Material Group<156A> is mainly engaged in PR consulting business. Its high PR planning ability is its characteristic due to the division of labor, where each staff member has high expertise. About 40% of the revenue of the PR consulting business is for advertising agencies, and about 60% is for business companies that are the ordering party. Major advertising agencies such as Dentsu and Hakuhodo also have PR companies like the company within the group, but the company's high PR planning ability is appreciated, resulting in an increasing number of orders from these major advertising agencies.
Looking back at the past business performance, particularly beginning in 2021, the growth has been high, with a growth forecast from JPY 2 billion in the 2020 August period up to JPY 5.8 billion in the August 2024 period. Since 2019, Mr. Aozaki and Mr. Yoshida have been appointed as CEO and CFO, respectively, with a strong emphasis on strengthening management and actively executing mergers and acquisitions. Particularly, by properly managing talent resources even as the organization expands, control of the productivity per employee has resulted in an operating profit margin of over 15% in the August 2023 period, which surpasses the 11% of similar companies and 7% of Sunny Side Up.
At present, we cannot respond to all incoming cases due to capacity issues. Therefore, although the number of employees of Material Co., Ltd., a core subsidiary, is currently about 150, we will continue to accelerate hiring and aim for a staff of 1,000 in the medium to long term to expand our business.
Before the IPO, the majority of the issued shares are held by a fund under Advantage Partners Co., Ltd., and the fund still holds around 45% of the same shares. The fund's stance is to pursue share price appreciation due to the company's medium- to long-term growth, and our policy is to aim for listing on the Prime market by selling shares.
We are also actively engaged in shareholder returns, and while we achieve high growth, our dividend payout ratio is relatively high at 33%, which is recognized.