FY2027 is expected to follow a trend of higher revenue and profit, but the focus is whether half of the full-year plan can be secured in the first half.

First-quarter revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2027 was ¥289,348 million, up 5.7% year on year, while operating profit was ¥21,487 million, up 8.5%. Ordinary profit was ¥22,822 million, up 8.8%, and profit attributable to owners of the parent was ¥14,865 million, up 14.9%, with all major profit items increasing. Operating profit grew faster than revenue, indicating that profit growth is currently slightly outpacing revenue growth.

The full-year forecasts are revenue of ¥1,155,000 million, operating profit of ¥87,500 million, ordinary profit of ¥91,500 million and net profit of ¥59,000 million. First-quarter progress was 25.1% for revenue, 24.6% for operating profit, 24.9% for ordinary profit and 25.2% for net profit, around the 25% mark that would result from simply dividing the year into four quarters. However, as the company has not explicitly stated that its budget allocates 50% to the first half, revenue of ¥577,500 million and operating profit of ¥43,750 million should be treated as mechanical benchmarks for evaluating the next results.

The first-quarter operating margin was approximately 7.4%, below the approximately 7.6% calculated from the full-year forecast. Accordingly, at the interim stage we will look not only at whether revenue exceeds the year-earlier period, but also at whether operating profit progress lags revenue and whether the cumulative first-half margin approaches the level in the full-year plan. There were no revisions to the full-year earnings or annual dividend forecasts as of the first quarter, so the first item to check next will be whether the earnings forecast is maintained, raised or lowered.