■Future Outlook LeTech <3497> expects an increase in sales and ordinary income of more than 20%, with sales of 2.14 billion yen (+33.8% YoY), operating income of 150 million yen (+7.7% YoY), ordinary income of 100 million yen (+21.7% YoY), and net income of 1.03 billion yen (-11.4% YoY) for the July 2024 term, and has maintained its initial forecast (announced in September 2023).
Performance outlook for the fiscal year ending October 2024.
At JSB <3480>, the current market environment is relatively favorable, despite the declining birthrate in recent years due to the aging population, while student numbers continue to reach record highs. As for the domestic economy, while there is some normalization due to the classification shift of COVID-19 to a category 5 infection in May 2023, there is uncertainty about the future of the economy due to the impact of monetary tightening for rapid price increases, sharp fluctuations in exchange rates, and escalating tensions in the Middle East. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to continue to carefully assess future economic conditions. Against this backdrop, we aim for sustained growth of the group by carefully evaluating domestic and international markets while keeping in mind various risks such as concerns about revenue pressure on meal-inclusive apartment operations due to various risks such as the impact of rising raw material prices on new property development costs, rising food procurement prices, and rising energy prices that entail increased costs on infrastructure.
We will maintain our earnings forecast at the beginning of the period for the consolidated performance outlook for the fiscal year ending October 2024, and plan to increase sales revenue by 7.6% YoY to JPY 68,652 million, operating profit by 5.0% YoY to JPY 7,549 million, ordinary profit by 4.3% YoY to JPY 7,380 million, and net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company by 47.8% YoY to JPY 7,058 million. In sales revenue, we expect to increase our property management units by approximately 9,000 units by promoting our sales strategy using both face-to-face and non-face-to-face methods, and to cover the expected decrease in revenue from the sale of shares of Grand Uni Life Care Services. The significant increase in the number of property management units includes approximately 3,500 units owned by the subsidiary Student Housing, which was established in November 2023. In addition, the effect of revising the system for occupancy-related expenses (changing from a lump-sum payment at the time of occupancy to a monthly payment option) is expected to be resolved for the entire year. We also anticipate certain cost increases, such as increased rental and related expenses due to the significant increase in the number of property management units and the impact of rising food procurement prices. In addition, due to the recording of special profit of approximately JPY 2.9 billion related to the sale of shares of Grand Uni Life Care Services, we expect a significant increase in net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company. On the other hand, we expect that our business alliance with Gakken Holdings <9470>, concluded in conjunction with the sale of shares of Grand Uni Life Care Services, will contribute to profits in the long term. It is generally believed that the initial earnings forecast for the year is conservative, so our company sees a high probability of exceeding the forecast.
(Written by FISCO guest analyst Nozomi Kokushige).