Capcom Co., Ltd. (9697) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

I'm Haruhiro Tsujimoto, President of Capcom. Thank you for attending Capcom's financial results briefing today. To begin, I will review our earnings for fiscal year 2024 and our plan for fiscal year 2025. After that, I will discuss our mid- to long-term strategy. First, a summary of fiscal year 2024 earnings and our plans for fiscal year 2025. Please turn to Page 3. In our results for fiscal year 2024, net sales were JPY 169.6 billion. Operating income was JPY 65.7 billion, and net income was JPY 48.4 billion. We achieved 10 consecutive years of over 10% operating income growth and reached all-time high across all metrics, including net sales. Note that we increased the year-end dividend to JPY 22, bringing the annual dividend to JPY 40. For fiscal year 2025, we aim to achieve our 11th consecutive year of over 10% operating profit growth by releasing multiple new titles and expanding catalog sales in the Digital Contents business and by maximizing synergies with Arcade Operations, Amusement Equipment and Other Businesses. Year-on-year, we plan to achieve JPY 190 billion in net sales, a 12% increase and JPY 73 billion in operating income, an 11% increase. We also anticipate about JPY 3 billion in expenses related to Expo 2025 and so expect JPY 51 billion in net income, a 5% increase. Regarding dividends, we plan for JPY 20 at midterm and JPY 20 at year-end, totaling JPY 40 for the year. Next, our earnings and plan by segment. For fiscal year 2024, all segments achieved increased revenue and profits due to growth in the consumer subsegment of our Digital Contents business, alongside a strong performance in the Arcade Operations and Amusement Equipment businesses. For fiscal year 2025, we plan to achieve over 10% growth in sales and profits across all businesses. Now detailed explanations for each business segment. First, our growth driver, the Digital Contents business. For fiscal year 2024, sales of Monster Hunter Wilds released on February 28 surpassed 10 million units within 1 month. Catalog sales also grew globally, especially major series titles such as those in the Monster Hunter series. As a result, net sales rose 4% to JPY 125.1 billion and operating income rose 9% to JPY 65.1 billion. For fiscal year 2025, we plan to strengthen our global marketing strategy to increase awareness of our IPs and promote long-term catalog sales and anticipate net sales of JPY 139.5 billion, up 12%, and operating income of JPY 72.7 billion, up 12%. Next, I'll discuss Digital Contents game unit sales. We sold 51.87 million units for fiscal year 2024 with a significant increase in PC sales year-on-year. In fiscal year 2025, we plan to increase our sales volume to 54 million units. For details, please refer to the detailed breakdown in our materials. Here is an overview of our titles. These are the results for the titles in our Digital Contents business as well as information about currently announced titles for fiscal year 2025. I will omit a detailed explanation today, but ask that you review this later. Next is the Arcade Operations business. For fiscal year 2024, we opened 5 new stores, while same-store sales grew 10% year-on-year. As a result, net sales rose 18% to JPY 22.7 billion and operating income rose 30% to JPY 2.4 billion. For fiscal year 2025, in addition to our case, we will continue diversifying our stores with retail, capsule toys and cafes. We plan to increase sales and profits by opening 10 new stores, bringing the total to 63 stores. As such, we anticipate net sales of JPY 25.4 billion, up 12%, and operating income of JPY 2.7 billion, up 11%. In the Amusement Equipment business, for fiscal year 2024, we released 4 machines, including Monster Hunter Rise and Resident Evil 5, achieving 50,000 units sold. As a result, net sales rose 73% to JPY 15.6 billion and operating profit rose 63% to JPY 6.7 billion. For fiscal year 2025, we plan to continue leveraging popular IPs and with the launch of 3 new machines and catalog sales, we aim to achieve 43,000 units sold with increased sales and profits. We plan for net sales of JPY 18.4 billion, up 18%, and operating income of JPY 7.4 billion, up 10%. Finally, in Other Businesses, for fiscal year 2024, we rolled out popular character merchandise and in-game collaborations with peers. Additionally, in eSports, we held the Capcom Pro Tour finals at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena to great success. In the media subsegment, we released Mega Man: Start, among other titles. As a result, net sales rose 45% to JPY 6.1 billion and operating income rose 181% to JPY 2.4 billion. For fiscal year 2025, in eSports, we will again hold the finals at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena and strive to promote esports both globally and within Japan. In the media subsegment, leveraging the