Greater reliance on ¥380 million full-year profit target following wider operating loss in the first half

Operating revenue for the first half of the fiscal year ending December 2026 was ¥2,082.455 million, down 0.9% from ¥2,101.278 million in the year-earlier period. The operating loss widened from ¥89.069 million to ¥189.067 million, an increase of ¥99.998 million. Ordinary loss was ¥182.638 million, while the interim net loss attributable to owners of the parent was ¥251.037 million, indicating that profitability deteriorated by more than the modest decline in revenue. Calculated operating margin fell from approximately negative 4.2% in the year-earlier period to approximately negative 9.1% in the current period.

The full-year forecasts are operating revenue of ¥5,000 million, operating profit of ¥380 million, ordinary profit of ¥366 million and net profit attributable to owners of the parent of ¥340 million. At the first-half stage, operating revenue had reached only 41.6% of the full-year forecast, approximately 8.4 percentage points below the 50.0% passage-of-time benchmark based on an even split between the first and second halves. Assuming the full-year forecasts are unchanged, the second half would need to generate operating revenue of ¥2,917.545 million, operating profit of ¥569.067 million, ordinary profit of ¥548.638 million and net profit of ¥591.037 million. These are not company forecasts for the second half, but simply the differences between first-half results and the full-year forecasts.

The company has consistently explained that operating revenue and profit are concentrated from July through September, with the second half, particularly the third quarter, making a substantial contribution. It is therefore too early to conclude that the full-year targets will be missed based solely on first-half progress. However, even in the second quarter alone, operating revenue appears to have been approximately ¥946 million and the operating loss approximately ¥150 million, so there was no clear recovery in profitability toward the end of the first half. At the next earnings release, the focus will be not only on whether cumulative nine-month operating revenue reaches around ¥3,750 million, but also on how far cumulative operating results improve from the first-half loss of ¥189.067 million.

A substantial contribution from the third quarter alone will also be needed to offset the first-half operating loss and return to full-year profitability. Key points to assess include whether the peak-season effect described by the company, growth in domestic travel, monetisation of the mobility technology business and a reduction in the burden of upfront IT infrastructure investment all progress simultaneously. At the next earnings release, it will be important to see whether the company discloses not only whether its full-year forecasts remain unchanged, but also nine-month results versus plan, its demand and cost assumptions for the second half, and whether the recovery in operating profit reflects temporary seasonality or structural improvement.