May 14, 2014
Press Release
Nippon Columbia Issues Notice of Consolidated Business Results for the Full Fiscal Year Ending March 2014
Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. (hereinafter the Company; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director/President and Chief Operating Officer (COO): Yasuharu Hara) today gives notice that it has issued its consolidated business results indicating the Company’s overall performance for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 (April 1, 2013 ~ March 31, 2014).
Consolidated Business Performance for FY2013 (Ending March 2014) The Japanese music market continues to face a difficult business environment. During the year from January to December 2013, the total production of music titles including music videos decreased by 13% year on year, while sales of paid music downloads decreased by 23% during the same period. (Recording Industry Association of Japan survey).
1. Sales Revenue During the fiscal year under review, the Company’s consolidated sales totaled 13,975 million yen (a decrease of 2.3% compared with the previous fiscal year). The main reasons for this result were that in the Sales/Digital Distribution segment, although Animation titles remained strong, there was a steep decline in sales of Game titles, which had sold extremely well during the previous fiscal year, while the Direct Sales Business continued to reflect this segment’s difficult business environment with declining sales of products to other direct sales companies.
2．Profit and Loss Regarding the profit & loss situation, in line with active investment toward the building the next generation of artists in the Sales/Digital Distribution Business and active sales promotion aimed at obtaining new clients in the Direct Sales Business, the Company recorded a consolidated operating profit for the fiscal year under review of 283 million yen (compared with a profit of 534 million yen for the previous fiscal year). In addition, the Company conducted a reversal of accrued royalties, and reported an ordinary profit of 363 million yen (compared with an ordinary profit of 591 million yen for the previous fiscal year) and a net profit 283 million yen (compared with a net profit of 359 million yen for the previous fiscal year). This result marks the company’s fifth successive year of net profitability.
May 14, 2014
3. Dividend The Company was unable to post dividends its shareholders for many years. However, taking its performance and the state of its finances for the current fiscal year comprehensively into consideration, the Company has decided to pay a dividend of 4 yen per common share of the Company’s stock at the end of the current fiscal year. This marks the first time in 16 years since the 147th term (ending March 1998) that the Company has paid a dividend on its common shares.
The Company’s performance on a segment basis is as follows.
The Columbia Group regards the achievement of continuous profitability as its most important business challenge, and to this end the Company will continue to focus its management resources onto fields of expertise and fields of growth, optimizing the size of the workforce and cutting costs. The music and visual-related industries are continuing to experience a difficult business environment. But despite this situation, by concentrating its management resources on the Sales/Digital Distribution Business, centered on its core music production operations, and on the Direct Sales Business, and also by making use of sound sources and pursuing new businesses derived from both of these business segments, the Company will further improve its business efficiency and profitability. To this end, the Company carried out an organizational
May 14, 2014 reform in January 2014 to create the A&C Headquarters as a means of strengthening its artist curation and communication power. This reform will aid the Company in its attempt to reinforce its artist fostering activities and create more new hit songs by unifying its efforts. In addition, by introducing a “unity system” within the A&C Headquarters, the Company will try to realize an independent accounting system and more flexible organizational operation.
In order to respond promptly to the changing market environment and build up a more efficient business system with strong competitive power, on October 1, 2012, the Company transferred its sales & marketing-related divisions to Columbia Marketing Co., Ltd. In addition, on April 1, 2014, the Company transferred sales & marketing-related divisions of its Digital Distribution and Direct Sales Businesses to Columbia Marketing Co., Ltd. With this organizational change, the Columbia Group’s total sales power is now gathered in Columbia Marketing Co., Ltd., positioning it as a professional marketing and sales group, and through this make the whole Group’s sales functions even more efficient and sophisticated.
Moreover, following the successful completion of a tender offer for the Company’s stock made by the Company’s largest shareholder, Faith, Inc., the Company became a consolidated subsidiary of Faith as of March 26, 2014. From now on too, by building up its strategic partnership with Faith as a member of the Faith Group, the Company will promote approaches to new styles of music distribution in an effort to improve its line-up of music-related services and move forward with its plans to realize business synergies within the Faith Group.
Full Year Consolidated Business Result Forecast for FY2014 (Ending March 2015) The Columbia Group sees its biggest operational task as building a constitution that will allow it to achieve stable profitability by disposing of unprofitable businesses, so in the future the Company will continuously carry out measures such as concentrating its operational resources into fields of expertise and fields of growth. Regarding the consolidated business result forecast for FY2014, as the Group is going to continue actively investing in new businesses our initial forecast is for sales revenue of 15 billion yen, an operating profit of 300 million yen, an ordinary profit of 290 million yen, and a net profit of 210 million yen.
Further, because the Company judges that it now has a system in place that can realize stable dividend payments, at the end of FY2014, the Company is scheduled to continue paying a dividend of 4 yen per common share of its stock, the same dividend as for FY2013.
May 14, 2014
Artists and Titles Making Major Contributions to Sales
May 14, 2014
■ Video Products Kiyoshi Hikawa— Hikawa Kiyoshi Special Concert 2013 Kiyoshikonoyoru Vol. 13, Manten no Hoshi Eriko Nakamura, Akiko Hasegawa, Asami Shimoda, Azumi Asakura, Yumi Hara, Manami Numakura, Mayako Nigo, Naomi Wakabayashi and Juri Takita— THE IDOLM@STER MUSIC FESTIV@L OF WINTER!! Genki Genki Nontan Spoon Tan Tan Tan Inai Inai Baa! Series Miitsuketa! Series
■ Digital Distribution Not yet— Hirihiri no Hana Yo Hitoto— Hanamizuki Kaela Kimura— Butterfly sweet ARMS (Iori Nomizu, Misuzu Togashi, Kaori Sadohara, Misato)— TV Animation “Date A Live” Opening Theme “Date A Live” Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger Series
■ Video Game Products Nintendo 3DS Software Hoppechan: Tsukutte! Asonde! Punipuni Town!! Kobito Zukan Kobito no Fushigi Jikken Set
May 14, 2014
■ Company Outline Company Name: Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. Address: Edomizaka Mori Bldg., 4-1-40 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Representative: Representative Executive Officer/President & COO Yasuharu Hara Business contents: Production, advertising and sales of audio, video and game software, etc., and music artist management Paid-in capital: ¥1,000,000,000 URL: http://columbia.jp
■ For further information concerning this subject please contact: Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. Chikayo Suzuki, Finance Division Telephone: 03-6895-9870 Facsimile: 03-6895-9116 Email: [email protected]
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