affinity between games and movies, we will work to enhance recognition of our popular content with efforts like the Netflix original anime series, Devil May Cry, which began streaming worldwide in April. We plan for net sales of JPY 6.7 billion, up 10%, and operating income of JPY 2.8 billion, up 13%. This concludes my overview of earnings for fiscal year 2024 and our plan for fiscal year 2025. Moving forward, I will explain our mid- to long-term growth strategies. First, I would like to talk about our corporate philosophy and our mid- to long-term vision. Our basic philosophy is to be a creator of entertainment culture through the development of highly creative software content that excite people, stimulate their senses and bring smiles to their faces. Since our founding in 1983, we have leveraged our world-class software development capabilities to release numerous titles. Over the next 10 years, to elevate Capcom to the next stage, we have formulated the mid- to long-term vision of being a company that captivates people around the world with our best-in-class content. Based on this philosophy and vision, I will explain Capcom's midterm goals and growth strategies. To begin, let me share the latest outlook on the game market. The game market is expected to continue growing, including our primary consumer segment. In 2024, the market size reached $177 billion, approximately JPY 25 trillion. By 2027, it is projected to grow about 12% compared to 2024, reaching $198 billion or approximately JPY 28 trillion. According to data from the research from Newzoo, the global gaming population is estimated at 3.4 billion people. Of these, PC and console users, our main target are estimated to be around 1.5 billion people. While our company has achieved significant growth over the past decade, considering that our annual sales volume in the previous fiscal year was about 51 million units, we believe there is still ample room for further growth. Next, I will discuss our group's management goals. Currently, our midterm management goal is to achieve 10% annual operating profit growth, a target we have successfully met for 10 consecutive years. Moving forward, we will maintain this goal and continue to adapt to the rapidly changing market, steadily increasing our operating profit. Here, I will explain how our growth outlook is aimed at realizing management goals. Starting from the bottom of the diagram, the Arcade Operations and Amusement Equipments business will coordinate with the consumer subsegment to serve as real touch points with our users, contributing to stable and steady profits. In the consumer subsegment, our main growth driver, we will bolster global expansion of catalog sales based on digital data analysis. At the same time, we will consistently launch new titles and strengthen sales during their initial release period. We will continue to invest in the character, media and eSports subsegments as future growth areas while creating synergies with the consumer subsegment. This will enhance IP awareness and expand the global user base. Unit sales growth in the consumer business is supporting our ongoing profit growth. We are aiming to achieve our long-term goal of 100 million units in annual sales. As you can see, unit sales volume has increased since fiscal year 2014 for 10 consecutive years due to promoting catalog title sales and more recently, the steady release of major hit titles. In conjunction with the shift to digital, selling our catalog tiles globally became possible and we have maintained a ratio of over 10% catalog title sales in recent years. We will continue to focus on expanding globally, particularly in rapidly growing emerging markets. Next, I'll discuss global sales. We will continue to expand and deepen our sales regions by actively supporting the PC platform. As shown by this map, we have widened our sales regions in recent years, thanks to greater adoption of digital sales on PC, which has enabled us to sell our games even in countries and regions where dedicated game consoles are not available. Looking ahead, we will raise the level of sales volume in lower-performing countries and regions, specifically in emerging countries, by strengthening our brands globally through further enhancing the accuracy of our data analysis and marketing for each country and region. Now I'll explain long-term sales. Capcom has achieved long-term sales of titles through strategic pricing measures and other initiatives. As a result, we have created new fans of our brands, leading to a virtuous cycle where these fans eagerly anticipate the next release in the series. For example, with Resident Evil 7, which was released in fiscal year 2016, we have achieved annual sales of over 1 million units for 9 consecutive years. As shown in this table, we have continued to maintain an annual sales volume of over 1 million units for other major titles