■Company Overview

1. Company Overview and History

J-Lease (7187) is one of the major companies in the rent debt guarantee industry. Established in 2004 in Oita Prefecture, it has provided community-based rent debt guarantee services from the beginning, and has solidified the foundation of Kyushu by increasing the number of branches in Miyazaki and Kumamoto. In 2010, it expanded into eastern Japan, starting with Tokyo and Niigata, and expanded its base to major cities nationwide (36 stores nationwide as of 2024/3). Although Kyushu's ratio has been high for a long time in terms of sales composition by region, Kanto now surpasses Kyushu. Furthermore, the company's features are the provision of community-based services and multi-store development, and support from small to medium real estate companies is strong, and agreements have been signed with 26,000 real estate companies. It is a rare company that is in the top group in both residential rent guarantee and business rent guarantee markets. In the newly announced 3-year management plan, it was declared that it would go beyond the guarantee area and aim to be a “company that connects people with trust.” Based on this policy, Avis was grouped and the business area was expanded into IT systems in 2024/4.

It was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (hereafter, Tokyo Stock Exchange) Mothers in 2016/6, promoted to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Division 1 section in 2018/3, and transitioned to the prime market due to the reorganization of the Tokyo Stock Exchange market division in 2022/4. As of 2024/3, it is the only rent debt guarantee company and the only prime market listed company.

2. Business structure

The company's business is divided into “guarantee related business” and “real estate-related business.” The main “guarantee related business” undertakes guarantees in place of joint guarantors for those planning to move into rental real estate, and mainly provides rent debt guarantee services that guarantee stable rent income to real estate owners through subrogation payments, etc. in the event of delinquency. The sales structure ratio accounts for 96.6% (fiscal year ending 2024/3), and the profit structure ratio accounts for 98.8% (same). As types of guarantees, there are residential rent guarantees for general rental condominiums and apartments, etc., and commercial rent guarantees for stores and offices, but in addition to product details, credit examination methods, business methods, and debt management methods are different for each. Also, medical cost guarantees for new businesses also belong to this segment. Meanwhile, the “real estate-related business” provides rental housing to foreigners, sells real estate properties, and mediates and manages leases at the subsidiary Asumirai. The scale is small, with a sales composition ratio of 3.4% (same) and a profit structure ratio of 1.2% (same). From the fiscal year ending 2025/3, the IT system business will be recorded due to M&A in 2024/4 (consolidated starting in 2024/5, sales are expected to be on the scale of 1.1 billion yen).

(Written by FISCO Visiting Analyst Hideo Kakuta)