News
Japan-based telco reports 2.9% rise in revenue, profit dips 8.9%.
Softbank posted a 2.9% rise in fiscal first-quarter revenue on Thursday, as its Japanese business offset ongoing declines at Sprint.
The company generated revenue of ¥2.13 trillion (€18.3 billion) from continuing operations in the three months to 30 June, compared to ¥2.07 trillion a year earlier, while operating income edged up year-on-year to ¥319.24 billion (€2.75 billion) from ¥318.56 billion.
Net income fell 11.4% to ¥212.29 billion. The decline was attributed to higher income taxes and one-off impairment charges and writedowns related to the sale of its stake in games developer GungHo, and the appreciation of the yen versus the Indian rupee, which affected the value of its stakes in various companies there.
Softbank’s results do not include mobile games developer Supercell, which Softbank agreed to sell to an affiliate of Chinese Internet company Tencent in June. Its results are recorded separately as discontinued operations.
Softbank attributed its first-quarter performance to a strong showing by its domestic operation, as well as by Yahoo Japan, and its handset distribution business, which made up for falling revenue and income at U.S. arm Sprint.
In Japan, Softbank’s revenue climbed 5.4% to ¥761.76 billion, driven by strong demand for its Hikari fibre broadband service, and sales of smartphones customer premises equipment (CPE).
Its mobile customer base grew to 32.15 million from 32.04 million a year ago, but mobile revenue edged down 0.5% to ¥480.07 billion due to promotional activities. Fixed broadband customers increased to 5.35 million from 5.08 million, as growth in Hikari subscribers offset a decline in Yahoo broadband users.
The effects of Sprint’s decline in revenue, which was reported separately by the U.S. telco earlier this week, were keenly felt by Softbank due to currency effects.
"Although the decrease in U.S. dollar net sales was subdued at $15 million (€13.53 million), the decline was exacerbated when net sales were translated into yen due to the yen’s appreciation against the U.S. dollar year-on-year," Softbank explained, in a statement.
As a result, Softbank recorded a 10.3% year-on-year decline in fiscal Q1 Sprint revenue to ¥873.92 billion.
Meanwhile, Softbank refrained from providing a full-year outlook.
"Currently it is difficult to provide forecasts on the results in figures due to a large number of uncertain factors affecting the earnings," the company said. "The company will announce its forecasts on the consolidated results of operations when it becomes possible to make a rational projection."
