Incumbents led a faster service revenue growth in Q1 driven by non-mobile, with Softbank ahead. Industry mobile growth kept steady but the continued divergence in mobile trend between NTT and peers appears to confirm the benefits of integrated financial services. Softbank was the notable share gainer this quarter (1.1% MSR gain sequentially), having grown its mobile ARPU for the first time since FY19.
LY reported strong EBITDA numbers again with overall profitability improving. Notably, Media and Strategic performed better against internal targets. Separately, LY also announced a ¥150bn share buyback programme as part of a tender agreement with A Holdings in order for it to raise its float and meet the listing requirements.
Service revenue trends for the three incumbents were faster as mobile inflected, coupled with improvements in non-mobile. Meanwhile, the sector’s EBITDA grew strongly which was well flagged in Q3. Divergence in mobile trend appears to confirm the benefits of integrated financial services with mobile as NTT and peers diverged further; former extended its decline while peers accelerated to near 3% YoY.
LY delivered yet another strong EBITDA beat, ahead of consensus by 16%. Against consensus expectations, FY24 guidance was in line for revenue while ahead on EBITDA. Encouragingly, the company has also laid out a bullish EPS target of more than ¥20 for FY25 (vs. ¥18.7 previously) which reflects the company’s focus on efficiency and profitability, and would be positive if the company can achieve it.
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