Nihon M&A Center Holdings Inc. (2127.T) Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings briefing session for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025 or the fiscal year to March 2026. I am the Representative Director and the CEO of the company, Miyake. Today, in addition to myself, we have the Vice President and Director of the Holdings, Naraki-san, as well as Takeuchi-san, who is the Senior Managing Director of the company. So, the 3 of us are here to explain and to take your questions. And Takeuchi-san is the President of Nihon M&A Center. Please give us some comments.

I am Naraki. Thank you for joining this session.

I am Takeuchi. Thank you.

Okay. Today, we are broadcasting this session simultaneously and globally. And today, we are broadcasting this not just in the Japanese language. We're also providing the same content in the English version with simultaneous interpreters. Now I would like to kick off my explanation. Let's start with the summary of the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025. In the first quarter, sales were JPY 9 billion, which was up by 18.1% year-on-year. And ordinary profit likewise grew to JPY 2.5 billion, and this is an increase of 63.8% year-on-year. And this is because of an increase in the number of transactions closed, which was 212, up by 11% year-on-year. And M&A sales per transaction also grew to more than JPY 40 million, which was higher by 6.1% from the same time previous year. So, thanks to these 2, sales grew by 18%. About the factors for an increase in the number of transactions closed, at the beginning of the fiscal year, we got committed to 2 things, and we implemented the 2 actions. One is that when we start negotiations, we have decided to hold kickoff meetings to identify various issues that we expect we would face during the process. The second thing that we have done is that we have started a more detailed case management system. And we have formalized general manager systems for managing mandates that's more detailed and dedicated than before. And also, around mid-cap mandates, we have a specialized department. And the specialized department started providing a company-wide support to receive more mid-cap mandates, and that has led to a steady increase in the number of transactions closed. And about ordinary profit, we have continued our efforts to optimize cost. Now on to leading indicators. Starting with the number of new sell-side mandates. This was 289, down by 11.6% year-on-year. And about the number of new buy-side mandates, this was 335. This was a slight decrease of 2.9% year-on-year. And mid-cap mandates we have acquired from the sell side was 49, and this was also down year-on-year by 19%. However, in order to get more contracts in the second and the third quarter, we have 329 new transaction negotiations, which was up by 10% year-on-year. And the fact that our new mandates declined year-on-year is attributable to a single factor. It's that in the first quarter, we wanted to make a rocket start or a very good start of the fiscal year. So, the number of transactions closed and sales became our focus as we started the fiscal year. However, that alone would lead to a decline in the number of negotiation pipelines. So, we decided to secure enough number of pipelines. So, we were able to have a 10% increase in the number of new transaction negotiations. And this is as we had planned. And to break this down by the different processes, we first received sell-side mandates, the new sell-side mandates. And then we make sure that the mandates get ready for matching. And then mandates are registered for matching, and this was quite solid, up by 5.5%. And we make proposals to buyers, and this was up by 12.2%. And this is a representation of our strategy to try to close more mandates. And as a result, we had new pipeline, which was 329, which was up by 10% year-on-year. And in the right bottom corner, we have a preparatory period, which is from the time we received mandates to the start of matching. This used to be 85 days previously, but this is now shorter to 57 days. Our target is 60 days, but we were able to have an even shorter preparatory period than our target. And we have shortened this period by 28 days, but we are not satisfied with this. We're going to make this more efficient through the usage of DX and other techniques. And also, for matching as well, we would like to shorten our lead time as the next phase. And the overall summary, our P&L statement. Our sales were -- sorry, once again, our sales was JPY 9 billion, and this was up by 18%. And about our cost of sales. Cost of sales were JPY 3.6 billion, up by 9.2% and SG&A was JPY 2.8 billion, up by 6.2% year-on-year. And as a result, we had an ordinary profit of JPY 2.5 billion, up by 63.8%. And I would like to explain to you about an important theme. It's about the allocation of our personnel expense. We are now using a new categorization for personnel. we have included sales-related staff into cost of sales. However, before IPO, when we got a support from an auditor, we decided on this previous classification or categorization. And after that, we added more subsidiaries, and we now have much more personnel. So, the previous categorization, we believe, was not based on or aligned with our latest reality. So, this fiscal year, we have decided on a reclassification and that is adopted now. And the detail, the contents of this new classification or categorization will be explained by our -- by us later. But under the new categorization, we will also go into SG&A. Next, the number of transactions closed, new mandates, and let me show the trend of them. The number of transactions at the right top, saying 212. So, 191 compared to the previous year. The year before, there was 230 or 226. And so last year, it went down a lot. And this year, I think we have been recovering this number quite much. In Q1, M&A sales was JPY 8.6 billion. Last year was JPY 7.3 billion, the year before, JPY 7.6 billion. The year before that year was JPY 8.6 billion. So, we are getting closer to where we were in a few years ago. The actual sales per transaction is coming above JPY 40 million. So, this is going quite well. Recently compared to the past, JPY 38 million, JPY 33 million and JPY 38 million, and this year, JPY 40 million. So, I think it's been making pretty good progress. The number of new sales side mandates, it came out to be 289, as I mentioned, because of the strategy that we've taken, we focus on the number of transactions closed in the sales figure. Next slide, please. Here's the income statement. And then we also have balance sheet on the following page. And basically, the classification change to personnel cost will be explained by Naraki.

