Service revenue slowed for the incumbents but stayed in the low-single digit band, with Softbank still ahead followed by NTT. Mobile divergence continues to play out with SB leading the pack and is likely to remain so in our view. Industry EBITDA improved as NTT inflected to growth and led to a strong EBIT beat this quarter.
Softbank printed a strong beat across its revenue and net profit, ahead by 5% and 6% respectively. Consequently, management raised its FY24 guidance by roughly 2% for Revenue, EBITDA and Net profit while EBIT was raised by 5.6%.
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...
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.
Topline beat estimates by 3%, underpinned by the outperformance from Enterprise and Distribution. For the first time since FY19, mobile ARPU has inflected to growth (+0.3%) with continued momentum in mobile service revenue. Both operating profit and bottom line are now tracking ahead of the full year’s guidance.
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.
For several years, our thesis had been that a lack of meaningful impact by Rakuten would lift all 3 incumbents. However, the launch of integrated financial services products shifted this, and this has been confirmed we think by Q4 figures; Japan is now a “winner takes all” market, with SoftBank the winner.
Softbank delivered a strong beat on EBITDA and net profit this quarter, with mobile accelerating as the benefits of financial integration into mobile plans continued to flow through. Guidance was mixed however, impacted by the ¥150bn investments going into generative AI. As a result, compared to a scenario without these investments, the guided EBIT was lower by ¥30bn/year for FY24 and FY25, but in line with previous figures.
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.
We ran our Asia Telco tour last week. This time we met 12 companies in 3 countries (Korea, Japan, Thailand). Telco share prices in all 3 of these countries have been pretty strong recently as telcos continue to benefit from generally positive themes: growth, return on capital and shareholder remuneration are all typically improving.
Service revenue trend was softer on slower non-mobile this quarter. Collectively, mobile revenue trend (Consumer + Enterprise) maintained its second consecutive of growth and operators are implying a strong Q4. For instance, Softbank is expecting Consumer MSR to rebound this year (at flat YTD); NTT implying a strong Q4 EBIT on cost reductions and streamlining of non-core assets like Real Estate.
Wireless spectrum is one of the most valuable commodities in the telecoms market. Japanese telcos have previously been issued spectrum for free. But what if it starts to be auctioned? In this note, we use our new proprietary SpectrumHub Global Database to calculate the likely cost of mmWave spectrum in Japan. We also look at the total value of all spectrum held by the incumbents, to address the implications if Japan were to move to auction for all spectrum.
Something significant has shifted in Japan. The telcos, and especially KDDI and SB Corp are now using their strength in financial services to drive customers towards unlimited offers. The result is likely to be an acceleration of ARPU recovery, and suggests we are at an important inflection point. We lift ARPU forecasts and price targets. SoftBank Corp is our new top pick, PT ¥2,500, from ¥2,200.
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