Growth in advertising and points revenue absorbs the decline in survey revenue

Revenue in FY2026-H1 was ¥3,721.656 million, up 17.4% year on year, but the breakdown was uneven. Survey revenue was ¥2,005.302 million, down 16.1% year on year, while advertising revenue was ¥1,525.236 million, up 97.1%, and other revenue was ¥191.117 million. In the year-earlier period, survey revenue was ¥2,390.703 million, advertising revenue was ¥773.653 million, and other revenue was ¥4.841 million, indicating that the sources of revenue growth are shifting from surveys to advertising and points-related businesses.

The increase in advertising revenue includes a timing effect from the business integration with GMOタウンWiFi: the current period includes 6 months of revenue, compared with 3 months in the year-earlier period. Accordingly, the 97.1% year-on-year increase cannot be viewed as the underlying growth rate of the advertising business. Next time, it will be necessary to assess advertising revenue growth excluding the integration-period effect, the contribution by app and media, and changes in advertising rates and revenue per user.

In the survey business, the company is pursuing structural reforms to improve profitability, focusing on subscription-type revenue rather than labor-intensive spot projects. Revenue has declined as a result, but first-half gross profit was ¥2,286 million, up 28.9% year on year, and the gross margin increased from approximately 50% to approximately 60%. However, because the company discloses only a single segment, operating profit and gross profit by function for surveys, advertising and other businesses are not disclosed, making it impossible to fully isolate the monetary effect of advertising growth on profit.

Following its first-half results, the company left its full-year revenue forecast unchanged at ¥7,087 million, while raising its operating profit forecast from ¥731 million to ¥800 million, its ordinary profit forecast from ¥654 million to ¥723 million, and its forecast for net profit attributable to owners of the parent from ¥377 million to ¥416 million. It also raised its annual dividend forecast to ¥70.86. In FY2026-Q3, it will be necessary to assess whether advertising revenue continues to grow after the timing effect rolls off, whether the decline in survey revenue begins to narrow as part of the structural reforms, and whether other revenue becomes an established new earnings pillar, from the perspectives of both revenue and margins by function.