VisasQ Inc. Q1 FY2026 earnings call

• Overall Quarterly Performance

  • Consolidated results missed year-over-year growth targets due to the decline in Global ENS Overseas transaction value and softer-than-expected Knowledge Platform performance, but results were broadly in line with the full-year guidance that had already factored in these headwinds. Both segments are showing improving trends, and growth investments are progressing on schedule.
  • The board of directors was strengthened: 2 internal executive directors joined from within the company, and 1 new independent outside director with development leadership experience joined, improving the balance of execution and oversight.

• Knowledge Platform Product Development

  • ビザスクtech launched in June 2025: this is an IT-expert focused service in the business contracting domain, addressing unmet customer demand for IT expertise while leveraging VisasQ's existing expert database. The service launch is progressing smoothly.
  • ビザスクdirect announced: this is a full rebrand and upgrade of the existing ビザスクlite self-matching product into a comprehensive talent matching service, marking VisasQ's entry into the mid-career recruitment space. It enables skill-based matching across full-time, part-time/side gig, and contract employment types to address the growing demand for skilled talent in the shift to job-based hiring. Formal full launch is scheduled for September 2025.

• Strategic Priorities Execution

  • For target large enterprises (98 major groups with high B2B research demand), management continues to prioritize opening new accounts within existing enterprises and expanding user adoption within existing accounts, and the strategy is delivering results for non-top-10 clients. Demand has begun to recover for the softening top 10 clients from April-May 2025.
  • Technology and AI investments are progressing: Global ENS will unify its platform across Japan and overseas, and AI adoption is advancing particularly in the US financial sector, improving operational productivity.

1. ナレッジプラットフォーム事業 (Knowledge Platform Business): Transaction value was nearly flat year-over-year; operating revenue increased 4% YoY. By customer segment: Growth companies +5% YoY, ビザスクlite +2.5% YoY, target large enterprises -4% YoY. Top 10 target enterprise clients saw a 23% YoY drop in transaction value due to soft demand for large surveys/reports, while all other target enterprises grew 29% YoY.
2. Global ENS Japan Business: Transaction value +2% YoY, operating revenue +6% YoY, in line with management expectations.
3. Global ENS Overseas Business: Transaction value decreased 11% YoY due to uncertain external market conditions, with weak performance in January-February, but saw an improving trend starting in March. Adjusted EBITDA decline was smaller than the revenue decline due to productivity-focused cost management.

Consolidated overall: Total consolidated transaction value 3.5 billion yen (-4% YoY), total consolidated operating revenue 2.4 billion yen (-3% YoY), adjusted EBITDA 0.2 billion yen, net profit 0.08 billion yen.

• Management maintains the full-year 2025 consolidated guidance, with no planned revisions; first quarter transaction value and operating revenue reached 23% of the full-year target, in line with expectations.
• The medium-term target of reaching 30 billion yen in transaction value by 2029 remains in place, and all key growth initiatives are progressing on schedule.

• Global ENS Overseas performance remains exposed to uncertain external market conditions that affect overall project volumes, which are outside of management's direct control.
• The Knowledge Platform Business still has concentration risk: softening demand at a small number of large top-10 target clients can meaningfully impact overall segment results.
• Engineer capacity constraints could limit the pace of ビザスクdirect development and AI investment, requiring careful prioritization of initiatives.
• While management sees limited substitution risk, there is potential that some basic information gathering demand could be displaced by generative AI.

Q: What improvements are driving the recent recovery in Global ENS Overseas transaction volume, and what is the current momentum?

A: The recovery starting in March reflects both a rebound in overall project volumes and the impact of management's ongoing productivity and AI investments. AI adoption is most advanced in the US financial sector, where it increases individual employee available time by automating routine tasks. This allows more time for client engagement and expert vetting, which directly improves matching conversion from projects to completed interviews, supporting the ongoing improving trend.

Q: What are the key differentiating strengths of ビザスクtech and ビザスクdirect, and what are your customer acquisition plans?

A: For ビザスクtech, the main strength is VisasQ's existing large pool of IT experts paired with the company's established strength in serving large enterprise clients, where demand for IT and project management expertise is growing rapidly. The key priority is building market positioning around VisasQ's IT expertise. For ビザスクdirect, core differentiators are skill-based matching (rather than traditional criteria like employer or age) and matching across all employment types, which lets clients source high-skill talent that would be unavailable through traditional full-time-only recruitment. Customer acquisition will focus first on converting existing VisasQ and ビザスクlite users who already have unmet talent sourcing needs.

Q: What areas of human capital strengthening are you prioritizing to hit your 2029 medium-term target, and how many additional employees do you expect to add?

A: The top priority is engineer hiring and skills development to support ビザスクdirect development and AI investments. The company is both hiring experienced engineers externally and upskilling existing team members on project management and English capabilities. In the business domain, the company is both growing internal training for client communication, logical thinking, and proposal skills, and hiring externally for talent with these capabilities. Most net headcount growth will be in Japan, while overseas will add targeted roles while maintaining productivity and profitability even amid uncertain external conditions.

Q: How will the rapid improvement in generative AI impact VisasQ's business?

A: Generative AI is a net positive for VisasQ because it improves internal productivity: it helps team members source appropriate experts across all industries, and the company is exploring how to integrate it into the platform to improve client productivity. VisasQ's core expert interview business focuses on collecting unspoken, personal, context-specific knowledge that cannot be found online or generated by generative AI. In the US market, where generative AI adoption is more advanced, interview demand has actually grown for consulting clients who need firsthand expert insights, so there is limited risk of core demand being displaced.