9242.T

• Overall Financial Performance:

  • Reported double-digit year-over-year revenue and profit growth; total revenue for the period reached 1.536 billion yen, an increase of ~400 million yen year-over-year; operating profit increased by more than 100 million yen year-over-year.
  • Maintains a debt-free capital structure with an equity ratio of 85.3%, but faces the challenge of low return on equity (ROE).
  • Initiated dividend payments for the first time, with a planned dividend of 20 yen per share to shareholders of record as of July 31.

• Competitive Position & Core Business Advantages:

  • Holds a unique, near-monopolistic core position in Kosen (National College of Technology) career support, with virtually no national-scale competitors in the specialized Kosen-focused segment.
  • Built long-term trust-based relationships with Kosen faculty over many years, supported by consistent outreach and network expansion via the weekly web media Gekkan Kosen (over 600 issues published to date), creating high barriers to entry for new competitors.
  • Core in-person Kosen job fairs have maintained stable attendance (around 4,500 attendees across 8 venues) for over 10 years, as events are often promoted as school-led activities rather than relying solely on voluntary student participation.

• Recent Operational Milestones:

  • Completed the absorption of subsidiary Media Souken Innovations in July 2025, merging its operations into the internal "Recruitment Project" department that targets over 100 million yen in annual revenue.
  • Supports the Japan Kosen & University Support Foundation, a grant-based scholarship program for science and engineering students that expanded to 40 scholarship recipients (from fewer than 10 previously) after expanding eligibility nationwide.

• Growth Strategy:

  • Currently reaches only 20% of the total industrial talent market, so plans to expand services to other science and engineering students beyond Kosen graduates.
  • Prioritizes growth of high-margin consulting services for SMEs looking to hire Kosen graduates; the service, which combines consulting and web content, has already produced successful hiring results faster than expected, with large per-client revenue and high profit margins.

• Management expects continued stable growth going forward, with a focus on growing revenue and operating profit through organic expansion of the core event business and new consulting services, rather than aggressive, indiscriminate M&A.
• The company targets reducing revenue seasonality (which is currently heavily concentrated in Q2, driven by annual new graduate hiring cycles) by launching new initiatives to smooth quarterly revenue performance.
• Management is actively working toward meeting the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) Growth Market listing maintenance requirement of a 10 billion yen market capitalization, and has currently cleared the shorter-term流通株式時価総额 requirement after temporarily falling below it between May and July 2025.
• The consulting service segment is expected to gradually increase its share of total revenue and become a key growth driver for the company's profit over time.

1. Core Career Support (Kosen-focused Event & Digital Services): Current period revenue contributed ~10.36 billion yen (accounts for ~67.5% of total revenue), with growth driven by high market penetration of the Kosen Plus job site (80% of job-seeking Kosen students registered) and stable attendance at in-person events. 2. Adwill (Subsidiary Web Services): Contributed ~4.0 billion yen in revenue (accounts for ~26% of total revenue) after acquisition; segment results show a net loss due to heavy goodwill amortization, but the standalone core business is not unprofitable. 3. New Kosen Hiring Consulting Service: Currently in early growth, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with expected revenue contribution to increase over time as the business scales.

• The company temporarily breached the TSE Growth Market's trading market capitalization listing maintenance requirement between May and July 2025, and faces the longer-term challenge of meeting the requirement of a 10 billion yen market capitalization, which management acknowledges is a high hurdle.
• The core business is heavily concentrated on the Kosen graduate market, with limited reach to the broader 80% of the industrial talent market, creating concentration risk.
• The acquired Adwill subsidiary has heavy goodwill amortization that weighs on current segment profitability.
• New graduate hiring demand could potentially be affected by broader macroeconomic trends, though management notes that Kosen graduate hiring demand remains strong even amid economic slowdowns.

Q: Why is focusing exclusively on Kosen career support rare, and what does the competitive landscape look like for this niche? / A: Management states there are effectively no other nationwide companies that focus exclusively on Kosen graduate career support. Any previous large competitors have already exited the market, and only a small number of minor players remain active, leaving Media Souken in a near-monopoly position in the specialized market.

Q: What specific measures is the company taking to maintain listing on the TSE Growth Market, which requires 10 billion yen market capitalization within 5 years, and is a market segment change being considered? / A: Management acknowledges 10 billion yen market capitalization is a very high hurdle. The company plans to grow profits by expanding its new SME-focused Kosen hiring consulting service, a new growth area that the firm has not previously focused on. Management also confirms that switching from the Growth Market to the Standard Market is one potential option being considered.

Q: Adwill's segment result is currently in the red after acquisition—how is its performance progressing, and what are your plans going forward? / A: The segment-level deficit is driven by heavy goodwill amortization from the acquisition, and Adwill's standalone core business is not unprofitable. Going forward, the company will prioritize strengthening sales in the Tokai region, where Adwill is based, to leverage the new geographic foothold for group-level growth, as many major Japanese manufacturers are concentrated in this region.