¥10.4 billion in the Enterprise segment, and by ¥2.7 billion in the Distribution segment. Notably, with the growth of PayPay Corporation and PayPay Card Corporation, the Financial segment has turned profitable in terms of segment income since the three months ended June 30, 2024.

Net income attributable to owners of the Company

  • For the six months ended September 30, 2024, net income attributable to owners of the Company increased by ¥21.7 billion (7.2%) year on year to ¥323.9 billion. This is mainly due to the aforementioned significant increase in operating income, while the increase was partly offset by the absence of the gain on changes in equity interest associated with the change in the LY Group's equity interest in Webtoon Entertainment Inc., which had been recorded in the same period of the previous year, as well as the recording of loss on valuation of put options for equity method affiliates. Net income attributable to non-controlling interests decreased by ¥0.7 billion (1.0%) year on year to ¥69.9 billion.

Adjusted free cash flow

  • In the six months ended September 30, 2024, primary free cash flow was positive ¥355.2 billion, an increase of ¥104.7 billion year on year. This increase mainly reflected the dividends received by the Company from A Holdings Corporation in connection with proceeds from its sale of LY Corporation shares during the three months ended September 30, 2024. Net cash inflow from operating activities was ¥709.0 billion, an increase of ¥122.0 billion in cash inflow year on year. This increase mainly reflected an increase in EBITDA, a decrease in income taxes paid, and an increase in income taxes refunded. Net cash outflow from investing activities was ¥502.6 billion, an increase of ¥0.4 billion in cash outflow year on year. This increase mainly reflected an increase in purchases of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, while there was an increase in proceeds from sales/redemption of investments and a decrease in the net cash outflow from purchase and sale of investment securities in banking business. Cash flows from investing activities include an expenditure of ¥48.7 billion related to long-term growth investments.

[Notes]
  1. *2
    Adjusted free cash flow (excluding LY Group and PayPay, etc.) = net cash inflow from operating activities + net cash outflow from investing activities + (proceeds from the securitization of installment sales receivables - repayments thereof) - free cash flow of the LY Group and PayPay, etc. + other items such as dividends received from A Holdings Corporation and investment in PayPay Securities Corporation. “LY Group and PayPay, etc.” refers to A Holdings Corporation, LY Corporation and its subsidiaries (LY Group), B Holdings Corporation, PayPay Corporation, PayPay Card Corporation, PayPay Securities Corporation, etc.
  2. *3
    Primary free cash flow is a measure calculated by adding back the amounts spent as long-term growth investments to adjusted free cash flow (excluding LY Group and PayPay, etc.). Long-term growth investments include investments in AI computing infrastructure.

Revenue by segment

Consumer segment*4

  • Revenue

  • Segment income

Consumer segment revenue increased by ¥47.1 billion (3.4%) year on year to ¥1,426.9 billion. Mobile revenue increased by ¥12.2 billion (1.6%) year on year. The increase mainly reflected the growth in smartphone subscribers, led primarily by the Y!mobile brand, and an improvement in mobile ARPU compared to the same period of the previous year. While the number of users of the low-priced Y!mobile brand has increased, ARPU showed an improvement trend mainly due to contributions from the introduction of new price plans in October 2023. In the three months ended September 30, 2024, ARPU saw a slight increase year on year. Broadband revenue increased by ¥1.8 billion (0.9%) year on year. This increase was mainly due to an increase in subscribers of the SoftBank Hikari fiber-optic service*5. Electricity revenue decreased by ¥4.3 billion (3.4%) year on year. This decrease was mainly due to decreases in subscribers of the Ouchi Denki (Home Electricity) service. The increase in revenues from sales of goods and others was mainly due to an increase in unit prices of smartphones.

Operating expenses*6 were ¥1,104.9 billion, an increase of ¥34.6 billion (3.2%) year on year. This increase was mainly due to increases in the cost of goods of smartphones, etc., and advertising and promotion expenses.

As a result, segment income increased by ¥12.5 billion (4.0%) year on year to ¥322.0 billion.

[Notes]
  1. *4
    From the three months ended June 30, 2024, certain subsidiaries that were previously classified under the Consumer segment has been transferred to Other. As a result, the figures for the Consumer segment and Broadband, which included the subsidiaries, for the six months ended September 30, 2023 have been retrospectively adjusted.
  2. *5
    Includes subscribers of SoftBank Air
  3. *6
    Operating expenses include cost of sales, selling, general and administrative expenses, and other operating income and other operating expenses.

