PB Systems Research Memo (8): Actively expanding into semiconductor-related companies in core businesses.

Fisco Japan · Jun 11 11:38

■ピー・ビーシステムズ＜4447＞の業績動向

3. 2024年9月期上期のセグメント別業績動向

2024年9月期上期のセグメント別業績は、セキュアクラウドシステム事業の売上高が前年同期比29.2%増の1,113百万円、セグメント損益が128百万円の利益（前年同期は58百万円の損失）、エモーショナルシステム事業の売上高が同15.0%減の39百万円、セグメント損益が7百万円の損失（同3百万円の利益）となった。セキュアクラウドシステム事業は大幅な増収、黒字転換となったが、前年同期は特殊要因である高難易度VDI案件対応による影響が大きかった。特殊要因のなかった前々年同期と比較してみると売上高は前々年同期比1.1%減とほぼ同水準を確保している。同水準と言っても、同社の収益構造はもともと第2四半期（1月-3月）と第4四半期（7月-9月）に業績偏重傾向があった。しかし、2022年9月期は案件前倒しに戦略的に取り組んだことで上期業績が好調だったことから、その水準と同等ということで、客観的にも事業は好調に推移しているといえよう。また、エモーショナルシステム事業については2023年9月期の通信事業者向けMetaWalkersのイベント需要が一巡したことが主な要因で、減収赤字転落となった。

セキュアクラウドシステム事業では、2024年1月に開設した東京オフィスと同年2月に開設した技術開発拠点「エンジニアハビタット」（福岡県）を拠点として、活況を迎えている半導体関連企業へ集中的にアプローチしてクラウド基盤構築案件を獲得し、これが売上に大きく寄与した。半導体関連企業案件の特長は、クラウドの中でもVDIが占める割合は大きいが、それ以外への対応も要求されることだ。例えば、2024年1月に受注した半導体メーカー向け製品を製造するロキテクノの案件では、VDIのほかネットワーク構築やVDI基盤まで広範囲にわたり対応する。さらにその業界特性から、不具合のない安定稼動やストレスフリーなシステム反応速度などが高度に要求されるほか、業務量の増加に伴いシステムに負荷がかかるリスクも考慮する必要がある。必然的にシステム構成内容は高度になり、案件規模も大きくなる。収益性の観点でも、半導体関連企業を中心にクラウド基盤に高性能な機器を要求されるケースが増えている点は追い風だ。2024年9月期上期の高付加価値製商品（粗利益率25%以上）の物販売上高は前年より倍増の367百万円（前年同期実績163百万円）となっていることがその証左であるほか、同時点での半導体や電子材料関連の売上高は約300百万円と売上に大きく貢献している。また、それら案件の営業地区別構成比は首都圏が約75%、九州近郊が約25%となっており、首都圏・九州2拠点体制での集中攻勢は奏功していると言えそうだ。

エモーショナルシステム事業については、沖縄県の与那原大綱曳資料館で360度の3Dシアターを稼動させたほか、MetaWalkersが「超体験 NHKフェス 2024 in SHIBUYA」で採用されるなど、着実に新ニーズを掘り起こし、売上に寄与した。加えて、従来需要である遊園地アトラクション用映像システム販売に加え、企業向けメタバースのストックビジネスも貢献している。ただし、全体としては2023年9月期まで好調であった通信事業者向けのイベント需要が一巡した反動減をカバーしきれなかった。2023年9月期に悲願のセグメント黒字化を達成した直後ということもあり、小幅とはいえセグメント赤字に転落したことはややネガティブな印象である。一方、ヘルスケア領域に向けてシニア世代向けの身体と脳を活性化させるシステムをブラッシュアップ中のほか、360度のフィットネスゲームの初期開発が完了しており、スポーツ科学領域でも新規案件が進行中だ。今は種まきの段階だが手応えを得ており、早ければ下期以降に成果を見込む案件もあるもよう。