Starting with Slide 8, income statement. Sales came out to be JPY 9.18 billion. It increased by 18.1%. And the ordinary profit was JPY 2.5 billion, and it increased by 63.8% year-on-year. So, the third line, talking about the cost of sales. So, this year came out to be JPY 3.6 billion this year. And towards the right, last year, it was JPY 3.3 billion. So, the number increased year-on-year, but the ratio percentage within the sales this year came out to be 40.3%, whereas the year before was 43.6%. So, the percentage-wise it declined. The next point is the referral fees and outsourcing expenses within the cost of sales. So basically, the cost paying to the network company, as you can see in dotted line, 13%. So, the ratio inside -- within the revenue stayed the same compared to last year. And also, the 3 lines below that below gross profit, SG&A expenses. This year, this Q1 came out to be JPY 2.8 billion. Last year was, as you see move to the right, JPY 2.7 billion. So, the number increased. But looking at the percentage within the sales, so this quarter was 31.8%. The year before, it was 35.4%. So, the expense ratio came down. So that is the main points on the income statement. Next, balance sheet. So, we are maintaining a healthy balance sheet. Top half on assets, total asset this quarter came out to be JPY 53.4 billion. And going to the bottom, liabilities and net assets, right in the middle, the total net assets, JPY 44.18 billion. So, the ratio of net asset came out to be 82.6%. That is the current balance sheet status. And the total net asset, usually in Q1, so we had JPY 44.1 billion. And to the right, the end of last year, JPY 47.5 billion. So, it came down by about JPY 3.4 billion. In Q1, the net income attributable to the parent company, the net income increased by JPY 1.5 billion. And we also had a payment of dividend in Q1, that was JPY 4.8 billion. So, talking about retained earnings compared to last year, it was reduced by JPY 3.2 billion. And this was the case with usual year, but this is the current balance sheet situation. Next slide, please. The number of employees. So, as you can read, so this year, we are emphasizing more on growth and stability in the workforce. And we plan to increase about 70 consultants on a net basis, including graduates, new graduates. So left is showing the trend of the employee numbers at the far-right bar, this -- at the end of this first quarter, so we came out to be at 1,118 people. To the right, here is a breakdown of 1,118 in 4 groups. So, from this year, we have reviewed and changed the classification of the personnel, so we can optimize the resource allocation, utilizing these 4 groups. Top is M&A consultants; second, M&A support, cost of sales and SG&A expenses. And thirdly, corporate personnel and fourthly, financial personnel. So, these are the 4 categories. And we have 2 under M&A support. So basically, it's more like 5 different categories. So let me explain more details how we are categorizing them into these 5 groups. As Miyake mentioned earlier, after being listed to the market, we expanded our businesses, and we are accepting many different resources from a different background and expertise. And as you can see on this slide, these are the kinds of different personnel we are having. At the very top, M&A consultants, these are the frontline salespeople. And M&A support, the second one from the top are considered to be cost of sales. And they are the people from like a value promotion headquarters, like lawyers, accountants, those experts who are sustaining our quality and PMI consulting, Japan PMI Consulting or the next line, GPM division. So non-M&A sales activities are conducted at these divisions. Also, our corporate value laboratory who is conducting corporate values and also SPA, the Special People Association. So, these are considered as the cost of sales. So, these basically would be considered as cost of sales now. But below that, we also have M&A support and then corporate financial personnel, those staff members that are considered to be SG&A expenses. This is how now we are clarifying, categorizing the resources to have more proper control over the personnel. So, all categories from the second from the bottom, the corporate headquarters compliance division, internal audit office, only this line was considered to be SG&A. The rest were all considered as cost of sales. So, we've corrected that situation. And as explained by Miyake, so JPY 533 million is now actually, was used to be counted as SG&A instead of cost of sales. So now we are reflecting the reality into the cost calculation. Next slide, please. So, this is the change in number of employees up until last year, this is showing based on the old classification until last year. So, for this fiscal year, for March 2026, we will be disclosing both classification, the former classification, the new classification. That way you have better understanding for next year onward, for March '27, we will only show new classification. So that is all for the change to the employee classification.

