Gakken Holdings (9470) Q4 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Net sales rose 13.1% year-over-year to ¥185.5 billion, driven by growth in healthcare, nursing, education, textbook revisions, and M&A activity.

• Operating profit increased 11.5% YoY to ¥6.88 billion, while net profit declined 29.2% to ¥2.26 billion due to a ¥2.3 billion extraordinary loss from share sales.

• All medium-term plan targets were met except net profit.

• Comprehensive income dropped 58.2% YoY to ¥2.38 billion.

Financial highlights

• EBITDA increased 19.8% YoY to ¥11.16 billion.

• Ordinary profit was ¥6.90 billion, up 6.6% YoY.

• Gross profit reached ¥49.90 billion, up from ¥46.69 billion YoY.

• Equity ratio improved to 39.4% despite a ¥2 billion share buyback.

• Profit per share was ¥52.99, down from ¥72.51 the previous year.

Outlook and guidance

• FY2025 targets: net sales ¥200.0 billion (+7.8% YoY), operating profit ¥7.0 billion (+1.7%), ordinary profit ¥7.2 billion (+4.3%), net profit ¥3.5 billion (+54.8%), profit per share ¥84.51.

• ROE expected to improve from 4.3% to 6.6% in FY2025.

• Focus on accelerating growth in healthcare, global, workforce development, and language learning.