なお、受注残については、セキュアクラウドシステム事業において前年同期比12.5%減の704百万円となった。理由は見込んでいた中規模案件が4月以降に延期されたためで、予定通りに進捗していれば前年同期水準の受注を達成できていたと弊社では考えている。実際、同社側も期中での受注を見込んでいるようであり、大きな懸念はないだろう。SaaS、AI、ゲームなどオンライン事業者向けには、パートナーであるクラウド/データセンター事業者との交流を活発化させることで協業を図り、クラウド構築需要を発掘したことが寄与した。エモーショナルシステム事業については前年同期比82.8%減の5百万円となった。こちらも2023年9月期の通信事業者向けMetaWalkersのイベント需要が一巡したことを受けての結果だが、受注残の内訳は、企業向けメタバースのストックビジネスによる安定受注やイベント案件受注である。両事業合計での上期末受注残高は前年同期末比15.0%減の709百万円で着地した。

今後の受注獲得、特にエモーショナルシステム事業については、新設した東京オフィスにMetaWalkersの体験スペースを設置して顧客との接触回数を増やしているほか、沖縄県の与那原大綱曳資料館での導入を契機に自治体への販売促進、ローラー営業を展開している。企業向けメタバースでは従来の観光、スポーツ科学、防災に新たに「宇宙」を加えた4分野に集中し、需要発掘に注力しており、第3四半期期間ではあるが東京都が開催する「SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024」におけるショーケースプログラムの技術パートナーとして、大林組＜1802＞の宇宙エレベーター建設構想をベースとした宇宙エレベーター体験の企画制作に参画するなどニーズを具体化させている。信頼関係を構築済みのセキュアクラウドシステム事業の既存顧客や同事業のセミナー起点で新たに接点を持った新規見込客に対して、クロスセルを積極展開して需要の掘り起こしに注力しており、手応えを得ているようだ。

（執筆：フィスコアナリスト　村瀬智一）

Performance Trend of P-B Systems <4447>

3. Segment Performance Trend for the First Half of 2024

In the first half of the fiscal year ending September 2024, the secure cloud system business had a sales revenue of 1,113 million yen, a 29.2% increase from the same period last year. The segment profit was a profit of 128 million yen (compared to a loss of 58 million yen in the same period last year). The emotional system business had a sales revenue of 39 million yen, a 15.0% decrease from the same period last year. The segment profit was a loss of 7 million yen (compared to a profit of 3 million yen in the same period last year). The secure cloud system business achieved substantial revenue growth and turned into profit, but the impact of the high-difficulty VDI project support, which was a special factor in the same period last year, was significant. Comparing to the same period two years ago, without any special factors, the sales revenue has maintained almost the same level with a 1.1% decrease from the same period two years ago. Even though at the same level, the revenue structure of the company originally had an emphasis on performance in the second quarter (January-March) and the fourth quarter (July-September). However, due to strategic efforts to work on bringing forward projects, the first half of the fiscal year ending September 2022 had a good performance, reaching the same level as those quarters, and objectively the business is performing well. In addition, the main reason for the decline in sales revenue and turning into a deficit for the emotional system business was the leveling off of the event demand for MetaWalkers for communication carriers in the fiscal year 2023 ending in September.