Thank you. For your reference, as we have explained, like on Page 7, cost of sales and SG&A, year-on-year number. Also, we have revised last year as well according to the new classification. So instead of comparing all the classification with the new classification, we have also revised the last year number according to the new classification to show the compare that way you know the changes this year versus last year. And from this page onward, we have actually explained the same contents in the shareholders' meeting. However, from the first quarter, I believe that we have had some new investors and there should be investors who are considering to newly invest in our company. So, we would like to spend a bit of time on this topic as well, starting with shareholder equity and shareholder breakdown. This fiscal year is the same as the previous fiscal year in terms of JPY 29 dividend, including a JPY 6 special dividend. So, we are keeping the same policy, and that leads to 83.6% payout ratio. We think we'll be able to keep about this payout ratio. And about our ROE, we believe that we'll be able to maintain ROE of over 20%. Last fiscal year was 24%. And among listed companies, we believe that we were about 260 in ranking in terms of ROE among listed companies. And ROE of at least 20%, we believe is necessary for us. Somehow the right page does not show up. Okay. Sorry for the confusion. I will just provide explanation orally. On the page of share ownership and market capitalization, individual shareholders were 34% of the total and financial institutions were 26.6%. Foreign institutions were 28% of our total shareholders. We believe that our share ownership is quite well-balanced among different types of investors. And in order to continue to improve our corporate value, we have to be invested by more foreign long investors. So, our progress of our performance against our target, we would like to improve our performance. And together with our performance improvement, we have been doing overseas roadshow, and we have visited U.S. And in November, we plan to visit Europe as well. Next slide, please. So, the consolidated performance forecast and the guidance-wise. So, this fiscal year, for the first time since being listed to the market, we actually made a forecast to decline. And last year was JPY 48.9 billion, but it's expected to go down by 5.3% to be JPY 46.3 billion. That will be this year guidance number. The last year result was JPY 44 billion considering the actual results. It's going to go up by about 5%. That will be the JPY 46.3 billion. And there are several reasons for this number. First, we want to first return back to our customer sales of attaining results target. So, we want to have the peak in Q3 and in Q4, instead of having the last-minute recovery peak in Q4, we want to have the peak in Q3. And also, we want to increase the number of employees who are able to accomplish the target that way we can have the employees to regain their confidence. And so, for them, by accomplishing that target, we also want to regain the trust from the investors at the same time. So, we want to go back to our normal trend of achieving sales forecast. And so, in the midterm management plan, we are setting a slightly conservative numbers now, but we will make sure to have that size every year within the midterm numbers. About related activities, we have M&A sales and other sales. In the first quarter, M&A sales were JPY 8.6 billion and other sales were JPY 360 million. And about Tokyo Pro Market or TPM, I think it went quite well. When we joined Tokyo Pro Market, there were only 20 listed companies, but this is more reenergized, and the number of companies listed on TPM is now 145 and of which we have sponsored 45 companies. And in the past 2 years, as our -- we have continued to be the company that have provided the largest number of TPM IPO sponsorships for 2 years in a row among all the J-Advisers, because local rejuvenation is one of our corporate missions. We would like to create more star companies nationwide, including local areas. So, we will continue to put more focus on TPM support. And about PMI, our current focus is on making sure that the M&A becomes more successful. And SME agency has issued a guideline, the PMI guidelines for SME. And also, SSA has revised the supervisory guidelines for small and regional financial institutions to encourage the M&A support to be strengthened. And we believe that we are the only company who have a team to provide PMI support in our arena in Japan, and this business is growing steadily. We would like to continue to grow this business. And at least about the buyers who are newly buying company, we are going to provide PMI instructions 100% so the buyer will have a successful M&A. And in the overseas market, in 5 -- we have local subsidiaries abroad at 5 basis. And Malaysia, why? YYC Group is the largest local accounting office in Malaysia and our subsidiary in Malaysia have formed a business alliance with this YYC Group. And in Japan, we have Nihon M&A Center model. And this model is finally to be applied abroad now that we have a stronger confidence and trust from the local entities. And about our fund business, we have Japan Investment Fund, and we have formed the second Japan Investment Fund. And as our topics, we believe that J-Search is an important point to pay attention to. There are companies without the successors in local regions and targeting these companies, we send searchers and management together with local banks. In the Southern Kyushu, we have Higo Bank, Miyazaki Bank, Kagoshima Bank. And together with these, we have established Southern Kyushu Search Fund. And also, in Hokuriku