FAQ

Disclosed on October 1, 2024

Our human resources strategy is characterized by its fusion of a global outlook with local characteristics. While we have dedicated recruitment teams at each location, we also have a team overseeing global HR strategy and crossborder recruitment. This structure allows us to balance recruitment activities that meet each country's specific needs with the execution of a consistent global strategy.

In terms of competitive advantage in talent acquisition, we have a unique presence as a startup originating from Southeast Asia. We have achieved high growth while maintaining stable profitability improvement and financial soundness, along with the credibility of being a listed company. Moreover, there are very few companies with such a multinational organization and culture. We maximize this unique position to strategically and efficiently attract talent in each country who are eager to build careers in the global internet industry.

We are also strengthening knowledge sharing and talent development. For example, we conduct company-wide monthly knowledge sharing sessions and cross-departmental reporting meetings to promote the horizontal expansion of best practices. Furthermore, we aim to broaden employees' global perspectives and deepen cross-cultural understanding through the promotion of cross-border projects. We also provide diverse and advanced learning opportunities, including AI-support training programs, an internal online learning platform, and level-specific training. Going forward, we aim to establish a sustainable growth foundation by developing flexible human resource strategies that respond quickly to rapid market and technological changes.

The Company's stock code (ticker) is 5027.

The Company went public on March 29, 2023.

AnyMind Group was founded in Singapore in April 2016 and currently operates from 22 offices and locations across 15 markets worldwide. AnyMind Group is a technology company that provides a one-stop platform for solutions such as brand development, manufacturing management, media management, e-commerce enablement, marketing and logistics management.

The company has two business domains: Brand Commerce and Partner Growth.

Brand Commerce refers to providing e-commerce and marketing support platforms for enterprise clients. We offer one-stop support covering everything from brand design and planning, production management, EC site construction and operation, marketing, logistics management, to AI and DX integration. In our financial results, this business domain is disclosed under two segments: Marketing Business and D2C/EC Business.

Partner Growth refers to growth-related activities for publishers and creators.

Disclosed on July 2, 2025

Revenue from the Creator Growth Business is primarily classified into the following three areas:
1. Creator support centered on long-form video content
2. Creator support centered on short-form video content
3. Support for talents and artists activities other than video creators

Until the first half of 2023, 1. was the main focus, but from the second half of 2023 onward, 2. has grown significantly in addition to that, and currently 3. is experiencing growth. The scope of the latest financial forecast revision is limited only to the short-form video area of 2., while the impact on other creator support areas has been limited, and they continue to maintain stable growth.

In particular, to promote diversification of our revenue model, we are actively strengthening areas included in 3., such as talent and artist management, event planning, merchandise production and sales, and game production utilizing IP. These new initiatives are expected to become important pillars driving future business growth. As a concrete example, our group produced short drama channel 'shunkan seju' surpassed 60,000 TikTok followers in three months from launch, and tie-up projects are also progressing smoothly. Additionally, we have established a new label, "MUNI," which specializes in live commerce within the beauty and lifestyle sectors. Through this label, we will provide comprehensive support to our affiliated creators, from training and providing a live-streaming environment to securing advertising and event appearances.

Furthermore, within the overall creator economy market, diversification of monetization methods such as merchandise sales and fan communication is advancing, and we expect continued growth in market size. Globally, the creator economy market is predicted to grow at an annual average rate of 22.7% (1), and against this backdrop of market expansion, our business can be expected to continue steady growth. Additionally, there is significant potential for AI utilization in the creator support area, and we believe we can leverage our strengths in this regard as well.

Of note, the Creator Growth Business accounts for 18% of our group's total gross profit (fiscal year ending December 2024 results), and there have been no changes to the growth prospects or business environment for our core businesses, which since our foundation have been marketing and the D2C/EC business for enterprise clients. We will continue to aim for robust growth in these core businesses, driven by the strong demand in the Asian market.

(1) Source: Coherent Market Insights, compound annual growth rate for the global creator economy market from 2025 to 2032

Disclosed on July 2, 2025

The launch of TikTok Shop in Japan represents an extremely significant business opportunity for our company, and we believe we can establish a leading position in the social commerce area in Japan.

Our company has accumulated extensive experience and expertise overseas, particularly in Southeast Asian markets. For example, we have supported major food manufacturers in expanding sales on TikTok Shop in Indonesia, and in Thailand we have been recognized as a top-tier "Prime Partner" by TikTok Shop, demonstrating our leading social commerce support track record in Asia. These achievements are supported by our specialized solution suite in this field, including our internally developed EC management tool "AnyX" and our generative AI-powered live commerce tool "AnyLive." Furthermore, in April of this year, we announced the M&A of Vibula , a prominent live commerce company in Vietnam, strengthening our organizational structure and operational know-how while accelerating global expansion.

Based on this global foundation, we are also actively advancing specific initiatives for the Japanese market. On the product side, we announced in June 2025 that our EC management tool "AnyX" and logistics management tool "AnyLogi" would begin API integration with TikTok Shop Japan. Additionally, our live commerce tool "AnyLive" has newly added Japanese language support, expanding compatible languages to 8 languages, enabling live commerce deployment across multiple languages and regions. AnyLive is also now equipped with a new function for collecting and analyzing data during live broadcasts.
Furthermore, as we recently announced, our company has been certified as an official TikTok Shop partner in Japan, in addition to our existing partnerships in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. We have established a one-stop support system for TikTok Shop that covers everything from initial planning and account management to creator collaborations, advertising, live streaming, and logistics support. By leveraging our expertise, platform, and network cultivated in Southeast Asia, we will further support the growth of brands, creators, and sellers in the Japanese market through our TikTok Shop operational support.

In terms of business development, we are already receiving numerous inquiries from clients. In anticipation of the Japanese launch of "TikTok Shop," we announced the start of providing support services for brand companies, and from May to June, we jointly held multiple seminars with TikTok for Business regarding TikTok Shop utilization. We have attracted 50 to 100 participants each time, receiving very high interest from the market and specific consultations, and we have already begun closing the deals. Our policy is to prioritize establishing market share in the Japanese market first, and steadily develop this into a medium to long-term business pillar.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

As our business development activities and sales revenue in the US market are limited, we expect the direct impact of US tariff policies to be extremely limited. While there could be indirect effects from the risk of economic deterioration in the global economy, at present, we do not see specific signs such as reduction in marketing budgets by customers in the Asian market, and the deterioration of economic sentiment has not particularly materialized.

In our Marketing business, we have a diverse customer base of over 1,000 companies annually, and risk diversification has progressed with the revenue contribution ratio of the largest customer being less than 5.0%, so we view the impact of economic fluctuations on overall performance as limited.

On the other hand, trade within Asia may be further activated due to the impact of global trade friction, and the importance of the Asian market may be reassessed. We view this environment as a new business opportunity and will leverage our strength in having a flexible business foundation spanning multiple countries to demonstrate cross-border responsiveness and enhance our competitive advantage even amid market changes.

We will continue to develop flexible strategies while monitoring geopolitical risks and changes in the international situation, aiming for medium to long-term growth centered on the Asian market.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

In overseas markets, including Southeast Asia, the social commerce market combining SNS and E-Commerce, such as TikTok Shop, is rapidly expanding, and we believe there is a high possibility that this trend will extend to the Japanese market as well. Our company is already making preparations with an eye on business development in this area in the Japanese market.