In the secure cloud system business, with Tokyo office opened in January 2024 and technical development base "Engineer Habitat" (Fukuoka prefecture) opened in February of the same year as bases, the company's approach to semiconductor-related companies that are thriving has led to the acquisition of cloud infrastructure construction projects. This significantly contributed to the sales. The characteristic of semiconductor-related company projects is that the proportion of VDI in the cloud is significant, but other responses are also required. For example, in the case of the project for Lokitechno, a semiconductor manufacturer that was contracted in January 2024, they needed to respond to a wide range of areas, from network construction to the VDI foundation, in addition to VDI. Furthermore, due to the industry's characteristics, high demands are placed on stable operation without malfunctions and stress-free system response speed, and it is necessary to consider the risk of system load as workload increases. As a result, the system configuration content becomes highly complicated, and the project scale also becomes larger. From the revenue standpoint, there has been an upswing in that semiconductor-related companies are increasingly requiring high-performance equipment for cloud infrastructure. The sales revenue of high value-added commodity products (gross profit margin of 25% or more) for the first half of 2024 doubled from the previous year to 367 million yen (actual results for the same period last year 163 million yen). At the same time, sales of semiconductors and electronic material-related products have contributed significantly, totaling approximately 300 million yen. In addition, the ratio of these project sales by region was approximately 75% in the Tokyo metropolitan area and approximately 25% in the vicinity of Kyushu, and the concentrated attack with the two bases in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Kyushu seems to have been successful.

For the emotional system business, besides launching a 360-degree 3D theater at the Yunaha Danitaka Pull Museum in Okinawa, and having MetaWalkers selected for the "Chotaiken NHK Fes 2024 in Shibuya" and contributing to the sales, they steadily uncovered new needs. In addition to the sale of image systems for amusement park attractions, they are also contributing to stock businesses for corporate meta-verses. However, the overall segment was unable to cover the backlash reduction due to the decline in event demand for communication carriers, which was in good shape until the fiscal year ending September 2023. It is somewhat negative that, just after achieving the long-awaited segment profit in the fiscal year ending September 2023, it turned into a segment deficit, though it was a small one. On the other hand, they are brushing up a system to activate the body and brain of senior citizens targeting the healthcare field, and the initial development of a 360-degree fitness game has been completed. New projects are also progressing in the sports science field. It is in the stage of sowing seeds, but some projects are expected to produce results in the latter half or later.

Regarding the order backlog, it was ¥704 million, a decrease of 12.5% compared to the same period of the previous year, in the secure cloud system business. The reason for this was that the mid-sized projects that were anticipated were postponed after April, and we believe that if progress had progressed as planned, we could have achieved orders at the same level as the previous year. In fact, the company also expects to receive orders during the period, so there is no major concern. Collaboration was achieved by enhancing the interaction with cloud / data center service providers, who are partners, for online businesses such as SaaS, AI, and gaming, and by exploring the demand for cloud construction. For the emotional system business, the result was ¥5 million, a decrease of 82.8% compared to the same period of the previous year. This was also due to the completion of the event demand for MetaWalkers for communication service providers for the September 2023 period, but the breakdown of the order backlog is a stable order for the stock business of corporate meta-universes and an order for event projects. The order backlog at the end of the second quarter for both businesses together was ¥709 million, a decrease of 15.0% compared to the same period of the previous year.

For future order acquisitions, especially in the emotional system business, we are increasing the number of customer contacts by setting up MetaWalkers experiential spaces in our newly established Tokyo office, as well as promoting sales to local governments, including the installation in the Yonabaru Tsunahiro Shiryokan in Okinawa, and deploying roller sales. We are focusing on four areas, namely tourism, sports science, disaster prevention, and space, in corporate meta-universes to explore demand, and even though it is in the third quarter period, we are concretizing needs, such as participating in the showcase program at "SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024" hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a technical partner for the production of an elevator space experience based on the space elevator construction concept of Obayashi Corporation <1802>. We are actively promoting cross-selling to existing customers of the secure cloud system business who have already established a relationship of trust, as well as new prospective clients that have been in contact through seminars in the same business, and are making progress.

(Writer: FISCO analyst Tomoichi Murase)

The translation is provided by third-party software.

The above content is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice related to Futu. Although we strive to ensure the truthfulness, accuracy, and originality of all such content, we cannot guarantee it.

PBシステムズ Research Memo（8）：主力事業では半導体関連企業へ積極展開

PB Systems Research Memo (8): Actively expanding into semiconductor-related companies in core businesses.

Risk Disclaimer

Statement