Money Forward (3994) Q4 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Net sales for FY11/24 rose 33% year-over-year to ¥40.36bn, exceeding forecasts.

• SaaS ARR increased 41.5% year-over-year to ¥41.16bn, with strong organic growth in the Business domain.

• EBITDA reached ¥1.73bn, with margin improving by 11pt year-over-year; operating loss narrowed to ¥4.73bn.

• Strategic M&A and JV activities included a JV in the Home domain and group joins in the Business domain.

• No dividends declared for the fiscal year; no dividend forecast for the next year.

Financial highlights

• Full-year net sales: ¥40.36bn (+33% YoY); Business domain net sales: ¥25.25bn (+35% YoY).

• SaaS ARR: ¥41.16bn (+41.5% YoY); Business domain corporate ARR: ¥21.98bn (+32% YoY).

• EBITDA: ¥1.73bn (margin 4%, +11pt YoY); EBITDA excl. advertising: ¥8.34bn (margin 21%, +10pt YoY).

• Gross profit: ¥27.06bn; gross margin for back-office SaaS applications: 86%.

• Cash and cash equivalents at year-end were ¥45.21bn, up from ¥38.82bn.

Outlook and guidance

• FY11/25 net sales forecast: ¥50.0–52.6bn (+23.9–30.3% YoY); SaaS ARR: ¥39.2–41.2bn (+30.6–37.2% YoY).

• Adjusted EBITDA guidance: ¥2.5–4.5bn; margin improvement of +1–5% targeted.

• Medium-term targets for FY11/28: net sales ¥100bn+, SaaS ARR ¥80bn+, EBITDA ¥30bn+, aiming for 40%+ EBITDA margin long-term.

• Focus on margin improvement, especially in the Business domain, and continued investment in product and engineering.

• Advertising expenses to sales ratio expected at 14.5–16.5%; personnel and subcontract expenses at 57.0–62.0%.