Since 2022, our company has been developing a social commerce support business for enterprise clients utilizing SNS such as TikTok, primarily in the Southeast Asian market. Specifically, we have accumulated some of the leading support achievements in Asia. For example, recently we have had a successful case of sales expansion on TikTok Shop through live commerce support for "Rumah Indofood", the official TikTok Shop account of Indofood CBP, a major Indonesian food and beverage group. In February 2025, we were certified as a 'Prime Partner,' the highest rank, in recognition of our sales performance and live commerce operation capabilities on TikTok Shop in Thailand.

In addition, in September 2024, we developed and began providing 'AnyLive,' a live commerce platform that utilizes generative AI technology, creating high synergistic effects through a hybrid model that combines efficient and attractive live streaming using AI avatars and generative AI with human live streaming. In 2022, we announced the integration of TikTok Shop to our E-Commerce Management platform, AnyX. Furthermore, in April 2025, we announced the M&A of Vibula, a company that provides live commerce support in Vietnam, further strengthening our operational know-how in the social commerce field and accelerating our global expansion. We have also built close partnerships with various SNS and social commerce platform companies in Asian countries through our marketing and E-Commerce businesses.

In anticipation of the expansion of the social commerce market in Japan in the future, we will actively utilize our track record, know-how, and related technologies cultivated in the Southeast Asian market to develop social commerce support for enterprise clients in Japan. We aim to maximize our global business operation system and extensive experience to achieve a leading position in this field in Japan.

Disclosed on April 2, 2025

While we are constantly considering expansion into new markets, our current focus is on prioritizing business penetration in the Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern markets, where we believe there are sufficient opportunities and room for growth. For the time being, this is a phase of further deepening business in existing markets, and even if we do expand into Western or other emerging markets, we anticipate starting with a limited approach, such as establishing sales offices first.

On the other hand, in the medium to long term, we will carefully consider the possibility of expansion into regions outside Asia, leveraging the networks, customer base, and business models developed, while taking into account business resources.

Regarding the Chinese market, we do not currently anticipate aggressive domestic expansion in China, and the policy for China-related business is to focus on supporting outbound or inbound demand from Chinese companies.

Disclosed on January 8, 2025

At the end of September 2024, we launched 'AnyLive,' a multilingual generative AI live commerce platform. In just a few months since its launch, we have acquired prominent clients including the 'evian' brand, known for bottled water and skincare products. In the case of the evian brand, we implemented hybrid streaming in the Thai market, combining AI models with human livestreamers, achieving 3.5 times higher revenue compared to conventional methods while reducing streaming costs by 90%.

In recent years, live commerce (an e-commerce sales solution that promotes purchases through live video streaming while introducing products and communicating with viewers in real-time) has become an important marketing method for EC sales in Southeast Asia. However, live streaming faces limitations in broadcasting hours and frequency due to issues with human resources (livestreamers) and costs. 'AnyLive,' through its use of AI models for live commerce, not only enables easy support for seven Asian languages but also allows for 24-hour live commerce streaming, including off-hours when regular human-operated live commerce would not be available.

'AnyLive' operates as part of our D2C/EC segment, and since its announcement, it has been steadily increasing new client engagements as a major solution in our B2B EC business development efforts. While we believe live commerce requires a comprehensive approach, including not only AI models but also human livestreamers and collaborations with prominent influencers, we expect the importance of AI utilization to increase further. Currently, we are primarily supporting existing clients, but moving forward, we plan to accelerate the growth of our B2B EC support business by expanding the client base for 'AnyLive.

Disclosed August 14, 2024

We operate in rapidly changing industries, so we constantly monitor changes in the industry and market. Additionally, as we expand globally, we also face geopolitical risks. However, our diversified business structure and revenue bases across various countries allow for risk distribution at the group level. Even with temporary changes in market conditions, we can expect stable growth in the Asian economy as a whole. Therefore, we believe that we have effective risk control as a group.

In business operations, more important points are recognizing the current situation regarding market changes in each country and implementing timely responses to these changes. For this, we believe that management teams in each country are crucial. While our company has diverse management members in each country, we believe that further strengthening of these country management teams is necessary to achieve higher growth in the medium to long term.

Disclosed on June 28, 2023

Our business is largely divided into the Brand Commerce area and the Partner Growth area. In the Brand Commerce area, we mainly provide growth support to corporate brands and the Brand Commerce area can be further sectioned into Marketing and D2C/EC businesses. The Marketing business provides offerings such as influencer marketing and digital marketing. The revenue model is one in which we receive marketing fees from corporate advertisers to implement marketing activities, and the cost of sales are payments to influencers and media (web media and mobile apps).

The D2C/EC business offers multiple solutions in the e-commerce value chain, including production, ecommerce management, and logistics. In the D2C (direct-to-consumer) business for creators, we have a product sales model, in which we hold inventory and earn revenue by selling D2C products together with creators. In the business of providing e-commerce support to corporate clients, there are multiple revenue models, including a sales-sharing model in which we receive a fixed percentage of the income generated from e-commerce sales, a model in which we provide individual solutions and receive a fixed monthly fee, and, a pay-as-you-go model in which we are compensated based on shipping fees, etc. (for AnyLogi, an inventory and logistics management solution).

In the Partner Growth area, revenue is shared with publishers of web media and mobile apps and creators such as YouTubers and TikTokers based on a fixed percentage of advertising revenue. For the revenue sharing model, we recognize advertising revenue received as gross amount and the payments to publishers and creators (other than the percentage of revenue sharing) are treated as cost of sales (whether we adopt the gross or net revenue recognition depends on the structure of contracts with publishers or creators, and the increase in gross profit margin which occurred in 2022 for the creator business was due to an increase in the proportion of contracts that are treated as net amount.). In addition, we also provide support to publishers for website/mobile app UX improvement, data analysis, and other services, and some of our offerings for a fixed fee.

Disclosed on June 28, 2023

Our company provides a wide range of solutions primarily in the areas of e-commerce and marketing, 1 including brand building, production management, e-commerce site development and operation, marketing, and logistics management. We have expanded our operations to 13 markets across the region, which means that there are no direct competitors in the entire business. Even when considering individual business segments, there are fewer cases of competition in the entire region of development. Usually, in each country, there are local competitors in each respective business segment separately.

Furthermore, by leveraging the benefits of scaling through global business expansion, we have invested in technologies and data utilization, provided services across Asia through cross-border operations, and offered comprehensive support along the business value chain. This distinctive positioning has led to complementary relationships with local companies in various countries, resulting in numerous cases of collaboration rather than pure competition.

Since our establishment, we have consistently invested in data and products, and we have built a strong local network and organization in each Asian market. We believe that our business foundation provides us with a competitive advantage in the respective country-specific competitive environment. We aim to continue enhancing our unique value proposition and achieve further growth in the future.