region, we partnered with Hokuriku Bank and established the Hokuriku Search Fund. And in Hokkaido, together with the North Pacific Bank, we have established a Hokkaido search Fund. And by the end of the fiscal year, we plan to add 2 more funds. But M&A, local revitalization and the fund business, these 3 are integrated in these fund business activities, and we would like to continue to do more of these activities going forward. So, topics. So, we are really emphasizing more on DX and AI. So, we are making a big shift into these technologies. So, we actually forecasted this could come a few years ago. There will be a need for database. We thought about it. So that's why we introduced Salesforce from early times, and we continue to accumulate the data. And also, a few years ago, we also started to use the AI on Salesforce. So, we actually replaced the sales force to the standard Salesforce from the modified version of Salesforce. So now we are preparing ourselves to be able to use AI on Salesforce, and we have been preparing data for over several years. And finally, this year, data capitalism, digital capitalism are emerging, and we are seeing that coming, meaning AI has seen a big evolution so far. So, the President Takeuchi at Nihon M&A Center is trying to implement a data-driven business management. So, what it does is, of course, not just accumulating data, but also, for example, we are using this new AI called Bring Out. And so, we interview the strategy from sellers, and we record the information or all the processes of the negotiations are also recorded. So that way, we can reinforce our customer management, the client control management. And this will also help to train the employees to improve their skill sets. So, this is really effective. And there are many different phases as part of the negotiation and where we try to utilize AI, and we've already started using them. Not just that, also autonomous AI agent by Salesforce is utilized by us, like you see on the right bottom. And so basically, we are collaborating with Salesforce strongly and trying to introduce this AI technology for -- to reinforce our sales. This is a new action. And we're also emphasizing real marketing. So, this year, at 40 locations nationwide, we are conducting seminar tour. This year, we are getting a slightly different reactions because now that we are out of COVID, right after the COVID, the management people were not really used to being at the seminar. And even our employees, they were not used to the seminars, the real seminars because they weren't conducting much seminars during COVID. So, we were not fully benefiting from the seminars -- until last year, we weren't able to gather enough people. We weren't able to provide deep content in a seminar. But this year, totally different. We saw a complete difference in the atmosphere. Let's say, as you see in this venue on the slide, you see the full people at this venue. This was from Tokushima. So, we have 377 participants at this seminar in Tokushima, and we had the President of our bank, also the President of Unison Capital. He's from Tokushima Prefecture. So, we held a panel discussion with them. At Nagoya, we also had the Chairman of Toyoda Gosei, Mr. Miyazaki joining this Nagoya venue. We had a lot of fans of Mr. Miyazaki. So, there was full of passion at his venue. So, we made a lot of changes, but also we saw the change in the sentiment of participants. Also, another perspective, we are conducting regional marketing in each different region, we are supporting -- could be local sport teams. Also, in relation to that, this is an example from Ibaraki Prefecture. This is a radio program. This is called [indiscernible] by Miyake. So, we are inviting famous big name in Ibaraki as a business people and to have discussions with them. And we are actually inviting super famous people. And so, this radio program has been a big hit. And a lot of people are listening to these radio programs right now. And there's been -- also there is a basketball team called Ibaraki Rocket. This is a local sport team, and we are supporting them. And that's also helping us to increase reinforcement recognition in the local market and branding, both from quality and volume-wise, we are #1 in Japan. We are trying to be #1 in Japan and #1 in the world. On the right-hand side, as we have showed Guinness record in terms -- so we are holding #1 in completed mandates 4 years in a row. From a quality perspective, according to the Japan marketing research company, we are gaining #1 position in overall customer satisfaction. There are different kinds of satisfaction level. We are obtaining #1 positions as overall customer satisfaction. So, we are trying to be #1, both in quality and volume quantity. So, I think we have been growing and reinforcing our capability to be able to be #1. And lastly, on network, there's been some evolutions in network in Q1, we are working -- we are forming the joint venture with Okinawa -- Bank of Okinawa, which is called as Okigin Success Partners. This is the third joint venture. The first was in [ Kihu ], working with Juroku Financial Group, we formed a joint venture called Nobunaga Succession. This joint venture has been acting quite strongly so far. And another important joint venture with Bank of Higo, Higo Bank, also working with E.SUN Venture Capital from Taiwan, and we built Kyushu M&A Advisors. And this is the third joint venture in Okinawa now. So that way, we are reinforcing the relationship with the network. About industry trends, we can provide additional explanation when we receive questions. And it is time. So, from this point onward, we would like to answer questions from the audience.