Enterprise segment*7

  • Revenue

  • Segment income

Enterprise segment revenue increased by ¥20.5 billion (10.5%) year on year to ¥215.6 billion. Within Enterprise segment revenue, mobile revenue increased by ¥1.1 billion (1.4%) to ¥76.6 billion, fixed-line revenue decreased by ¥1.1 billion (2.4%) to ¥42.6 billion, and business solution and others revenue increased by ¥20.5 billion (26.9%) to ¥96.4 billion. The increase in mobile revenue was due to increases in mobile device sales and telecommunications revenue. The decrease in fixed-line revenue was mainly due to a decrease in the number of subscribers to telephone services. The increase in business solution and others revenue was mainly due to taking over the business of WeWork Japan GK through subsidiary WWJ Corp. as well as increased revenue mainly from cloud services, IoT solutions and security solutions as a result of capturing enterprise customers' demand for digitalization.

Operating expenses were ¥174.1 billion, an increase of ¥19.1 billion (12.3%) year on year. This increase was mainly due to an increase in costs following the abovementioned increase in business solution and others revenue, the effect of the aforementioned business succession of WeWork Japan GK, and an increase in personnel expenses.

As a result, segment income increased by ¥1.3 billion (3.3%) year on year to ¥41.5 billion.

[Note]
  1. *7
    From the three months ended June 30, 2024, SB Technology Corp. and Cybertrust Japan Co., Ltd., etc., which were previously classified under Other, have been transferred to the Enterprise segment. Also, in the three months ended June 30, 2024, the Company has revised its business management categories and transferred certain products from Mobile and Fixed-line to Business solution and others. As a result, the figures for the Enterprise segment and the breakdown of all service categories in the segment revenue for the six months ended September 30, 2023 have been retrospectively adjusted.

Distribution segment

  • Revenue

  • Segment income

Distribution segment revenue increased by ¥131.4 billion (43.9%) year on year to ¥430.7 billion. This increase was mainly due to solid growth in ICT related products for enterprise customers and recurring revenue products such as cloud and SaaS, which have been strategic areas of focus, and the effect of inter-segment transactions related to AI computing infrastructure*8, as well as increased sales of PCs due to migration from Windows 10, which is reaching the end of its support.

Operating expenses were ¥414.5 billion, an increase of ¥128.7 billion (45.0%) year on year. This increase was mainly due to an increase in cost of sales associated with the increase in revenue.

As a result, segment income increased by ¥2.7 billion (19.9%) year on year to ¥16.2 billion.

[Note]
  1. *8
    These transactions refer to revenue to Other, resulting from SB C&S Corp.'s sale of AI computing infrastructure, which was purchased from NVIDIA, to SoftBank Corp.

Media & EC segment

  • Revenue*9

  • Segment income

Media & EC segment revenue increased by ¥35.6 billion (4.6%) year on year to ¥813.4 billion. Within Media & EC segment revenue, media revenue increased by ¥14.8 billion (4.3%) to ¥355.7 billion, commerce revenue increased by ¥13.5 billion (3.4%) to ¥406.9 billion, strategy revenue increased by ¥7.7 billion (19.3%) to ¥47.8 billion, and other revenue decreased by ¥0.4 billion (12.5%) to ¥3.0 billion. The increase in media revenue mainly reflected an increase in revenue from account advertising. The increase in commerce revenue was mainly due to an increase in transaction value of the ZOZO Group (ZOZO, Inc. and its subsidiaries) and the ASKUL Group (ASKUL Corporation and its subsidiaries). The increase in strategy revenue mainly reflected an increase in revenue in the FinTech field.

Operating expenses were ¥660.9 billion, a decrease of ¥7.9 billion (1.2%) year on year. This decrease mainly reflected the recording of gain on loss of control over subsidiaries for IPX Corporation, LINE NEXT Corporation, and ValueCommerce Co., Ltd., while there was an increase in expenses for sales promotion, security measures and others.

As a result, segment income increased by ¥43.5 billion (39.9%) year on year to ¥152.5 billion.

[Note]
  1. *9
    In the three months ended December 31, 2023, the LY Group revised its management categories and reclassified the categories of certain services. Accordingly, the breakdown of all service categories in the Media & EC segment revenue for the six months ended September 30, 2023 has been retrospectively adjusted.

Financial segment

  • Revenue

  • Segment income

Financial segment revenue increased by ¥20.4 billion (18.6%) year on year to ¥129.8 billion. This increase was mainly due to the growth of PayPay Corporation and PayPay Card Corporation, driven by factors such as an expansion in gross merchandise value.

Operating expenses were ¥116.2 billion, an increase of ¥4.8 billion (4.3%) year on year. This increase was mainly due to an increase in sales promotion expenses related to point rewards, etc., due to the aforementioned expansion in gross merchandise value by PayPay Corporation and PayPay Card Corporation.

As a result, segment income increased by ¥15.6 billion year on year to ¥13.6 billion, transitioning this segment to profitability.

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