Disclosed on June 28, 2023

We have been operating in multiple countries since our establishment, and we have worked towards establishing a structure based on multinational operations. We have built a matrix organization based on two axes, country, and business. Country managers oversee operations in each country, including local teams, and are responsible for talent management, customer relations, and addressing issues specific to local markets. Regional leaders within the business axis focus on optimizing products and operations, tackling challenges that are common globally. This matrix group structure enables us to efficiently manage our business and organization.

We have also implemented a shared accounting system and CRM system throughout the company, including the companies we acquired, and have established an environment where earnings and KPI are managed in real time by business and by country, and weekly discussions are held with the head of each business in each country to review the progress and address issues faced by each business. In addition, we conduct monthly profit analysis by business unit for each country to identify businesses that require investment and businesses that need productivity improvement, and we have a system in place to respond and discuss in a timely manner.

The culture of the entire organization is very flat, and the country managers in each country work closely with other members of the group management team to improve operations in each country through mutual information sharing. In addition, for companies that have joined the group through M&A, we will promote full business integration, including organization and structure, and will establish a reporting line for each country's corporate team in both the regional and country manager's direction. We are also working to build a structure that will allow us to have more resolution and control over each country's business from the perspective of governance.

Disclosed on April 13, 2023

On page 40 of the “Business Strategies and Growth Opportunities” document disclosed on March 29, 2023, the first quarter of the year (January-March) is expected to be a low season.

The first quarter has fewer business days and operating days than other quarters due to the New Year vacation and Lunar New Year vacations, etc. Many overseas companies (corporate customers) close their books in December and concentrate their marketing investments at the end of the fiscal year, so they often do not actively conduct marketing activities during January and Feburary. As a result, earnings, especially in our Marketing and Partner Growth businesses, tend to remain at lower levels compared to the preceding quarter. In Japan, March is the end of the fiscal year for many companies, which increases marketing spending, but January and February are also low seasons in Japan, and the Company has larger overseas businesses than Japan, resulting in the first quarter of the year being a low season.

The second (April-June) and third (July-September) quarters are not particularly seasonal, but since our business is in a growth stage, sales and gross profit are expected to be higher in the third quarter than in the second quarter.

The fourth quarter (October-December) is a high season for all businesses, as marketing activities and e-commerce sales increase for Diwali, India’s biggest festival in October-November, and Christmas in December, and many overseas companies have a December fiscal year end and tend to concentrate their marketing spending at the end of the fiscal year.

The quarterly distribution of gross profit for the fiscal year ending December 2022, was 20% for the first quarter, 24% for the second quarter, 25% for the third quarter, and 31% for the fourth quarter, indicating that the contribution to earnings increases towards the latter half of the year due to both seasonality and our business growth. We expect the same seasonality and trend to continue in the fiscal year ending December 2023, and beyond.

Disclosed on July 2, 2025

Following the financial forecast revision on May 14, 2025, we have been able to share a clear sense of purpose for structural reform throughout the company, and we view this as an excellent opportunity for fundamental transformation. Currently, under the leadership of top management including the CEO, we are promoting a company-wide business improvement project centered on AI. While AI utilization initiatives began in 2024, they had previously remained at the domestic-focused study and implementation stage. However, we have now shifted our approach toward more fundamental and global company-wide deployment.

As specific initiatives, our internal organization 'AI App Studio,' which promotes AI development and utilization, is leading company-wide efforts to standardize business processes that differ across countries, automate processes, and improve operational efficiency through the introduction of generative AI tools. Our company provides comprehensive customer support including operational services through a BPaaS model, with approximately half of our employees engaged in these operational support functions. Therefore, we have positioned employee productivity improvement as our top priority. Specifically, in our domestic marketing business in Japan, which is leading the way, we expect to achieve approximately 40% reduction in man-hours by utilizing AI in processes such as data analysis and proposal creation. We aim to achieve significant productivity improvements by establishing standard processes that assume AI utilization and deploying them company-wide.

Through these initiatives, we expect to improve productivity and suppress the pace of headcount increases that would accompany business growth. Specifically, we plan to reduce our medium-term workforce projection by 15%, from the original projection of approximately 3,300 employees to below 2,800 employees for the fiscal year ending December 2027. This is expected to enable annual selling, general and administrative expense reductions of approximately 3 billion yen. We anticipate that these cost reduction effects will begin to appear gradually from fiscal year ending December 2026, with full materialization expected in fiscal year ending December 2027. This is an extremely important initiative that will transform not only our cost structure but our business model itself over the medium to long term, going beyond short-term cost reductions, and we are promoting it as our highest priority project.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

In the first quarter of 2025, revenue increased by 20.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, and gross profit increased by 25.5%, with gross profit progressing steadily at a level that achieved the initial plan. While there has been some impact on performance from the Partner Growth business, for which we have revised our forecast, the Marketing business and Enterprise E-Commerce Support business continue to maintain steady growth supported by robust customer demand.

Additionally, our business experiences seasonality, with the first quarter being the low season and the fourth quarter being the high season, and 2025 is following the usual pattern. The first quarter of fiscal year 2024 showed performance significantly exceeding seasonality as the Partner Growth business demonstrated particularly high growth, but this year's performance is progressing based on normal seasonal factors.

The operating profit of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 amounted to 298 million yen, a 16.2% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year, affected by continued recruitment investments in growth areas during the first quarter and the decrease in Creator Growth revenue since March 2025. However, efficiency improvement projects utilizing generative AI are currently underway throughout the group, and as we expect to be able to mitigate increases in recruitment and outsourcing costs, we anticipate improved profitability in the future.

Furthermore, due to the trend of a stronger yen and weaker dollar, we recorded 146 million yen as financial expenses in non-operating items as valuation losses on U.S. dollar-denominated assets (mainly U.S. dollar cash), resulting in quarterly profit attributable to owners of the parent of 33 million yen, a 85.3% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. However, this valuation loss is transitory. Accompanying foreign exchange fluctuations and its impact on our essential business activities continues to remain limited.

From a business perspective, important initiatives that will be reflected in future performance, such as promoting DX through the use of generative AI, progress in business improvement projects, and strengthening our support foundation for enterprise clients, are steadily advancing. We evaluate this as a positive quarter that will lead to strengthening our medium to long-term revenue base.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

With the revision of the business forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2025 announced on May 14, 2025, we have revised our initial forecast downwards to: revenue at 55,253 million yen (9.0% increase year-on-year) and gross profit at 21,260 million yen (13.3% increase year-on-year). Looking at the year-on-year growth rate of gross profit, which we consider our most important indicator, by business segment: Marketing business is expected to increase by 20% and the D2C/E-Commerce business is expected to increase by 48% with no changes other than updated foreign exchange assumptions, while Partner Growth business is expected to decrease by 15%.

The main reason for this revision of our business forecast is the change in the external environment for our Creator Growth business, which is included in the Partner Growth business segment. The revenue model for this business involves supporting the monetization of creators' video content and distributing the revenue at a certain ratio between the creators and our company. Particularly since the third quarter of 2023, revenue from short-form videos, a new expansion segment, has experienced rapid growth. While our creator support had primarily focused on creators in various Asian countries, for short-form videos, we expanded our target market to support creators globally regardless of country, strengthening our creator acquisition efforts. As a result, our year-on-year gross profit growth rate, which had been 18% in 2021 and 19% in 2022, achieved remarkable growth at 69% in 2023 and 206% in 2024, with the Creator Growth Support business expanding from 0.65 billion yen in gross profit for the fiscal year ending December 2022 to 3.4 billion yen for the fiscal year ending December 2024. For 2025, we had expected steady business growth and profit contribution.

