Gunosy (6047): FY2025 Results Summary — Sales Edge Up, Profit Below Plan as slice Turns Profitable

This article is based on publicly available IR materials and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific securities.

Note: Gunosy’s fiscal year ends in May, and the company labels the year ended May 31, 2026 as “FY2026/5”; this article follows the site convention of using “FY2025” for the most recently completed fiscal year in the title and URL only, while every label, table and figure below is kept exactly as presented in the company’s materials.

Gunosy reported FY2026/5 full-year net sales of 6,441 million yen, 105.6% year on year and 99.9% of the revised full-year plan. Operating profit was 186 million yen, 74.4% of the revised plan and -389 million yen year on year, while EBITDA was 336 million yen, 84.0% of the revised plan and -242 million yen year on year. The company states that net sales were in line with the revised full-year plan, reflecting the downside scenario for the domestic media market incorporated into that plan, but that the upfront investment phase at GH continued longer than expected, resulting in operating profit and EBITDA falling below the revised plan.

Consolidated Results (Full-Year Actual)

The executive summary slide presents the three headline consolidated metrics together with full-year progress against the revised plan and the year-on-year comparison.

Item	FY2026/5 Full-Year Results	Full-Year Progress vs. Revised Plan	YoY
Net sales	6,441 Million yen	99.9%	105.6%
Operating profit	186 Million yen	74.4%	-389 Million yen
EBITDA	336 Million yen	84.0%	-242 Million yen

On the operating profit bridge for FY2026/5, the initial plan of 780 million yen was cut by △530 million yen in the downward revision made at the end of Q2, reflecting weaker domestic media market conditions, giving a revised plan of 250 million yen. The extended upfront investment phase at GH then produced an additional impact, and the actual result was 186 million yen. The company attributes the Q2 downward revision primarily to underperformance at Gunosy and Game8 on weaker market conditions in the Core Cash area, and the shortfall versus the revised full-year plan primarily to the extended upfront investment phase at GH in the Cash-Flow Accretive M&A area, while the High-Growth Option area was largely in line with plan.

Segment Results (Results by Portfolio)

Gunosy manages its businesses as a portfolio of a Core Cash Area, a Cash-Flow Accretive M&A Area (GH) and a High-Growth Option Area, with common costs shown as other adjustments. The figures below are the FY2026/5 full-year results by portfolio as disclosed on the FY2027/5 earnings forecast slide.

Portfolio (million yen)	Net sales FY2026/5	Operating profit FY2026/5	EBITDA FY2026/5
Core Cash Area	5,470	1,163	1,166
Cash-Flow Accretive M&A Area (GH)	944	(212)	(64)
High-Growth Option Area (SC Business excluding investment / IR Hub)	30	(198)	(198)
Other Adjustments (Common Costs, etc.)	(4)	(566)	(566)
Consolidated Total	6,441	186	336

Core Cash Area portfolio sales were 5,470 million yen, 98.7% against the Revised Plan (2H), following 7,265 million yen in FY2023, 6,618 million yen in FY2024 and 6,051 million yen in FY2025. Portfolio EBITDA for the area was 1,166 million yen, 97.6% against the Revised Plan (2H), after 416 million yen in FY2023, 685 million yen in FY2024 and 1,427 million yen in FY2025; the company notes that EBITDA for the Core Cash Area is roughly equivalent to operating profit. In the Gunosy business, the environment trended in line with the downside scenario incorporated into the Revised Plan (2H), the sluggish trend in the number of active users in the overall news app media market weighed on results, and the core services Gunosy and au Service Today experienced a slight downward trend in revenue. At Game8, overseas media continued to perform well and drove the segment while domestic media underperformed due to market conditions.

In the Cash-Flow Accretive M&A Area, G Holdings (GH) recorded an operating loss in FY2026/5, partly due to the postponement of expected title releases and upfront advertising investments for new titles. “Haikyu!! TOUCH AND CONNECT” was released on June 30, 2026 under the in-house release model, “Crimson Inferno (Togen Anki)” is scheduled for release on July 23, 2026 and “Yowamushi Pedal Resonance” is scheduled for release in 2026, both under the sublicense model, with development of 2-3 additional new titles progressing and earnings contribution expected mainly from FY2027/5 onward.

High-Growth Option Area and slice

Capital allocation in the High-Growth Option Area totalled approximately 5.0 billion yen on a B/S basis at the end of FY2026/5, comprising investment of approximately 3.6 billion yen in slice and approximately 1.2 billion yen in others, plus approximately 200 million yen for the SC (Store & Commerce) business and the IR Hub business, for which cumulative investment is stated as approximately 700 million yen.

slice, relaunched as a digital-first bank in India, recorded FY26 full-year revenue of 23.8 billion yen, 232% year on year, and net profit of 0.82 billion yen, turning profitable for the full year. Total assets rose from 73.6 billion yen at the end of March 2025 to 115.6 billion yen at the end of March 2026, total asset growth of approximately 1.6x year on year, with AUM of 76.1 billion yen, deposits of 87.3 billion yen and equity of 16.2 billion yen at the end of March 2026, against AUM of 49.4 billion yen, deposits of 41.1 billion yen and equity of 14.4 billion yen a year earlier. Figures are referenced from the slice SFB Annual report 2025-26, with INR-denominated figures converted at INR/JPY = 1.7 to calculate approximate amounts. Gunosy’s equity ownership ratio is over 12.65% on a fully diluted basis, maintaining its position as the largest external shareholder, and slice is aiming for an IPO in 3-4 years after achieving significant growth.

