Can the high-growth guidance for FY2027 be validated from Q1?

In FY2026, revenue was ¥4,464 million, operating profit was ¥320 million, ordinary profit was ¥282 million, and net income attributable to owners of the parent was ¥255 million. Year on year, revenue increased 9.7%, operating profit 75.9%, ordinary profit 86.9%, and net income 74.9%, with the recovery in earnings far outpacing revenue growth. The first question for FY2027-Q1 is whether this improvement is continuing on a quarterly basis rather than reflecting the recognition of a one-off project.

The company's full-year FY2027 forecast calls for revenue of ¥5,800 million and operating profit of ¥630 million. Ordinary profit is planned on the basis of the disclosed figures, while net income attributable to owners of the parent is forecast at ¥400 million. Compared with FY2026 actual results, the plan targets revenue growth of approximately 30.0%, operating profit growth of approximately 96.6%, and net income growth of approximately 56.7%, implying faster earnings growth than revenue growth. Dividing the full-year plan evenly across 4 quarters produces Q1 benchmarks of ¥1,450 million in revenue and ¥157.5 million in operating profit, but these are mechanical reference points for measuring progress, not the company's quarterly forecasts.

The comparison base, FY2026-Q1, produced revenue of ¥994 million, operating profit of ¥15 million, ordinary profit of ¥8 million, and net income of ¥2 million. By contrast, cumulative FY2026-Q3 revenue had reached ¥3,332 million and operating profit ¥245 million, representing progress of approximately 69.4% and 64.7%, respectively, against the then full-year forecasts of ¥4,800 million in revenue and ¥380 million in operating profit. FY2026 actual results subsequently came to ¥4,464 million in revenue and ¥320 million in operating profit. In FY2027-Q1, the focus will be not only on a substantial year-on-year improvement, but also on how quickly the company can reach the higher level implied by the revised FY2027 full-year plan.

At the next earnings release, investors will need to review consolidated revenue and operating profit, as well as which of the materials and resources businesses drove the increase in revenue and earnings, whether the operating margin improved, and whether the FY2027 full-year forecast is being maintained. Merely exceeding the ¥15 million in operating profit recorded in the year-earlier quarter would largely reflect the low base. It will therefore be important to see whether operating profit approaches the mechanically calculated ¥157.5 million quarterly benchmark, or whether the company provides specific projects, production capacity and volume data to explain a back-end-loaded second half.