However, since March 2025, the revenue unit price for short-form videos has dropped considerably, now hovering at approximately 1/4 of the previous level. We believe this is due to factors such as revisions to monetization rates on video platforms for this new short-form video market, and we recognize that this unit price fluctuation has similarly affected the entire market globally, not just our company. We had been carefully monitoring whether this price decrease was temporary or a permanent change, but we have revised our business forecast as there were no signs of recovery in revenue unit prices throughout April 2025.

Although there has been a decrease in revenue unit price, as disclosed in the financial results briefing materials for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2025 (page 8), we expect that the deterioration of this particular business environment, including revenue unit price decreases, has run its course. The expected gross profit for the Creator Growth business for the fiscal year ending December 2025 after the revenue unit price adjustment is 2.2 billion yen, which we anticipate will maintain a high level compared to the fiscal year ending December 2023. Furthermore, we believe that the growth trend in the creator-related market will continue, and we expect to be able to transition to a stable growth phase based on the current revenue unit price.

In this revision of our business forecast, regarding Publisher Growth business, which is also included in the Partner Growth Business segment, we have made downward adjustments to revenue considering the change in revenue mix, as web media publishers with low gross profit margins are underperforming, while mobile app publishers with high gross profit margins are performing well. Additionally, we have adjusted the group-wide USD/JPY exchange rate assumption for the full year 2025 from the initial forecast of 149.25 yen to 145.3 yen (143.0 yen from April 2025 onward), which has resulted in a downward adjustment of sales revenue and gross profit in yen terms.

We have also lowered our operating profit forecast in line with the downward revision of gross profit, but we are mitigating the increase in selling, general and administrative expenses by improving our cost structure, including revising recruitment plans and outsourcing costs based on operational efficiency. While the impact of the revision on the current operating profit amount is significant due to the sudden decrease in expected gross profit, we are currently implementing and promoting the use of generative AI in various internal workflows and business improvement throughout the group, and we expect that these productivity improvement projects will help mitigate increases in selling, general and administrative expenses and improve our operating profit margin in the future.

In addition, we have reflected a decrease in the amount of selling, general and administrative expenses in yen terms based on the revised exchange rate assumption. Regarding profit attributable to owners of the parent, in addition to the aforementioned downward revision of business outlook, foreign exchange translation losses on U.S. dollar-denominated assets (such as U.S. dollar deposits) have occurred due to the appreciation of the yen and depreciation of the U.S. dollar, with the USD/JPY exchange rate moving from 158.2 yen at the end of 2024 to 142.6 yen at the end of April 2025. We have reflected the anticipated foreign exchange losses of 281 million yen which covers the cumulative period up to the second quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2025, based on an assumed exchange rate of 143 yen per US dollar.

Based on the above situation, we have revised our earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2025. However, we have not changed the medium-term targets for the fiscal year ending December 2027 (revenue of 105 billion yen, gross profit of 38.5 billion yen) that were announced on February 14, 2025

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

As mentioned earlier, for the assumptions of the revised business forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2025, we expect the year-on-year growth rate of gross profit by business segment to increase by 20% for the Marketing Business and 48% for the D2C/E-Commerce Business, while we anticipate a 15% decrease for the Partner Growth Business.

For the Marketing Business and D2C/E-Commerce Business, we assume that performance will follow the initial outlook except for changes in foreign exchange assumptions. We expect "AnyTag", our influencer marketing platform, to continue maintaining steady growth in each region. In the D2C/E-Commerce Business, we anticipate high growth in our enterprise E-Commerce support business as we acquire new enterprise clients and concurrently experience an increased demand for cross-border E-Commerce support. In an environment where global trade friction is a concern, we believe that the significance of the Asian market and the importance of intra-Asian trade are being reignited, and we expect robust demand from enterprise clients for marketing and E-Commerce support.

On the other hand, for the Partner Growth Business, we have lowered our performance forecast due to the decline in revenue unit prices for short-form videos in the Creator Growth business. Also in the Publisher Growth business, we are adjusting the revenue mix in consideration of the sluggish business environment for web publishers and the strong performance of mobile app publishers with high gross profit margins. Due to the reaction from the rapid growth of the Creator Growth business in the fiscal year ending December 2024, the Partner Growth Business as a whole is expected to show negative year-on-year growth for the fiscal year ending December 2025. However, the average growth rate from the fiscal year ending December 2023 to the fiscal year ending December 2025 is projected to be 19% annually, and we expect to maintain a stable growth trend in the future.

By region, excluding the impact of changes in the Partner Growth business, we expect the Southeast Asian region to continue maintaining high growth, while Japan and other regions are also expected to show stable growth. Regarding recent M&A activities, we have not included Vietnamese live commerce company, Vibula, which we announced an agreement to acquire in April 2025, in our performance forecast. For Japanese e-gifting company, AnyReach, where we completed the share acquisition at the end of March 2025, we have conservatively reflected it in our earnings forecast, mainly focusing on the increase in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

Since we receive most of our business revenue in local currencies in each country, our performance on a Japanese yen basis is affected by exchange rate fluctuations between each country's currency and the yen. As overseas operations account for approximately 53% of our total gross profit, the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations occurs within this range. In the first quarter of 2025, the Singapore dollar, Thai baht, and Indonesian rupiah had the main impact, with the Hong Kong dollar, Vietnamese dong, Taiwan dollar, and Malaysian ringgit also having a certain influence. Based on the weighted average of each currency on a gross profit basis, we estimate the positive impact of foreign exchange on the gross profit growth rate for the same quarter to be approximately 1.1%.

Additionally, since expenses, including selling, general and administrative expenses, are also incurred in local currencies in each country, they move in the same direction as gross profit, which has the effect of offsetting the foreign exchange impact on profitability indicators such as operating profit. If the Japanese yen strengthens against various Asian currencies in the future, sales revenue and gross profit will decline on a Japanese yen basis, but since selling, general and administrative expenses will also decrease similarly, we expect the impact on operating profit to be limited.

Therefore, even if the strong yen trend continues in the future, we do not anticipate any significant impact on operating profit or cash flow, and we believe that the impact will primarily be on the Japanese yen conversion figures for revenue and gross profit.

Regarding the impact on non-operating financial expenses, if the yen strengthens and the dollar weakens, foreign exchange valuation losses will occur on U.S. dollar-denominated assets (mainly U.S. dollar deposits, etc.). In the first quarter of 2025, we recorded foreign exchange valuation losses of 146 million yen as financial expenses due to this factor.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

As announced on May 14, 2025, we have revised our full-year earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2025, but we have not changed our medium-term targets for the fiscal year ending December 2027 (sales revenue of 105 billion yen, gross profit of 38.5 billion yen). We aim to achieve our medium-term targets, including the revenue increase from growth investments such as M&A. Regarding the operating profit margin for the fiscal year ending December 2025, which has been revised downward this time, we aim to improve it to a level of 6.0% or higher within the medium-term target period through business efficiency measures utilizing generative AI.

