Can the strong first-half earnings progress be maintained in the third quarter?

In the first half of FY2026 ending December, revenue was ¥16,652.641 million, operating profit was ¥3,166.502 million, profit before tax was ¥4,412.914 million, and profit attributable to owners of the parent was ¥4,086.893 million. Year on year, revenue increased 9.5%, operating profit increased 56.4%, and profit attributable to owners of the parent increased 120.2%, with profit growth substantially outpacing top-line growth.

Following the first-half results, the company set full-year forecasts of revenue of ¥33,300 million, Non-GAAP operating profit of ¥5,400 million, and profit attributable to owners of the parent of ¥6,000 million. Revenue progress was 50.0%, while Non-GAAP operating profit was ¥3,026 million, representing 56.0% progress, and net profit had reached 68.1%. Although revised earnings forecast figures were disclosed this time, the figures before revision and the amount of the revision were not disclosed, so the scale of the upward revision itself cannot be verified.

A simple progress line reaching 75% of the full-year plan on a cumulative 3Q basis would imply revenue of ¥24,975 million, Non-GAAP operating profit of ¥4,050 million, and profit attributable to owners of the parent of ¥4,500 million. The additional amounts required from the first half through the third quarter are ¥8,322 million, ¥1,024 million, and ¥413 million, respectively. Since net profit has already reached 68.1% of the full-year forecast, the key issues are whether profit generated from operating activities is continuing and whether the margin has fallen sharply in the third quarter, rather than simply whether the nominal targets are achieved.

In the third quarter, we want to confirm whether existing and new projects in the Marketing & Communication business, offline advertising projects in the Direct Business, and engineer utilization and service expansion in the Data & Solutions business are continuing to drive higher revenue and profit. The next focus will be not only whether the full-year forecasts are maintained, but also how specifically the company explains order intake, productivity, and expense plans for each business as the basis for maintaining those forecasts.