SoftBank Corp president and CEO Junichi Miyakawa issued a revised guidance for its fiscal 2023 (ending 31 March 2024), raising its net profit target by 10 per cent and forecasting mobile revenue to return to growth a year ahead of a previous target.

In an earnings call, Miyakawa noted the revision was spurred by an improved performance across all units. 

The operator expects total revenue to increase 2.5 per cent to JPY6.1 trillion ($41.2 billion), up from a prior guidance of 1.5 per cent growth. The operator now forecasts a net profit of JPY462 billion, compared with a profit of JPY531.4 billion in fiscal 2022. 

Net profit in fiscal Q3 dropped from JPY274.4 billion a year earlier to JPY104.5 billion, due to the absence of a gain related to the consolidation of PayPay in same period in 2022. Consolidated revenue rose 2.7 per cent to JPY1.6 trillion.

Mobile service revenue was flat at JPY374.8 billion, with ARPU down 2.6 per cent to JPY3,740. Equipment sales grew 21.2 per cent to JPY203 billion.

Its mobile user base increased by 3.4 million to 54.6 million at end-2023.

Broadband sales rose 2 per cent to JPY101.1 billion; its enterprise business improved 4.6 per cent to JPY197.1 billion. The media segment, previous called Yahoo Japan and Line, increased 2.9 per cent to JPY421.7 billion.

Capex in the first nine months fiscal 2023 dropped 4.7 per cent to JPY452 billion.