Our company continues to grow centered on E-Commerce support and marketing support for enterprise clients, and strong demand in both domestic and international markets is expected to continue. In particular, we view the revitalization of trade within Asia, driven by factors such as global trade friction, as a significant opportunity to further expand our presence in the Asian market. We will respond to changes in the market environment by leveraging our business foundation across multiple countries and our strength in flexible cross-border responsiveness.

As a specific growth strategy, in the marketing field, we will strengthen SNS analysis and influencer recommendation functions utilizing generative AI to enhance the competitiveness of our solutions. In the E-Commerce support field, we will expand the hybrid model combining AI live commerce and traditional live commerce, while continuing to acquire new brands and strengthen support systems for cross-border E-Commerce support. We will advance the strengthening of partnerships with regional clients, actively promote DX support for enterprise clients utilizing generative AI, and expand cross-selling between business segments.

In the Partner Growth business, based on the continued growth of the creator economy, we will strengthen support for the monetization of video content and the production of content such as short dramas, utilizing our contracted creators. In the publisher support field, we will advance the shift from web media, which is experiencing sluggish market conditions, to the rapidly growing mobile app market, and actively engage in revenue generation support utilizing AnyManager, operational efficiency support through generative AI, and the development and operation of in-house apps such as casual games.

While enhancing synergy effects through the use of generative AI and data across various business fields, we will leverage our strength in connecting Asia and our ability to provide advanced digital solutions to achieve sustainable growth while responding quickly and flexibly to rapidly changing market environments.

Furthermore, we will promote structural reforms through operational efficiency measures centered on generative AI within the company, further establish our competitive advantage in the Asian market, and aim for an operating profit margin of 6.0% or higher in the medium term, with the goal of achieving even higher levels. For details, please refer to the 'Future Growth Strategy and Earnings Forecast section in the financial results briefing materials for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2025 , which was published on May 14, 2025.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

As detailed on page 19 of the FY2025 Q1 earnings presentation released on May q4, 2025, although the current downward revision may appear to temporarily increase the hurdles toward achieving our mid-term targets, we believe that our mid-term targets remain fully achievable, considering future M&A activities and operational efficiency improvement project through the utilization of generative AI.

Firstly, the financial impact of the downward revision in our Partner Growth Business for FY2025 (including the revised foreign exchange assumptions) results in a decrease of approximately 9,497 million yen in revenue and 2,481 million yen in gross profit. Given that we anticipated an annual growth rate of roughly 20% for the Partner Growth Business, we estimate that by FY2027, this revision will result in a decrease of approximately 13,675 million yen in revenue and 3,572 million yen in gross profit compared to our mid-term targets. The impact on operating profit, accounting for reduced SG&A expenses due to foreign exchange adjustments (443 million yen), is expected to be around 3,129 million yen for FY2027. In summary, the deviation from our mid-term targets for FY2027 is anticipated to be reductions of approximately 13,675 million yen in revenue, 3,572 million yen in gross profit, and 3,129 million yen in operating profit.

However, we wish to highlight two factors that were not factored into our original mid-term targets: (1) ongoing strategic M&A activities and (2) an operational efficiency project driven by AI implementation.

(1) Ongoing Strategic M&A Activities

Since before our IPO, M&A has been a central pillar of our growth strategy. For the nine acquisitions completed prior to FY2024, the acquired companies have achieved an average revenue growth of approximately 4.4 times compared to preacquisition levels, reflecting our successful track record of integration and synergy realization.

In addition to AnyReach and Vibula, both announced in FY2025, we assume the implementation of three new M&A transactions each year for FY2026 and FY2027 (up to one transaction per quarter). Based on historical M&A results, for this simulation, each acquisition is assumed to contribute approximately 1.0 billion yen in revenue, 300 million yen in gross profit, and 70 million yen in operating profit in their first year within our group. Including AnyReach and Vibula, the estimated financial contribution from these acquisitions for FY2027 amounts to approximately 7,757 million yen in revenue, 2,928 million yen in gross profit, and 592 million yen in operating profit.

(2) AI-Driven Operational Efficiency Project

We are currently driving a significant transformation into an AI-native company, led by a dedicated team reporting directly to our CEO. This initiative encompasses standardizing business processes and implementing internally developed AI tools across all regions and business units.

Personnel expenses represent the largest portion of our SG&A costs, accounting for approximately 63% of total SG&A when including recruitment and related costs. Due to our business model, which assumes continuous hiring in line with business growth, we projected headcount growth from 2,035 full-time employees as of March 31, 2025, to 3,313 employees by the end of FY2027. Consequently, headcount-related SG&A expenses were forecasted at approximately 20,328 million yen for FY2027.

Our ongoing AI implementation has already demonstrated substantial efficiency potential—for example, in our influencer marketing business, we have broken down the processes required to execute a single project into over 200 individual steps, systematically analyzing the extent to which each step can be automated, including the use of AI tools. By aggregating the time required for each step and the time savings achievable through automation, we have identified approximately 40% efficiency improvement potential within these processes, and we believe this efficiency improvement can be achieved without negatively impacting top-line revenue growth. We have already started implementing these process improvements in Japan and key target countries, and plan to sequentially expand this improvement initiative to other business segments and additional countries. Conservatively, we estimate an overall efficiency improvement of around 15% across the company. Applying this 15% improvement, headcount could be effectively controlled at approximately 2,816 employees by FY2027 instead of the initially planned 3,313, translating into a corresponding reduction in personnel-related SG&A expenses of approximately 3,049 million yen (20,328 million yen × 15%).

Summary and Future Strategy

Combining the effects of ongoing M&A activities and AI-driven operational efficiency improvements, we project an increase of approximately 7,757 million yen in revenue, 2,928 million yen in gross profit, and 3,641 million yen in operating profit for FY2027. This anticipated increase in operating profit more than offsets the downward revision impact (13,675 million yen revenue decrease, 3,572 million yen gross profit decrease, and 3,129 million yen operating profit decrease).

Ultimately, the remaining deviation from our mid-term targets for FY2027 is limited to approximately 5,918 million yen in revenue (variance rate of 5.6%) and 644 million yen in gross profit (variance rate of 1.7%). These are achievable figures within our normal existing business growth trajectory, requiring approximately a 2% annual outperformance relative to our forecast.

The assumptions used in our scenario for M&A, AI-driven operational efficiency, and existing business growth are realistic, and we believe there is further potential for upside. While we sincerely apologize for any concerns caused by this downward revision, we remain committed to steadily growing our core businesses while proactively pursuing both M&A and AI initiatives to maximize shareholder value and returns.

Disclosed on April 2, 2025

Our business continues to experience seasonality, with Q1 as the low season and Q4 as the high season. For Q1 FY2024, despite the usual seasonality, the Partner Growth business grew at a rate that surpassed this pattern, particularly in creator growth support due to successful creator acquisition. As a result, revenue in the Partner Growth business expanded from Q4 FY2023 to Q1 FY2024, resulting in a smaller Q1 revenue decline than usual.

However, the Partner Growth business fundamentally has a business structure that is affected by advertising market seasonality, and we expect the normal trend of Q4 as high season and Q1 as low season to continue in the future. We therefore anticipate this seasonal trend to continue affecting future Q1 performance across all business segments.

