When the BoJ raised rates in March, it had been 17 years since it had last done so, though the world was very different then. While the July rate hike was unlikely to move the economic needle, the question now is what else might follow the subsequent financial market maelstrom. Pelham Smithers discusses the outlook for Japan’s macro environment, what new fiscal policies the new PM might introduce, how the BoJ might react and the all-important trend in corporate earnings. This then leads us to...
LY delivered a strong EBITDA beat today, ahead consensus by 9% and upgraded EBITDA guidance for the full year, from +10% to +17%. We observed strong momentum in Commerce and Strategic. Beginning from this quarter onwards, the company had reallocated its costs, mostly to its Media and Commerce business and a smaller proportion to Strategic., thus retroactive revisions were made.
The global video games market has improved since the start of the year and 2023 now looks like being an "up" year, after the retrenchment in 2022. However, recent quarterly results suggested Japanese video games companies are struggling to take advantage of this. We look at why conditions are improving, and which Japanese firms are keeping pace and which aren't.
LY (previously “Z Holdings”) delivered a strong set of results today. EBITDA outperformed and was 15% ahead of expectations, led by increased efficiency in sales promotion and reduction of commissions. Trends in Media and Commerce improved, while PayPay’s EBITDA stayed positive for the second quarter. The company is also seeing good traction from its Yahoo and Line ID linkage.
We believe the capital market focus has shifted to overseas market recovery instead of domestic AC sales after the peak season. In our view, the overseas market recovery is underway with normalised inventories and improved enddemand. We now turn more optimistic on China white goods exports in 4Q23, supported by overseas retailers?re-stocking for the upcoming holiday season. We maintain MARKET WEIGHT on the sector and prefer Haier-H to Midea.
With global console game sales rising, analyst Pelham Smithers discusses whether we are in a new video game industry upswing. Moreover, sales of the PS5 are starting to generate clear water between those of the Xbox X/S in the Americas region – Microsoft’s backyard – so, if the gap becomes even more significant, there will certainly be implications for the X/S.
Q1 was a slower quarter for the Japanese e-Commerce space. GMV growth slowed, it is still growing double digit though, take rates were mixed and pure B2C e-Commerce revenue slowed as a result. Z Holdings had a weak Q4 (CYQ1) but we think FY23 may be the turning point. Rakuten’s performance in e-Commerce/Fintech was decent again but we remain concerned by the mobile business.
Since Mar 2021, when LINE was integrated, Z Holdings has done little more than scratching the surface in terms of realising group synergies. Analyst Thao Nguyen reviews the FY22 results and FY23 outlook, and reinstates her neutral stance regarding the company’s business prospects.
Z Holdings reported lower than expected Q4 results, driven by the declining EC GMV trend. Q4 22 revenue was 7% lighter than consensus while adjusted EBITDA was 5% behind. However, we think FY23 may be the turning point for Z Holdings.
Z Holdings has reported a disappointing set of Q3 results with improving profitability but deteriorating trends on Media and EC GMV that are being impacted by the weaker macro economy. Revenue guidance has been maintained (though will be challenging we think), but EBITDA guidance for the full year has been cut to the low end of the previous range (¥331.5bn from range ¥331.5 - ¥340bn), despite a decent performance this quarter.
At the beginning of every year we publish our PSA Perspective, a report intended as a long shelf-life look at the year ahead. This year Pelham Smithers discusses Japan's economy, the outlook for the stock market, and some stand-out themes and developments for the year. These include the digital yen and the demise of live action entertainment in Japan. We also update our noted PSA Focus List of stocks. Table of Contents Overview 3 Background: 4 Japan’s Economic Outlook 5 Ja...
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