Thank you for the explanation. Now it's time to take and answer questions. We are accepting questions through chat function. Due to time constraints, we may not be able to answer all the questions that we receive. First question. We believe that you are still posting questions. So, we would like to start with the questions that we have received in our past meetings and -- or the questions that we have prepared based on the questions that we have received from investors in the past meetings. Question. As an M&A comprehensive company to differentiate yourself from competitors, what's the subsidiary that you are putting the biggest focus on currently?

Okay. So, this is a subsidiary that we are putting a big focus on to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. This is on PMI. Earlier, I have explained already, but in M&A -- just doing M&A is not a success because growth strategy is needed for buyer and business succession is a theme for a seller. So, these are the themes that are important as the M&A process starts. And by having a successful completion of M&A, the growth strategy is achieved for buyer. And for seller, their succession plan is resolved. And by generating synergetic effects, the seller can grow, and sellers' employees become happier. For buyers' owner and seller's owner, this is what they hope for. Therefore, just completing an M&A transaction just put us and put sellers and buyers at the starting point. We have to lead them to a higher and bigger success, and we remain to be responsible for that. We are responsible in leading them to a bigger success, and this is exactly where we differentiate ourselves. And we have PMI consultants or PMI -- the Japan PMI Consulting is the subsidiary that we would like to continue to put the biggest focus on.

