SoftBank Corp registered revenue gains across all segments in fiscal Q1 (ending 30 June), with president and CEO Junichi Miyakawa downplaying an overall drop in profit and highlighting income growth in new business units.

Miyakawa noted given the company’s earnings typically rise in the second half, “we believe the results represent a strong start to the year”.

For the fiscal year ending 31 March 2026, it forecasts net profit to increase 2.6 per cent to JPY540 billion ($3.7 billion) and revenue to rise 2.4 per cent to JPY6.7 trillion.

Net profit in fiscal Q1 dropped 10.6 per cent year-on-year to JPY145.3 million. The decline was attributed to one-off factors, including gains from the sale of subsidiaries a year earlier. Total revenue grew 8 per cent to JPY1.7 trillion.

Jefferies suggested in a research note that with Japan’s mature telecoms market offering limited subscriber growth and intense price competition, SoftBank’s diversified model covering mobile, broadband, IT, media and financial services, provides resilience.

Mobile revenue increased 1.3 per cent to JPY397.5 billion, aided by a 3 per cent increase in mobile subscribers to 31.9 million and stable APPU.

Regarding its move to standalone 5G, in its earnings call Miyakawa stated the operator wants to migrate as soon as possible to take advantage of low latency and network slicing technology, but it is taking time.

“Sometimes we build networks focusing on speed. Sometimes you may want to build a network to have a better capacity”, he explained, adding when rolling out SA 5G it focused on reliability.

The enterprise business grew 8 per cent to JPY233.8 billion, while its media and e-commerce unit increased 2 per cent to JPY406.9 billion.

Sales from its financial and distribution units rose 23 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively, to JPY91.3 billion and JPY247.9 billion.