Separating the early-retirement special loss from the core-business guidance

FY2027-Q1 revenue was ¥68,252 million, up 5.3% year on year, while operating income was ¥1,264 million, down 45.5%. The operating margin was approximately 1.85% based on the reported figures, down approximately 1.72 percentage points from approximately 3.57% in the year-earlier quarter. Ordinary income was ¥2,409 million, up 2.5% year on year, but revenue growth has not translated into operating-income growth. This will be the first point to assess in the next first-half results.

The company posted a net loss of ¥4,540 million, primarily due not to a recurring deterioration in non-operating items but to ¥5,382 million in extraordinary losses, including ¥5,374 million in special retirement payments related to the special early-retirement offer. The company left its full-year forecasts unchanged at ¥300,300 million in revenue, ¥10,100 million in operating income and ¥12,000 million in ordinary income, while revising only its forecast for net income attributable to owners of the parent, from ¥5,800 million to ¥1,000 million. The dividend forecast remains unchanged at ¥30 per share, indicating that the scope of the changes to earnings guidance and dividend policy has been presented separately.

The company expects approximately ¥1,100 million in personnel-cost savings from the second quarter onward as a result of early retirement, but as of FY2027-Q1 it has not clearly disclosed how much of the savings had been reflected in operating income or how they will be allocated among publishing, video and Web services. In FY2027-H1, we will assess whether additional special retirement payments were recorded, the number of employees actually subject to the reductions, the year-on-year change in fixed costs and the recovery in the operating margin. Operating cash flow in Q1 was an outflow of ¥2,074 million, so cash-generation capacity, including working capital and investment burdens, must be considered alongside the accounting net loss.