Next question. It seems like there's been an issue of inappropriate buyer company having a big impact on the business situation. So, what are you doing for the potential seller owners can be more proactive of M&A?

Thank you for your question. This is a very important question, I believe. Inappropriate buyer, of course, the numbers are not that much. However, it's been reported by the media a lot. And if you were to face such an inappropriate buyer, the seller side, the owners will have to go through the bankruptcy in a worst case and the company will have to also go bankrupt, then employees will be at a loss. And such example has been reported by the mass media a lot. So, sellers are very much concerned about the situation. As an intermediary business, we think it's very important to have a pre-confirmation solidly. So receiving the financial statements from the buyers and from those financial statements from the buyer, trying to confirm their capital level, also the credit level and try to visit the buyers' company and to see if they are in the actual operation and if their business is active. If they have any inventories, if the equipment's are operating, all this need to be confirmed. And as a negotiation moves forward -- and you need to also check the scheme. If there is no funding, the buyers' credit will have to be utilized. So that will be the scheme they will request -- seller will request. So, we need to understand if that request is appropriate or not. So, we have to confirm them. Thirdly, that's a contract. So, we have to make sure that contract will cover solidly all the details to make sure there's no loopholes. So, there is no regret later on after the contract is concluded. And then fourthly, you need to implement the follow-up if there is any -- no more the personal guarantee, if there is any retirement fee issue or not, if the payment was made or not. So, we need to communicate with the President of the seller to make sure all these items. So, from the start, all the process on the way also until the exit, we will need to be on the side of the seller, trying to support them. That's what we are doing. That way, sellers can be relieved to ask us to welcome these acquisitions. I think we are ready for that.

Next question. Do you feel that the difficulty of closing transactions is rising? And what do you attribute that to?

Thank you for the question. This is another important theme. And I plan to answer this together with Takeuchi-san. And to answer this from my end, based on my gut feeling or how I'm feeling is that I think that sellers have become more knowledgeable, or sellers have become more aware that they have to think what is right by themselves. A few years ago, sellers really didn't know about M&A. And I understand that's quite natural because the owners of SMEs, they are the people who have put a focus on sales activities, the people who have put a focus on technologies -- so their knowledge in M&A or their knowledge in financial matters tend to be quite limited. Therefore, sellers have tended to trust us for the entire process. However, with the media report of fraudulent buyers, they got scared. They got scared of entrusting everything to M&A intermediary companies. So, they have started to think for themselves at important milestones and started to get consultations and advice from specialists such as lawyers. And even after that, sometimes they have some concerns still, and these concerns can be basically addressed by our know-how. But with the sudden change in customers' attitude, we have not been able to provide the perfect kind of support. And that's the reason why we started holding kickoff meetings. So, we know in advance what are the potential concerns that customers may get. And we have started to take actions in advance of customers actually feeling anxieties. And that's by us proposing. And so, we believe that the customers' anxieties have been resolved, but the Takeuchi-san is closer to the front line. So, I would like to hand over to him.

Thank you. I am Takeuchi, about the difficulty of closing transactions, we do feel that it's getting more difficult to close transactions, but we see this more positively, meaning that the M&A industry has become more democratized. So compared to a few years ago, knowledge on M&A and becoming more careful about M&A, we feel that this is a positive trend, considering that the M&A has become more common. And that's exactly the reason why closing transactions has become more difficult. So quality, safety, peace of mind, these are the areas that we would like to improve on. So, PMI is one action that we have earlier explained, and we have been strengthening and adding touch points with clients. And through these measures, we believe that these measures have led to the improved performance we have had this time. Next question. So now that we are starting the new fiscal year, has there been a major change in your organization system? So, if there is a change in the system of the organization, what could be the potential impact on your business performance?

