Initiatives for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024
Upfront investments of ¥1.1 billion is planned, which includes brand promotion and an increase in sales personnel, for the renewed growth of the Domestic Working Business.
With regard to the future outlook, we expect that demand for human resources will remain strong in Japan and in Singapore and Australia, the main areas for our overseas business, which are now in the era of coexistence with COVID-19 with economic activities back to the level before the spread of the virus, although some uncertainty remains due to financial instability, concerns about recession, and rising prices mainly in Europe and the U.S.
In the Domestic Working Business, we will endeavor to expand the construction management engineer domain, increase the number of foreign workers under our contracted management, and increase the number of dispatched regular employees, which are the key strategies of the Medium-term Plan.
For the expansion of the construction management engineer domain, we will further step up our efforts for the recruitment of inexperienced workers and new graduates, as well as implement initiatives to improve the retention rate and increase the contract unit price.
As for the contracted management of foreign workers, we expect an increase in the number of foreign workers entering Japan, and will work to increase orders from clients and expand local hiring activities in the factory outsourcing and nursing care domains. Concerning the dispatching of regular employees, we will apply the recruiting know-how obtained in the sales outsourcing and construction management engineer domains to the factory outsourcing domain and work to increase the number of active workers. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, we are going to make upfront investments (¥1,100 million) in recruiting construction management engineers and sales personnel to realize the scenario drawn up in the Medium-term Plan.
In the Overseas Working Business, we will expand both permanent placement and temporary staffing by increasing the number of consultants. In our full-year consolidated financial forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, revenue is forecast at ¥144,000 million, operating profit at ¥4,200 million, profit before tax at ¥4,100 million, profit at ¥2,900 million, profit attributable to owners of parent at ¥2,800 million, and EBITDA at ¥6,290 million. The exchange rates assumed in the forecast are ¥94 to the Singapore dollar (¥99 in the previous fiscal year) and ¥86 to the Australian dollar (¥93 in the previous fiscal year).
As for the forecast for dividends, as stated in the Medium-term Management Plan “WILL-being 2026,” the Company’s policy for shareholder returns during the period of the Medium-term Plan (from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024 to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026) is to pay a progressive dividend (*1) with a total payout ratio (*2) of 30% or more. Based on this policy, the dividend forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024 is ¥44 per share (ordinary dividend: ¥44), with a total payout ratio of 36.0%.
*1 Progressive dividend means that dividends shall be either maintained or increased and not be reduced from the previous year.
*2 Total payout ratio means the percentage of the total of dividend payout and acquisition of treasury shares to the profit attributable to owners of parent.