9331.T

Company Overview & Core Positioning

• Founded in 2014 as a pioneer of fully remote work, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in 2023, and shifted to "AI FIRST Management" from 2025, transitioning to an AI-BPaaS business model that integrates human and AI capabilities for back-office operations.
• Acquired/established 3 AI/technology-related subsidiaries to strengthen domestic and international development and service delivery capabilities. Leverages over 1.5 million past business data points to enable AI-powered business redesign, positioning itself as an AI-native back-office infrastructure provider addressing widespread labor shortages.

2nd Quarter Financial Results

• Total company revenue reached 2.24 billion yen, with operating profit of 24 million yen, marking two consecutive quarters of operating profit driven by continued cost structure improvement.
• Balance sheet and equity ratio showed no major material changes, and cash balances have not been significantly impacted to date.

AI FIRST Strategic Initiatives

• Pig out: A test service that lets users submit task instructions via a ChatGPT-style interface, automatically decomposes tasks into step-by-step workflows, and currently matches tasks to human workers, with a planned gradual shift to hybrid AI-human operation to test scalable low-cost service delivery for very small clients.
• AI Employee New Service Launch: Scheduled for a May launch, this service provides customizable, continuously maintained autonomous AI agents that operate in customers' own environments, addressing the common pain point that most companies cannot fully in-house AI implementation and operation.
• Existing Service Expansion (NEO assistant): Expanding AI-powered contracted development services, with a planned shift to AI-fronted services where AI handles customer communication, task decomposition, and work allocation, supported by human oversight, for existing CASTER BIZ lines.
• Employee Training & AI Reskilling: Completed basic AI reskilling training for all employees, with plans to roll out upper-intermediate and advanced training to enable all staff to gain AI-related skills, targeting major improvements in overall operational efficiency beyond the current 50% AI penetration mark.

Recent Launches & New Vertical Expansion

• Implemented autonomous AI agents in CASTER BIZ accounting, and partnered early for the Claude Cowork Finance plugin, attracting strong customer interest from enterprises that lack in-house capacity to adopt the technology.
• Launched a dedicated plan for medical corporations and nursing care providers, responding to growing customer demand and new market gaps created by recent regulatory changes in the sector.
• Launched a global recruitment plan for CASTER BIZ recruiting to support customer demand for cross-border talent sourcing.

• The half-year revenue progress rate is 43% as of the 2nd quarter, with further revenue accumulation expected in the second half of the fiscal year. The full-year full-year net profit forecast remains unchanged, with no upward or downward revision.
• The company expects to receive up to 94 million yen in government subsidies for its company-wide AI reskilling training program. The subsidy will be recorded below operating profit, and timely disclosure will be issued if the amount experiences material fluctuation.
• All new AI services are on track for planned rollout within the current fiscal year, with NEO assistant expansion scheduled to progress during the current fiscal period.

1. BPaaS Segment: Core recurring revenue business centered on the CASTER BIZ service line, contributing 70% to 80% of total company revenue. Its key operating KPIs showed no deterioration, with steady adjustments underway to improve performance metrics.
2. HR Segment: Operates human resources dispatching services and a remote-focused job recruitment media platform, covering customer talent needs that cannot be met by the BPaaS segment, contributing the remaining non-core portion of total revenue.
3. AI Tech Segment: Includes a group of subsidiaries providing AI-powered micro-lot online assistant services, AI consulting, and AI training. This segment is currently funded by profits from the BPaaS and HR segments to drive overall group long-term growth, with no separate absolute financial performance figures disclosed.

If AI adoption does not scale as planned or operational efficiency does not improve as expected, cost control targets may be missed. Internal AI literacy building across the full workforce is an ongoing effort, and delays in upskilling could slow AI service expansion. Cannibalization of existing service revenue by new AI offerings could suppress top-line growth if customer segmentation is not executed effectively. Market acceptance of new AI-powered services is unproven, and customer adoption may be slower than current management projections.

Q: Has Caster shifted frontline employee KPIs to prioritize AI-driven cost reduction over traditional metrics like revenue and active client count, and is AI literacy now tied to compensation?

A: There is no change to core KPIs for existing services. The top priority remains increasing the number of clients per frontline employee enabled by AI, rather than just cutting costs. AI-driven communication efficiency remains the key focus. The new NEO assistant service, which uses AI as the frontline, will have a different KPI structure that will be disclosed as it scales. AI literacy is already partially reflected in performance evaluations this fiscal year, and will carry a higher weight starting next fiscal year.

Q: Caster previously positioned highly selective frontline staff as its core competitive advantage, but the new AI Employee service automates frontline communication. Is this a negation of your core competency, and how will your competitive advantage evolve?

A: Management acknowledges the risk and has prioritized AI adoption since 2022, noting AI outperforms humans in speed and accuracy for routine communication. The new competitive advantage will shift to physical, in-person relationship building that AI cannot replicate: the company is launching its first in-person client engagement events, strengthening regional client outreach in its core Kyushu market, and leaning into the trusted, personable character of its employees, which has been a long-standing driver of customer loyalty.

Q: Do the new AI services cannibalize existing service customers, and how are target segments differentiated across the service portfolio?

A: AI Employee targets the remote HR dispatching segment (not BPaaS), addressing customer demand for AI operation within their closed internal environments that cannot be served by traditional multi-tenant BPO, leveraging Caster's existing BPO knowledge. NEO assistant will gradually replace the existing CASTER BIZ line, serving customers with differing AI adoption needs during the transition period. Pig out replaces the legacy My Assistant service, targeting smaller customers with price points below 10,000 to 20,000 yen per month that were underserved by existing offerings.

Q: Can traditional BPO coexist with generative AI, or will generative AI displace Caster's core business?

A: Management views this combination as the largest growth opportunity, not a threat. Industry analysis notes that combining generative AI with BPO is the fastest growing segment, supported by the much larger size of the global labor cost market compared to the software market, with few existing alternative solutions. Generative AI cannot yet fully automate end-to-end operations, so human-in-the-loop oversight from skilled staff is still required, and most customers struggle to build this capability in-house. Caster's position as a provider of combined AI-human operations puts it in a strong position to capture this market shift, which management expects to be larger than the growth tailwind from the COVID-19 pandemic.