released thereafter. Additionally, by strengthening pre-release promotions, we believe we can further extend the long-term sales, such as with Monster Hunter Wilds, which achieved 10 million units sold within 1 month. We will continue to consistently and continuously release high-quality titles with our mid- to long-term title lineup. We believe that maintaining this cycle will be the driving force to our company's new growth stage. Going further, let me discuss our strength, our development capabilities and technology. Our development studios have long been centralized around Osaka, enhancing the efficiency of our development organization. To further strengthen this organization, we are currently constructing a new development building adjacent to our headquarters, scheduled for completion in 2027. Additionally, we have acquired land near our headquarters for the future construction of another development building. These efforts aim to create an environment where creators can fully utilize their talents. Moreover, our development capabilities are supported by our proprietary, RE ENGINE. We continuously update the engine to adapt to new technologies and improve work efficiency. Recently, we have utilized Capcom's engine and academic collaborations and game competitions contributing to the creation of next-generation talent. Next, I'll discuss our single content multiple usage strategy to further enhance awareness of IPs. Movie and television shows are very effective for brand penetration as they can quickly convey the world of our games. Recently, streaming of the Mega Man animation on Amazon Prime and the Devil May Cry anime on Netflix has contributed to the expansion of our catalog title sales. We will continue to maximize the highest promotional effects of this type of media. Additionally, we expect game licensing such as Monster Hunter Now and Monster Hunter Outlanders to contribute to increased brand awareness. Furthermore, in eSports, we will continue 2 initiatives such as offering large-scale prize money and holding finals at Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena with the aim of expanding our global reach. These multifaceted approaches will continue striving to enhance the value of our IPs. Here, I'll explain our brand strategy. In addition to flagship brands like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter and Street Fighter, we have numerous globally popular brands. Through the release of new series titles, remakes and ports to new hardware, we aim to expand our user base and further enhance business results. By strengthening our brands and expanding our loyal fan base, we aim to nurture our major IPs over time. Finally, I would like to touch on our human resource investment strategy, which will help us reach our goals. In order to ensure more reliable mid- to long-term growth, we see our human resource investment strategy as one of the most important issues in our management strategy. Currently, the average age of our employees is 38 years. And due to strong business results, the average annual salary per employee is approximately JPY 9.4 million. If we achieve this year's plan, it is expected to exceed JPY 10 million. Additionally, starting this fiscal year, we have raised the starting monthly salary for new graduates to JPY 300,000, introduced mentor training programs for the early development of young employees and promoted self-study through online learning. We will continue to invest further in human capital. Regarding our development organization, we aim to increase our workforce by about 100 people annually. To expand our new title pipeline and global sales, we will further strengthen human resources who are an essential growth driver. Furthermore, Capcom is committed to promoting diversity and creating a comfortable work environment. As part of our future goals, we aim to achieve a male-to-female wage gap of over 88% and increase the ratio of paternity leave use to over 85% by 2029. Additionally, as part of this -- as of the end of the previous fiscal year, Capcom employed individuals from 36 different countries, and we will continue to foster an environment where people from diverse backgrounds can thrive. Moreover, we are increasing opportunities for direct dialogue between management and employees. Moving forward, we will focus on creating a better work environment to prevent employee turnover and enhancing engagement. This concludes the overview of our mid- to long-term strategies. This fiscal year, following our growth strategies, we will again focus on global digital sales and aim to achieve steady growth as well as record high profit. We are committed to enhancing corporate value by coming together as one in collaboration with all our stakeholders. I humbly ask for your continued support. Thank you very much for your attention. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]