Disclosed on April 2, 2025

In the Marketing business and E-commerce business for enterprises, we have adopted a BPaaS model that offers operational support alongside software, encouraging technology utilization. We position this as a key competitive advantage in the market. Even in cases where technology alone would make adoption and utilization challenging for enterprise clients, we believe we can significantly reduce implementation barriers by integrating directly into their operations and providing comprehensive support. However, with such a business model, the organizational structure requires staffing for customer support operations, thus necessitating an increase in personnel in line with sales growth. 1 This document is the English translation of the original release in Japanese. In the event of any discrepancy, the original release in Japanese shall prevail.

Meanwhile, productivity improvements due to economies of scale that come with business expansion continue, and the ratio of labor costs to sales or gross profit tends to gradually decrease. Going forward, we also believe that by streamlining routine tasks previously handled by people, such as reporting, using generative AI in internal operations, our existing personnel structure will be able to handle larger volume and scale of projects.

Regarding the composition of SG&A expenses, personnel costs account for over 50%, and expenses such as rent also indirectly fluctuate with increases in personnel. Therefore, the number of personnel is the main driver of SG&A expenses. While recruitment investment for business growth remains important going forward, we expect the pace of personnel increase to gradually slow down due to productivity improvements.

Disclosed on February 14, 2025

Based on steady business performance and improved profitability, we made an upward revision to our full-year forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2024 on November 14, 2024. Subsequently, with continued strong performance in the fourth quarter, our actual results for the fiscal year ending December 2024 exceeded the revised forecast, with revenue achieving 103.3% and gross profit reaching 102.5% of the revised forecast. Compared to the previous fiscal year, revenue grew by 51.6% and gross profit increased by 47.7%, significantly surpassing our initial growth target of 30% set at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Regarding operating profit, we initially provided conservative forecasts considering seasonal fluctuations in the fourth quarter and the impact of year-end accounting adjustments. However, due to steady performance, operating profit in the fourth quarter increased by 461 million yen compared to the same quarter of the previous year. As a result, operating profit for the fiscal year ending December 2024 reached 2.56 billion yen, exceeding both our initial forecast of 1.25 billion yen announced at the beginning of the fiscal year and the revised forecast of 2.4 billion yen announced on November 14.

Furthermore, due to fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, we recorded a foreign exchange gain of 227 million yen in the fourth quarter (and 61 million yen for the full year). Additionally, after reviewing the recoverability of deferred tax assets based on improved current profitability and future performance outlook, we decided to record deferred tax assets at our subsidiaries. As a result, we recorded an income tax deferred of -374 million yen (- as gain) in the fourth quarter and of 409 million yen (- as gain) for the fiscal year ending December 2024. Due to these factors, net income attributable to owners of the parent for the fiscal year ending December 2024 amounted to 2.34 billion yen, significantly exceeding the most recently announced forecast of 1.58 billion yen. However, since the foreign exchange gains and recording of deferred tax assets are non-recurring items, we believe that figures excluding these impacts should be considered as the reference level for evaluation.

Disclosed on February 14, 2025

All business segments continue to demonstrate solid growth. The year-on-year growth rate in gross profit, which we consider the most important indicator for our group, showed increases of 34% in the Marketing Business, 34% in the D2C/E-Commerce Business, and 58% in the Partner Growth Business. In the Marketing Business, influencer marketing is driving growth across all regions. In the D2C/E-Commerce Business, while the creator-focused e-commerce business is showing stable growth as we prioritize profitability over expansion for scale, the enterprise e-commerce business is expanding steadily through the acquisition of new customers seeking cross-border expansion in Asia. The enterprise ecommerce business alone achieved a year-on-year gross profit growth rate of 46%. In the Partner Growth Business, the creator-focused business maintains high growth through continuous acquisition of new creators.

By region, we achieved growth across all areas, with year-on-year gross profit growth rates of 21% in Japan and Korea, 70% in Southeast Asia, and 49% in other regions (India and Greater China). The growth in Southeast Asia is partly attributed to the strong performance of our recently acquired companies, DDI and Arche (even excluding their revenue, the region's year-on-year growth rate remained high at 70%), along with significant contributions from the expansion of enterprise support in e-commerce and creator growth support. While the growth rate in Japan and Korea remains relatively low due to the large composition ratio of publisher growth support services, which has recently shown slower growth, each business segment is performing steadily. We have no major concerns about the business environment or outlook and expect continued stable growth.

Disclosed on January 8, 2025(Revised with outdated information removed based on May 14, 2025 disclosure)

Our outlook remains unchanged from what we have communicated since our IPO in 2023. We believe we can continue to achieve high growth, supported by the significant growth potential in Asian markets. In particular, with Asian countries expected to experience medium to long-term macroeconomic growth driven by population increases, we anticipate sustained long-term growth in our overseas operations, especially in Southeast Asian markets, which are becoming increasingly important amid globalization.

We expect continued high growth particularly in our business for enterprise clients (Marketing segment and D2C/EC segment). In these segments, we support brand growth for enterprise clients across various industries, with a particular focus on clients who own consumer goods brands targeting individual consumers. For such clients, expansion into Asian markets is often a crucial initiative. We believe our unique capabilities and business scope provide significant differentiation from competitors and deliver high value to clients through: 1. our established support system across Asia and deep understanding of each market, 2. our technological capabilities to support visualization of data dispersed across countries, operational efficiency improvements, and generative AI implementation, and 3. our ability to provide comprehensive support from brand awareness to revenue generation throughout the marketing and EC processes support. Furthermore, beyond supporting Japanese companies' Asian expansion, we assist Asian companies from Korea, China, and Southeast Asia, as well as Western companies in their multi-country expansion. We anticipate that our addressable market size will continue to expand.

Additionally, in these enterprise brands support segments, there are a lot of M&A opportunities both domestically and internationally, and this business segment is easier to realize synergistic effects such as cross-selling to each segment's clients. Furthermore, as we grow both organically and through M&A and strengthen our support systems in each country, we believe we can create a virtuous cycle where our appeal to enterprise clients and our unique value proposition become increasingly stronger.

Moreover, we expect stable growth in our Partner Growth segment, which provides growth support for creators and publishers (operators of online media and mobile applications). These areas also represent growing markets globally, and we expect support opportunities to expand over the medium to long term as new creators and publishers emerge. In this context, our position is unique given our ability to provide global support and our technologically advantaged infrastructure and solutions. Furthermore, we can expect synergistic effects across our business portfolio in maximizing advertising demand, such as securing tie-up opportunities by leveraging our enterprise client network. By capitalizing on our competitive advantage of having extensive networks of enterprise clients, creators, and publishers across Asian countries, we aim to establish AnyMind as the go-to partner for business growth in Asia.

We also expect stable improvement in profitability. Over 50% of our SG&A expenses are personnel costs. Other expenses such as office rent and office-related costs are also linked to headcount, making the number of employees the primary driver of SG&A expenses. Operating across 15 countries and regions with multiple business lines, we need to maintain structures for acquiring and supporting local clients in each country, requiring workforce expansion as our business scale grows. However, we typically don't need to increase headcount at the same rate as revenue growth, so during periods of stable revenue growth, we can achieve gradual improvement in profitability.

