CyberAgent, Inc. ($4751)

We would like to begin CyberAgent's FY 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Briefing. This session is being video streamed. With respect to the content we will be sharing with you today, please refer to the disclaimer included in the presentation material. Our President, Yamauchi will take us through the results.

This is President, Yamauchi. I would like to take you through the FY 2026 second quarter results. Overall, we had a very good result, very good quarter. We saw record high sales. And for the second quarter, we saw record high second quarter OP as well. With respect to the Media and IP business, it is doing well with Abema starting to contribute to profit. With respect to the ad business, a large client has left, but we managed to fill the gap ahead of schedule. And we have seen sales and profits increase once again, record high -- we saw record high sales and double -- we saw -- also saw double-digit growth Y-o-Y. With respect to the game business, we did very -- we did well with anniversary events and global expansion. We also saw significant increases in revenue and profit -- sales and profits. We continue to see upward trajectory in terms of sales and record high sales during this quarter. We also saw record high OP in the past due to the unparalleled hit game, Umamusume, but we booked a record high Q2 OP this period. And this is the SG&A expenses, and we welcomed 402 new employees and the number of employees has trended on schedule. And this is the P&L. And this is the balance sheet. With respect to the forecast, as you can see, we are trending well. Overall, we have achieved the lower end of the forecast range during our first half. And we are certain we'll be able to overdeliver on our forecast. But things may be a little slower during the second half. And as it is difficult to accurately revise our forecast, we have decided to keep the current forecast. With respect to the Media and IP business, we have continued to strengthen our foundations while increasing sales. It is doing well. With respect to the OP, Abema has started to contribute to profits as our OP has multiplied by 1.7x Y-o-Y. As part of our programming strategy, we are putting even greater efforts into our original program, and we have come to be known for creating strong original series. We aired 30-hour program to celebrate our 10th anniversary and it received over 200 million views. As announced the other day, we will be producing the anime of Kagurabachi, a popular Weekly Shonen Jump comic, which will go on air April 2027. We will continue to establish a structure that will enable us to operate in an end-to-end business, including the creation, distribution and merchandising of original IPs and movies that will become a global hit. Next, moving on to the advertising business. We have finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel ahead of schedule after our large-scale clients departure, and we will continue to increase revenue and profits from here on. The operating profit has significantly improved as well. We will utilize our advertising effectiveness to expand our market share. And we will take advantage of our investment in AI-related advertising technologies to expand our reach. Next, moving on to the Game business. In the second quarter, we do have many anniversaries. So the game business trended very well and we have increased profits as well. The global sales have increased by 3.5x year-on-year. We have put in place the right organization to offer existing titles over the long term, and we are developing new titles over the midterm. Advanced signup for hololive Dreams is tracking well. Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok will launch on July 9. We have high hopes for this title as the previous series sold more than 2 million units worldwide. In terms of the mid- to long-term strategy, as each of our businesses continue to establish a stable foundation, we aim to build a Multilayer business structure centered around IT and further strengthen collaboration across our businesses. This concludes my explanation. Thank you very much.

We would like to conclude CyberAgent's FY 2026 second quarter earnings briefing. If you have any questions, please reach out to the IR team. Thank you very much for watching today. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]