Kadokawa (9468) Q3 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Revenue for the nine months ended December 31, 2024, rose 10.5% year-over-year, with operating income up 18.8% and net income up 16.7%.

• Growth was driven by strong performance in games, anime, education, and digital publishing, while web services and other businesses saw declines due to a major cyberattack.

• The cyberattack in June caused significant operational disruption, especially in web services, but recovery was largely achieved by September.

• All core segments expanded, with notable strength in digital, overseas books, licensing, anime, games, and EdTech, offsetting domestic print contraction and cyberattack impacts.

• Q3 (Oct–Dec) saw revenue up 11.9%, operating income up 10.2%, and net income up 95.2% year-over-year, driven by broad-based segment growth and favorable forex effects.

Financial highlights

• Nine-month revenue: ¥206.6B (+10.5% YoY); Q3 revenue: ¥70.3B (+11.9% YoY).

• Nine-month operating income: ¥15.8B (+18.8% YoY); Q3: ¥5.2B (+10.2% YoY).

• Net income attributable to shareholders: ¥7.4B (+16.7% YoY); Q3: ¥4.3B (+95.2% YoY).

• EBITDA for nine months: ¥21.5B (+18.8% YoY); Q3: ¥7.2B (+10.7% YoY).

• Special losses of ¥2.3B were recorded for cyberattack-related compensation and recovery.

Outlook and guidance

• Full-year revenue is forecast at ¥271.7B (+5.3% YoY), operating income at ¥16.3B (+11.7%), and net income at ¥9.0B (+20.9%).

• No change to previously announced guidance; impact of new share issuance to Sony is reflected in EPS forecast.

• Continued focus on global IP creation, digital expansion, and new school launches in EdTech.