Sun Asterisk <4053> expands the digital creative studio business that promotes industrial digitization.

Among the two service lines, the 'Creative & Engineering' (87% of revenue composition) mainly supports Japanese clients from business idea generation to product development and continuous growth in terms of creative and engineering aspects. As of the first half of the fiscal year ending December 2024, the number of stock-type customers was 127 companies (planned for this fiscal year is 140 companies), and the monthly average customer unit price (ARPU) was 5.08 million yen (5.27 million yen). Recent development support includes the listing support of Timey <215A>, DX logistics system development for Daikin <6367>, JAL mileage bank app, Nissan Rent-A-Car official app, and many more. On the other hand, the 'Talent Platform' (23% of revenue composition) provides services to promote digitization by fostering talent and supporting job placement. Sun terras, a subsidiary, operates the programming school "GEEK JOB," operates the "Advanced IT Human Resources Development Selection Course" in collaboration with top universities in various Asian countries including Vietnam, and provides support for client recruitment through a specialized team to discover skilled talents within Japan (regardless of nationality).

The cumulative revenue for the first half increased by 6.5% year-on-year to 65,170 million yen, and the operating profit landed at 727 million yen, a decrease of 15.6% year-on-year. In terms of operating profit, while the first quarter increased by 19.7%, the period from April to June saw a sharp decline of 59.0%. Although there was an increase in revenue year-on-year for the main creative and engineering sector, the completion of specific large projects led to a decline in operating profit due to increased personnel costs (sales and administrative expenses) resulting from a temporary decrease in operational rate and the impact of the weakening yen. However, the number of stock-type customers increased by 3 companies to 48 companies, mainly focusing on enterprise customers, and the average ARPU for all customers has been stable. Progress towards annual performance forecasts has been delayed, but operational changes and review of activities have been implemented in the sales department to aim for the achievement of annual performance forecasts through acquiring new customers and increasing order receipts in the second half. Annual revenue is expected to increase by 20.3% year-on-year to 1,506.1 billion yen, and operating profit is expected to increase significantly by 21.8% year-on-year to 2,162 million yen.

The company develops a unique service that supports clients from business idea generation to product development and continuous growth in both creative and engineering aspects, resulting in few competitors. With over 600 new business development support achievements and insights, and employing specialized engineers, the company also has about 1,380 in-house engineers in the development base of its Vietnamese subsidiary, enabling software development at a lower cost than domestic engineers in Japan. In the future, Sun Asterisk aims to expand its connections with customers that were previously inaccessible through alliances and the utilization of consolidated subsidiaries, especially targeting large enterprises that can undertake high-value projects. The establishment of the sales structure seems to be progressing in the first half, indicating that the performance contribution level is worth noting.