We will continue to strengthen our position in Asian markets while pursuing both revenue growth and profitability.

Disclosed on January 8, 2025

Our company's growth in Southeast Asia is driven by the synergistic effect between market growth and our company's strengths. In terms of market environment, high growth continues across marketing and the overall e-commerce market, due to factors such as a large young population and high social media usage rates. According to data from "Worldwide Ecommerce Forecast Update, eMarketer (July 2024)", the Southeast Asian e-commerce market continues to expand year by year. From 2021 to 2023, the Southeast Asian e-commerce market showed high growth with an average annual growth rate of 18%. Growth is expected to continue, with projections showing an increase from $138.6 billion in 2024 to $172 billion in 2027. Meanwhile, in terms of the competitive environment, we believe we can better leverage our market advantage as there are limited global companies and influential Southeast Asian startups in the market.

In this environment, our company has focused on Southeast Asia since its founding, and as of the end of September 2024, we employ 1,170 people and have established a strong operational structure and local network across Southeast Asia. We have established a unique position compared to our competitors through the deployment of our BPaaS model, which supports both technology and operations, as well as our multi-country expansion, and we continue to see high growth across all our business operations. Additionally, we have established a structure capable of meeting cross-border expansion needs, such as supporting the Southeast Asian expansion of companies from within Asia including Japanese and Korean brands, and helping global brands expand into multiple Southeast Asian countries. We believe we have the pipeline and business environment in place for continued growth going forward.

Furthermore, our growing market presence, driven by our business scale and credibility as a listed company, has relatively reduced the challenges in acquiring new clients across our business segments, recruiting talent, and securing business partners. In particular, we believe our positioning in Southeast Asia has significantly improved since our IPO, especially in terms of talent recruitment and M&A opportunities. We aim to maintain our high growth trajectory by leveraging our current market advantages.

Disclosed on April 1, 2024

The momentum of the overall marketing market may not be very favorable at the moment, but influencer marketing, which is an advanced marketing method, is expected to grow globally, with similar trends expected in Asia. As a reference, according to "The State of Influencer Marketing 2024" published by Influencer Marketing Hub, the global influencer marketing market size is expected to grow from $16.4 billion in 2022 to $24 billion in 2024, at an average annual growth rate of 21%.

Our marketing business is largely driven by revenue from the influencer marketing platform "AnyTag". Its strength lies in its ability to conduct campaigns utilizing a network and data of 630,000 influencers spread across Asia. We select the optimal influencers based on follower analysis data, and provide consistent support from strategy design to casting proposals and reporting. Additionally, by analyzing trends and users on social media, and measuring user reactions to posts and the effectiveness of influencer marketing initiatives, we accelerate the PDCA cycle, maximizing the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

Furthermore, we have strengthened our collaboration with major e-commerce marketplaces. Since June 2023, we have been able to conduct performance-based marketing on Lazada and Shopee, the largest e-commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia, through collaboration. There is a high demand for influencer marketing execution support utilizing data in Asia, and we have achieved stable growth due to an increasing number of enterprises clients utilizing our services and an expansion in unit prices of projects.

Our fiscal year ends on December 31, and we disclose our financial results on a quarterly basis. Please refer to the IR Calendar for the most recent financial announcement schedule.

Information on business performance can be found in Financial Highlights, and information on financial results can be found in IR Library .

The outlook for our business performance can be found in the Summary of . Please visit our Financial Results page to view our latest financial statements.

Disclosed on July 2, 2025

Our basic policy is that the investment in high growth opportunities in Asian markets will deliver the highest return on investment for our shareholders, and we prioritize growth investments as the source of sustainable enterprise value enhancement above all else. While maintaining this policy of prioritizing growth investments, we have decided to implement share buybacks and dividends with the aim of having our shares held by a broader range of investors.

Regarding dividend initiation, we made this decision with the purpose of stabilizing our shareholder base and expanding our investor demographic. The dividend level has been set within a range that does not interfere with growth investments, which are our top priority, and there is no change in our stance of pursuing high growth. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize investments to accelerate business growth above all else, while aiming for stable and continuous dividends.

The main objective of the share buyback is to secure options for enabling dynamic and flexible capital policies, such as utilizing the shares for stock swaps (stock consideration) in future M&A activities. In particular, the expansion of the share buyback framework announced on May 14 takes into account the current stock price level. We recognize that there is a possibility that the growth potential we are targeting may not be fully reflected in our current stock price, and we will maximize capital efficiency through efficient share buybacks.

Disclosed on May 14, 2025

Regarding the share buyback plan, we have revised the content announced on February 14, 2025, to increase the maximum number of shares that can be acquired from the previous 950,000 shares, to 1,250,000 shares (approximately 2.07% of the total number of issued shares). After comprehensively considering the current share price level and capital efficiency, we have decided to expand the share buyback framework with the perspective of increasing the flexibility of our capital policy, including future growth investments such as M&A.

Additionally, we recognize that while our business continues to grow over the medium to long term, it has transitioned to a stage of stable profit generation. Considering this situation and our business performance, financial position, cash flow, and other factors comprehensively, we have decided to implement dividends for the first time. The forecast for the yearend dividend for the fiscal year ending December 2025 is 2.00 yen per share, and we aim to maintain stable and continuous dividends while continuing active growth investments in the future. At this point, we have not established a specific dividend payout ratio, but our goal is to increase dividends in accordance with profit growth.

Generally, initiating dividends tends to enhance stability as an investment target and may reduce stock price volatility, while also contributing to the expansion of the investor base that includes dividend-paying companies in their investment scope. Based on our medium to long-term revenue growth outlook, we have decided to initiate dividends with the aim of building long-term trust relationships with our shareholders, improving stock price stability, and achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.

Disclosed on February 14, 2025

Since our founding, particularly during our pre-IPO period, we have received tremendous support from venture capital and other financial investors (hereinafter referred to as "VC investors"). Through their provision of growth capital and valuable management advice, we recognize that we have been able to establish our business foundation and achieve sustained growth. We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude.

Generally, funds operated by venture capital firms have a redemption period of approximately 10 years, and they need to recover their investments (through the sale of acquired shares) after a certain period following their initial investment. Therefore, when there is a significant time gap between pre-IPO fundraising and the actual IPO, a situation known as "overhang" (Note 1) may occur, where share sales either take place or are expected to take place within a relatively short period after the IPO, potentially deteriorating the supply-demand balance of the shares. While stock prices fluctuate due to various factors including market conditions and business performance, a deterioration in the supply-demand balance can be one factor that suppresses stock prices.

In our case, due to our history of active fundraising since our founding, we took steps to mitigate post-IPO overhang concerns in July 2022, just before our IPO, by welcoming new shareholders who both invested in our company and purchased existing shares from shareholders (who had held their investments for a certain period). However, when we went public in March 2023, the overall stock market was weak, which resulted in a limited offering size at IPO, and the liquidity of our shares, both during the initial public offering and afterward, was not sufficient. As a result, we have received multiple concerns from investors regarding the overhang issue after our IPO.

