Rakumo <4060> provides the groupware service "rakumo" in SaaS format, which contributes to the improvement of customer's business productivity by covering the area complementing Google workspace's function (shared calendar, shared address book) that shares Google Workspace's user management, authentication, and security functions, to the area not covered by Google Workspace (electronic approval, internal bulletin board, attendance management, expense settlement).
The interim financial results for the six months ended December 2024, announced after the close of trading on August 9, showed a cumulative net sales of 697 million yen, an increase of 16.8% compared to the same period last year, and an accelerated growth rate. Adjusted EBITA was 197 million yen, up 30.4% from the previous year, and operating profit was 171 million yen, up 16.1% from the previous year. Investment in the sales department, research and development activities, and increased goodwill amortization expenses were covered, with SaaS services being the largest growth driver (up 24.3% year-on-year) in the first half of 2024.
Although the cancellation rate temporarily averaged 1.35% for the full year due to the impact of Google's changes in the resale program and the progress of cancellations of Google Workspace contracts, it is expected to converge below the original 1% level in the future. The unit price per company continues to increase year by year, more than double compared to 10 years ago, and the number of users (companies) continues to grow. As of now, the number of users of the company's services is about 0.57 million, compared to 5 million Google Workspace users in Japan.
In many cases, there is poor compatibility between independent digital tools that are used, and by introducing Google Workspace and rakumo, it is possible to achieve cost reduction in digital tool usage fees, as well as enabling employees to work in a smooth and secure environment, so the benefits of implementation are very large. In addition to the expected increase in the number of Google Workspace users in the future, there is also a large potential to expand the market share to Google Workspace introduced companies, and the company is one of the rare companies that can expect high sales growth in the medium to long term. The performance contribution is expected to increase due to the implementation of price revisions for some products from April 2024 through collaborative efforts with capital business partner Advantage Advisors Co., Ltd., and active promotion of development towards the launch of new products can also be expected for cross-selling in the medium to long term.
The company is currently unable to calculate reasonable performance forecasts, and therefore, the performance outlook for the year ending December 2024 is not disclosed. However, there are no significant changes in the external environment from the year ending December 2023. In addition to the tailwind of the continued high growth of the cloud market in the third quarter, efforts towards the company's own sales expansion, such as the implementation of various sales measures for new customer development and promotion of development towards the launch of new products, disciplined cost management, and other factors are expected to contribute to a continued favorable performance outlook.