Thank you for your question. So major change was we did not have a major change this fiscal year. Of course, we did have a transfer of personnel. When there was a change in the structure of the company that was last year. So, the person of Japanese Holding M&A Center was changed to Mr. Takeuchi. So according to his thinking, so the company instead of having a division the structures, but now we are having a channel teams. So, from different channels like accounting firms and different channels. That's what we have started. And from a holding's perspective, in last year, Takeuchi wasn't really used to operating under such a new structure and the head of channels were not also used to this new structure, and they were not recognizing the meaning of the new structure. But from the latter half of last year, this new structure started to work quite effectively. So, they are the head of the channel, which is their expertise. So now they have a deeper thinking in their actions, and they can come up with a proper action plan, and they were able to grow and nurture our capability to execute them. And that helped to see the improvement in the atmosphere and that also increased the ownership of the business, and that is actually leading to this upward trend that we are seeing this fiscal year. I believe so it was quite a success for us to have such a major change in the structure. What do you think Mr. Takeuchi, who is operating this new structure?

Now that I am the President, it's been the 15 months so far. So, when we started last year, I was also confused when we started the new structure. But we decided to have a closer look at the market conditions, and we try to communicate with the members as much as possible more than before, so we can have more solid base to accommodate the changes in the environment, and we were able to implement that. So, I hope that we can continue on this new structure. Thank you so much. We need to apologize that we are running out of time. So, the next question will be the final question that we address today. Now that you have the Q1 results out, please give us your latest comments in the level of confidence in achieving the first half guidance.

Thank you for this question. So now that the result is out for the first quarter, I am satisfied with the level of our achievement this time. I feel that finally, we have got momentum. Last fiscal year, our leading indicators have become almost 100%. And this shows the momentum of our company and the success of our sales strategy. they both improved and that showed in our leading indicators that I call almost perfect. However, leading indicators, they need to be converted into actual results. And there are cases where they don't directly get converted into actual results. So, there is a toll mountain between them or there used to be a toll mountain in between them. And finally, that is starting to be removed, and we started to show the results. So, about the results of the first quarter, I feel that we wanted to do even better, but I am quite satisfied, very satisfied about the results of Q1 and this momentum. And we need to manage well. So, our leading indicators numbers will be converted into actual results through measures such as holding kickoff meetings and providing a more detailed management method with our general managers in managing mandates. So, in the second quarter, to the extent possible, we would like to exceed our guidance as much as possible. And we are having a very hot summer. The person who masters or who has a success in a hot summer, I believe, can have an overall success for the whole year. So, I say to employees, it's been really hot, right? But we have to have a successful summer. In that way, we will be able to have a perfect second quarter. And in December, we will also be able to have good results. And I think that it's going to take about 2 to 3 more years, but we would like to get back to the previous cycle where we have a peak in the third quarter and spend in the fourth quarter in preparing for a success in the year after. And we believe that our actions are becoming the first step in going toward that previous cycle. And please understand that we will be getting toward a peak in the second quarter and the third quarter. Takeo-san, please give us some comments.

Sure. Important points are shown on this page. I would say that the frontline atmosphere is very good because since our listing, for the first time, we have lowered our guidance year-on-year. And since our customers have become more cautious and careful, we started to be more closer to clients. For example, there is an M&A deal -- and there is an M&A deal that's been open for 4 months. And when we have had 40 meetings with the customers in this deal, that shows that the customers have become more cautious. So, we will do more meetings so our customers get satisfied and get believed. And also, we have been holding study sessions targeting consultants, so they have better knowledge and know-how. And these efforts take time, and we have to secure enough time to do these. And we have to adjust budget so we can do that. And we are having changes in the market, and we see changes in the front lines, and we believe that we have been catching up with these changes. And our frontline members are enjoying the change in the times, change in the M&A market. So, I would repeat myself, but including myself, we would like to continue to enjoy this work. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So, from all over the world, thank you very much for participating in this Q1 results briefing meeting. Those who are in Asia, well, it would be early morning, for those who are in Europe and those in the U.S., it's right in the middle of the night. Thank you very much for your participation. So, I really hope that we will try to continue running the business so we can't meet your expectations. So, I have to continue to receive your support. Thank you so much. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]