However, looking back at the changes in our shareholder composition since our IPO, our VC investors who invested before the IPO have gradually reduced their shareholdings based on their specific circumstances, including fund redemption deadlines (please refer to Graph 1 below). As a result, as of the end of December 2024, excluding the shares invested in July 2022 just before the IPO (Pre-IPO), both the number of pre-IPO VC investors and the number of shares held by VC investors have already reached limited levels. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, we have not identified any major shareholders with intentions to sell shares on a scale that would significantly impact the market, and we believe that shortterm overhang concerns are now limited. Furthermore, looking at the changes in our shareholder distribution since our IPO (please refer to Graph 2 below), the shares previously held by VC investors have been widely distributed among domestic and international institutional investors. Particularly in the six months leading up to December 2024, shareholdings increased by approximately 2.5 million shares among foreign institutional investors (Note 2) and approximately 2.1 million shares among domestic institutional investors (Note 2). We view this increase in institutional investor holdings as evidence that these investors understand and appreciate our growth potential and business model, and we would like to express our renewed gratitude for their continued support.

Moving forward, we will further strengthen our IR activities to help individual investors, as well as domestic and international institutional investors, better understand our business. We continue to be grateful for the support of all our shareholders and will devote our full efforts toward enhancing sustainable corporate value. (Note 1) "Overhang" concerns refer to concerns about a potential deterioration in the supply-demand balance of shares due to anticipated large-scale share sales by major shareholders and others in the future.
(Note 2) Domestic institutional investors include general corporations, and foreign institutional investors include some individual investors.

Disclosed on November 14, 2024

Since our listing on the Growth Market in March 2023, thanks to shareholder support and business growth, we understand that we currently meet all formal requirements for the Prime Market except for the "profit or revenue" criterion. Regarding the "profit or revenue" requirement, there is a criterion of "total profit for the most recent two years must be 2.5 billion yen or more." If we achieve the revised consolidated earnings forecast announced on November 14th for FY2024, we would meet this requirement (based on the total profit for FY2023 and FY2024).

While we have not made any decisions regarding transitioning to the Prime Market at this time, when we meet all requirements for listing on the Prime Market (including non-formal requirements), we will consider it as one of our important management options.

Disclosed on April 1, 2024

After conducting the secondary offering of stock announced in September 2023, the liquidity of our company's stocks has relatively improved, and we have more shareholders holding our stocks. Therefore, we believe that the increase in the floating stock ratio due to the offering has had a certain effect, but we still have not reached the desired level of liquidity. This is not only due to the floating stock ratio but also because we need to improve the recognition of our company and awareness of our business among investors. Therefore, we do not have any plans for stock offerings at this time, and we want to focus on enhancing the recognition of our company for the time being.

In order to ensure that institutional and individual investors fully understand the potential and attractiveness of our business and the Asian market, we are committed to strengthening disclosure and maintaining ongoing communication. We believe it is crucial to build trust from the stock market by demonstrating progress in performance in line with investors' expectations, including achieving disclosed performance forecasts. Therefore, we will continue to strive in our business endeavors, solidifying our business foundation in Asia.

The trading unit is 100 shares.

The annual general meeting of shareholders is held in late March every year.

We recognize that while our business continues to grow over the medium to long term, it has transitioned to a stage of stable profit generation. Considering this situation and our business performance, financial position, cash flow, and other factors comprehensively, we have announced to implement dividends for the first time on May 14, 2025. The forecast for the year end dividend for the fiscal year ending December 2025 is 2.00 yen per share, and we aim to maintain stable and continuous dividends while continuing active growth investments in the future. At this point, we have not established a specific dividend payout ratio, but our goal is to increase dividends in accordance with profit growth.

The Company's Articles of Incorporation stipulate that the Company may pay an interim dividend, while the Company's basic policy is to pay dividends from surplus twice a year: an interim dividend and a year-end dividend. In accordance with the provisions of Article 459, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act, the Company stipulates in its Articles of Incorporation that the Board of Directors shall be the decision-making body for dividends from surplus, except as otherwise provided by laws and regulations.

You should contact the account management institution (securities company) where you have opened your account. Alternatively, you may contact Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, the administrator of the shareholders' register. Please refer to the Stock Memo for contact numbers and other information.

Disclosed on April 2, 2025(Revised based on May 14, 2025 disclosure)

We analyze business and growth opportunities along two axes - business and region - and strategically utilize M&A. Our main objectives are to acquire management teams, talent, and local networks, with a focus on strengthening organizational capabilities and business foundations.

Since our foundation, we have completed over 10 M&A deals in both Japan and overseas and have focused on creating synergies through business integration post-acquisition. Comparing sales immediately after acquisition to December 2024, we have achieved an average growth of 4.4 times. While previously based on approximately 1-2 deals annually, we are considering gradually increasing this pace going forward.

Current priority areas are enterprise e-commerce and related peripheral businesses, focusing on companies that are already generating revenue while balancing risk. Regarding financing, with a low D/E ratio of 0.2 times as of the end of 2024, continue to consider financing primarily through interest-bearing debt.

Disclosed on May 12, 2023

The following are points of focus when conducting M&As:

1. Resolution/deep understanding for the target business
Our basic policy is to consider M&A in a manner that complements existing businesses and business domains. Therefore, when considering M&A, we believe that having a high resolution of the business environment, business model, and risks and opportunities of the target business will form the basis for various discussions, including management synergies and business integration.

2. Direction and culture fit with the target company’s management members
In principle, our M&A activities are based on the premise of business integration, and the objective is often to acquire organizations, networks, etc., through M&A. One of these is the acquisition of talented management members, and we aim to strengthen our own management structure by having people with extensive management experience join us through M&A. In the process of conducting M&A, we hold discussions with the target company’s management team to gain a mutual understanding of not only the business of both companies, but also the direction and values that the management team is aiming for as individuals. We also believe that having the target company’s management team makes the integration process effective in accelerating the process.

3. Possibility of multiple synergies across different time periods
When conducting M&A activities, it is important that we assume synergies between the two companies. In many cases, we can expect immediate synergies based on our network, organization and technology (e.g., cross-border initiatives, etc.), since we are constantly expanding into multiple business areas and businesses. We also believe that it is desirable to be able to envision as many synergistic scenarios as possible, and to strike a balance between synergies that can be realized immediately and synergies that are expected to occur over the longer term.

In addition, we take the following measures to reduce the risks involved in the M&A process, which has inherent elements of uncertainty.

1. Proactive business integration after M&A
In principle, we aim to quickly unify the governance structure and granularity of business management, by proactively integrating organizations, businesses and systems after M&A, and integrate them into our business management system and structure. We view this as an important step to ensure stable growth of the Group over the medium to long term by creating synergies, identifying business risks and opportunities, and aligning corporate culture through business integration.

2. Implement a multifaceted due diligence process prior to M&A
When implementing M&A, our internal policy is to appoint local advisors for financial, tax, and legal due diligence, as well as valuation evaluation of the target company, and conduct analysis based on the risks and constraints unique to each country. In addition, as part of the process of deepening our understanding of the business, our team and management team will conduct due diligence on the business to assess the probability of the business plan and growth potential and risks of the business model. Through this multifaceted evaluation process, we understand the risk associated with the target business and verify the possibility of business integration.