9556.T

• Company Milestone: INTLOOP was selected as a constituent stock for the Tokyo Stock Exchange "JPX Startup Rapid Growth 100 Index" based on meeting the revenue growth rate selection criteria.
• Strategic Structural Shift: The company is shifting its business structure to prioritize higher project unit prices and gross margins, while strengthening cross-group collaboration. It has built an end-to-end service lineup covering upstream strategy (via INTLOOP Strategy), project management (via INTLOOP Project Management), core DX consulting (INTLOOP main body), offshore development (KOZOCOM), infrastructure development (Dix Group), facility services (Comtech), marketing, and talent education/training (N-Stage).
• Human Capital Investment: The company is pursuing aggressive hiring focused on high-level talent and delivery staff, with half-year hiring and personnel costs already exceeding the full-year amount from the prior year. Total headcount is expected to reach approximately 1,100 people by the third quarter, with delivery staff increasing by 216 to 750 people. Planned third quarter high-level hiring includes 15 new hires for INTLOOP main body, 3 for INTLOOP Strategy, and 17 for INTLOOP Project Management, bringing cumulative high-level hires through the third quarter to 25 for INTLOOP main body, 13 for INTLOOP Strategy, and 31 for INTLOOP Project Management.
• New Organizational Structure: The company is building a sector × solution matrix organizational structure, targeting coverage from financial to public sectors. It is hiring industry experts and service line experts along two axes: horizontal functional solutions (such as strategy and supply chain) and vertical industry solutions. As of the second quarter, the buildout is less than 50% complete, with plans to extend the model from strategy to PMO and DX consulting to enable end-to-end client delivery.
• AI Strategy and Demand Outlook: Management notes that core areas of the company's business, including custom add-on development and customization for Japanese ERP implementations (a common feature of the Japanese market that differs from the U.S. standard process model) and PMO services, are difficult for AI to replace, as ERP source code is generally not public and client feedback confirms PMO roles are not easily automated. The company is running internal AI projects to improve consultant efficiency through AI utilization and has started internal AI training, and is exploring how to monetize AI-related initiatives to grow business alongside human talent. Aggressive hiring is not unplanned: the company sees ongoing strong demand for talent, with INTLOOP Strategy consistently winning new prime contracts from major clients, and client CIOs have confirmed they will continue to invest in external talent support as internal resources cannot cover all demand, so hiring is a targeted investment for future growth.

• Full-year 2026 July fiscal year guidance remains unchanged. As of the half-year point, revenue budget attainment is 44% and operating profit budget attainment is 33%, which is in line with the company's historical pattern of lower progress in the first half, given the aggressive full-year revenue target, with most revenue and profit growth expected in the second half.
• The key challenge for the second half is balancing accelerated growth with profit management, while progressing toward the company's long-term 2030 target of 100 billion yen in revenue and 15 billion yen in operating profit. Management expects newly hired staff will gradually come online and increase utilization in the second half, driving revenue and profit growth.
• If the company decides to accelerate upfront talent investment to reach its long-term 100 billion yen revenue goal faster, it may update the full-year guidance accordingly, and will disclose any changes in a timely manner.

Segment-level financial performance data is not fully detailed in the provided transcript. Consolidated results show the second quarter (half-year cumulative) revenue is 19.356 billion yen, up 20.7% year-over-year, marking a new all-time high for a second quarter. Half-year consolidated gross profit is 2.854 billion yen on half-year revenue of 9.725 billion yen, with gross profit margin approaching 30% and improving to 29.4% year-to-date, above the prior year level. Operating profit is 0.998 billion yen, down 6.3% year-over-year due to upfront investment in hiring. Net profit attributable to parent company shareholders is 461 million yen. Consolidated subsidiary Dix Group contributed to consolidated revenue growth supported by strong demand for office expansion and renovation, while recently acquired KOZOCOM (acquired July 2025) also contributed to earnings. INTLOOP standalone invested 500 million yen in hiring costs for the half-year period.

• While aggressive upfront hiring for future growth has reduced near-term operating profit and lowered overall utilization rates in the first half, as newly hired talent often requires time to be assigned to projects and does not immediately contribute to revenue. The company's ability to meet full-year targets depends on successfully ramping up utilization of new hires in the second half and balancing investment speed with profit performance.
• There is a possibility of future market change if ERP package vendors fully commit to AI transformation, which could alter the current dynamic where custom development work is not easily automated by AI.
• The sector × solution matrix organizational structure is still under construction and has not reached half of its target headcount and capability, requiring additional investment and buildout to deliver on planned growth. A full Q&A transcript is not available in the provided excerpt, only the question topics are listed. Below are the structured question topics with no answers available in the provided transcript:

Q: How will the role of PMO change as AI implementation projects increase, and how does this impact human resource management?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What are the challenges to hitting the 2030 operating profit target, and how is the industry changing?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What is the competitive environment for hiring, and what are the recent trends in employee turnover?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What is the outlook for AI-enabled consulting business, and what is the impact of increasing headcount?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What are the challenges for education and organizational control, and how is the company addressing them?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: How does the company control total hiring numbers, and what is the future policy for hiring?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: How is the blurring of boundaries between industries impacting the market, and what is the current competitive landscape?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What will be the level of hiring costs and personnel expenses in the second half of this fiscal year?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.

Q: What is the company's policy for share buybacks?

A: No answer provided in the available transcript.