Starts Publishing Corporation Q4 FY2025 earnings call

• Corporate Vision & Mission

  • Corporate vision remains "To become a company that produces moving experiences" and mission remains "Creating demand for culture and smiles", unchanged under the new management structure. The company will leverage its publishing assets to create moving experiences for all stakeholders including readers, users, and partners.
  • This period's slogan is "Shift from product-out to market-in", reflecting a focus on actively pursuing what readers and users demand and delivering products and services accordingly, as historical success patterns have become less reliable in the fast-changing market.

• Organizational Restructuring

  • Both business segments updated their organizational structure to realize the market-in focus: For the Book Content Business, integrated editors, marketing personnel to build cross-functional product-sales integrated teams, expanding on the prior hybrid editor structure that had editors handle both literary and comic content; For the Media Solution Business, cross-functional teams of editing, planning, sales, and system development are aligned to four core markets (restaurant, accommodation/tourism, beauty/healthcare, city/outing), segmented by user needs based on who the customer is with and what experience they are seeking.
  • The former contract-focused system development group was reorganized into the full-operation Acceleration Group to drive AI initiatives, shifting team member mindsets to focus on faster innovation.
  • A president-led corporate planning department will be established to specifically execute strategic investments including capital alliances and M&A, making this the new leadership team's top strategic priority.

• Balance Sheet Strength

  • The company holds a strong financial foundation with 83.5% equity ratio and zero debt. As of the end of 2025, retained earnings total approximately 9 billion yen, providing sufficient capital to accelerate growth investments for the next stage of expansion.

• IP Development and Revenue Maximization

  • 17 of the company's original works are confirmed for video adaptation starting from 2026. 6 works will be adapted in 2026 (doubling the 3 works adapted in the prior fiscal year), led by the live-action film and anime adaptation of the popular title Oni no Hanayome (The Demon's Bride). 9 works are already confirmed for adaptation in 2027, with additional works in active discussions for adaptation in 2028 and beyond. The rights team has been expanded in headcount this period to support this growth.
  • The company uses a "stacked multi-channel" 3D development strategy for hit IP: Oni no Hanayome won the top overall prize and two consecutive first place finishes in the shoujo comic category at the Comic Seymour Electronic Comic Award, and the company executed coordinated promotions across physical bookstores (with special dedicated display corners, newly printed volumes with "video adaptation confirmed" belly bands) and electronic bookstores (with large-scale promotional features) when the adaptation was announced. The company is preparing expanded promotions for the film release and anime broadcast period, and is currently progressing with overseas translated publication to capitalize on growing international attention from the anime adaptation.
  • A recent successful example of this strategy is Shugakuryokou de Nakayokunai Group ni Hairimashita, which received a drama adaptation just 6 months after the youth BL label it belongs to launched. Despite airing in a late-night Kansai local slot, the cast's active SNS promotion pushed the drama to 2nd place on the TVer drama ranking, an unexpected hit for a BL drama. Coordinated releases of the second volume of the print novel and an electronic comic adaptation followed the drama hit, leading to a reprint of the first volume that pushed cumulative sales over 106,000 copies and 14,000 downloads of the electronic comic in its first 3 days. This hit has drawn increased industry attention to the company's youth BL label, accelerating video adaptation discussions for other works in the label.
  • The company is executing cross-business product development that leverages the strengths of both its core business segments: the recently launched title Mayonaka 3-ji no Kuroneko Kissaten originated from the company's internal cross-departmental future project initiative, with a book editor with experience at Ozmall collaborating with the Ozmall editorial team to deliver a serialized run on Ozmall followed by a print book launch, plus coordinated cross-promotion: cat-loving users can experience the single-person afternoon tea experiences Ozmall specializes in that are featured in the work, while Ozmall users planning afternoon tea visits are introduced to the comic title on OZcomics.

• AI Utilization

  • The company is utilizing multiple AI tools including generative AI and AI agents. Generative AI is already being used to improve operational efficiency for content checks (to comply with strict publishing/media industry accuracy rules), and the company is rolling out visual-first training to help team members that see AI as intimidating understand its usefulness. The company has already launched an AI-powered restaurant and shop search function for Ozmall on LINE, and will actively expand AI-powered user-facing services this fiscal year.

• Corporate Culture

  • 73% of the company's employees are women, and approximately half of all management positions are held by women, with a focus on creating a supportive workplace for employees returning from maternity and childcare leave. The company maintains multiple initiatives to support employee development and cross-departmental communication, including cross-departmental seminars, internal project pitch programs, the restarted all-employee bonding trip moa Jam (which held its 20th iteration last year after a pandemic pause), and ongoing cross-departmental shuffle lunch events that group employees with shared interests for lunch at Ozmall-listed restaurants. This open culture enables the cross-departmental collaboration that has produced successful new products.

1. 書籍コンテンツ事業 (Book Content Business): Achieved a rebound in the second half of the fiscal year, but still reported lower revenue and lower profit year-over-year. No absolute financial values or revenue contribution percentages were provided in the transcript. 2. メディアソリューション事業 (Media Solution Business): Reported a slight increase in both revenue and profit year-over-year. No absolute financial values or revenue contribution percentages were provided in the transcript.

• The company expects that the prior period's upfront investments for new labels and video adaptation development will deliver results in the 2026 December term, with a full earnings recovery planned.
  • The company updated its medium-term management plan to a rolling three-year plan that will be revised every fiscal period to reflect changing internal and external market conditions and plan progress.
  • The updated 2026-2028 medium-term plan targets: record-high sales in 2026, record-high profit in 2027, and breaking through 10 billion yen in total sales revenue in 2028.
  • 2 new comic labels are planned for launch in 2026, following 5 new labels launched in the prior period, which will push the total number of new publications to an all-time high. The company will focus on improving profitability per work and per label by prioritizing distribution and promotion of launched products, in addition to creating new products that meet reader demand.
  • Growth investments (capital alliances and M&A) are expected to deliver two types of benefits: synergies for existing businesses and entirely new business lines. The specific business segmentation of these benefits remains fluid at this stage.

There is no explicit discussion of risk factors or operational failures provided in the available transcript.

There is no question and answer section included in the available transcript.