slice KPI (as of March 2026)	Value	Note
Deposit	87.3 billion yen	Annualized growth rate approx. 2.2x
AUM	76.1 billion yen	Annualized growth rate approx. 1.4x
LDR (Loan to Deposit Ratio)	Approx. 87%	Balance between deposits and lending
LCR (Liquidity Coverage Ratio)	498%	Significantly above regulatory thresholds
CAR (Capital Adequacy Ratio)	19.1%	Adequate at this stage
CASA ratio	39.9%	24.6% in the previous fiscal year

FY2027/5 Forecast

For FY2027/5 the company forecasts consolidated net sales of 5,094-5,257 million yen, operating profit of 50-250 million yen and EBITDA of 187-387 million yen. Gunosy states that although its current earnings capacity would allow it to generate approximately 400 million yen in operating profit, it will prioritize transforming its business structure so that AI becomes a key growth driver and will make strategic investments within the range of its earnings, so the landing point for operating profit depends on the level of investment for structural reform and the progress of new businesses.

Portfolio (million yen)	Net sales FY2027/5 forecast	Operating profit FY2027/5 forecast	EBITDA FY2027/5 forecast
Core Cash Area	4,316	785-920	788-923
Cash-Flow Accretive M&A Area (GH)	713	(75)	59
High-Growth Option Area (SC Business excluding investment / IR Hub)	68 – 230	(132)- (67)	(132)- (67)
Other Adjustments (Common Costs, etc.)	(3)	(526)	(526)
Consolidated Total	5,094-5,257	50-250	187-387

Shareholder Returns

For FY2027/5 the company will maintain a base dividend of 3% DOE while prioritizing capital allocation toward structural reforms where AI serves as a growth driver, and will consider additional shareholder returns as needed based on earnings upside, the status of slice and investment exit gains. On the return ratio based on dividends and share buybacks relative to shareholders’ equity, FY2025 was 5%, made up of a 4% dividend and a share repurchase equivalent to 1% of shareholders’ equity; FY2026/5 was a 5% dividend, of which 1% was a special dividend; and FY2027/5 is set at 3%.

Fiscal year	Dividend	Repurchase of shares	Total
FY2025	4%	1%	5%
FY2026/5	5% (of which 1% is a special dividend)	–	5%
FY2027/5	3%	–	3%

Medium-Term Plan and Topics

Gunosy has decided to terminate the business alliance agreement with KDDI for the joint development and operation of the “au Service Today” portal application, scheduled for March 31, 2027, citing changes in the information distribution landscape driven by advances in generative AI and the increasing diversification of user behaviour and preferences. The financial impact on FY2027/5 is already incorporated into the FY2027/5 full-year consolidated earnings forecast announced on the same day, with no separate quantitative impact disclosed, while the termination creates a risk of losing revenue related to au Service Today from FY2028/5 onward; the company positions addressing that risk as one of the highest-priority management issues for FY2027/5 and intends to establish, within the current fiscal year, a business structure capable of generating profits through Gunosy and NewsLite alone.

Because FY2027/5 is positioned as a structural reform phase, the previous medium-term financial goals as of FY2027/5 – EBITDA of 900 million yen, ROIC of 15% and over, and IRR of 30% on invested capital for existing businesses – have been changed, and the basic story for achieving EBITDA has been changed. Through digital transformation and the use of AI the company states it has already achieved approximately 40 million yen in annual cost savings, based on internal validation, and plans to deploy AI agents more fully to drive dramatic improvements in productivity. In the new B2B businesses, the cumulative number of IR Hub client companies has grown fourfold since the beginning of FY2026/5, which the company presents as evidence of product-market fit, while the SC business is targeting a newly opened market exceeding 2 trillion yen following the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software. The M&A policy retains its existing financial guidelines of surplus cash of up to 3.0 billion yen for investment capacity, a target ROIC exceeding WACC within two years after the acquisition, and consolidated Net Debt / EBITDA maintained at 3.0x or below.

On the balance sheet, total assets as of the end of May 2026 were 12.49 billion yen against liabilities of 1.74 billion yen and equity of 10.39 billion yen, including High-Growth Option assets of approximately 5 billion yen, cash of approximately 5.43 billion yen and other business assets of approximately 2.06 billion yen. Working capital, defined as other business assets less liabilities, was 0.32 billion yen, and FY2026/5 EBITDA excluding the High-Growth Option Area was 0.53 billion yen. The company notes that its shares have been fluctuating around a PBR of 1x, a valuation almost equivalent to book value-based business value, and that it aims to reflect balance sheet value appropriately in shareholder value, led by the potential of slice.

This article is an analysis based on publicly available information and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific securities. Investment decisions are your own responsibility.