SoftBank Raises Operating Income Forecast to ¥1.16 Trillion After Record Growth
Key Facts
SoftBank Corp raised its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, after posting record revenue and operating income in the six months ended September 30, 2026. The company said revenue rose 11.7% year over year to ¥3.80 trillion, while operating income increased 2.1% to ¥642.1 billion. Based on first-half results, the company raised its full-year revenue forecast to ¥7.9 trillion from ¥7.5 trillion and operating income to ¥1.16 trillion from ¥1.1 trillion. It also raised its estimate for net income attributable to owners of the company to ¥610 billion from ¥560 billion. The results tie business growth to several segments, including enterprise, financial services and distribution, alongside strong expansion in cloud computing and artificial intelligence revenue.
Net income attributable to owners of the company rose 4.5% to a record ¥364.5 billion in the first half. But consolidated net income moved in the opposite direction, falling 5.5% to ¥449.4 billion. The divergence shows that growth in revenue and operating income did not translate in the same direction into consolidated net income. Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA increased 10.3% to ¥1.07 trillion. All five reported segments posted revenue growth, placing first-half performance across a broader range than a single segment.
The enterprise segment stood out as a growth driver, with revenue up 11.8% to ¥538.9 billion. Within the segment, cloud computing and artificial intelligence revenue jumped 36.7% to ¥163.8 billion. The company attributed the expansion to demand for AI computing infrastructure, cloud services and security. This means AI-related business growth outpaced the growth rate of enterprise segment revenue overall. The performance follows Chief Executive Junichi Miyakawa's statement that revenue in both the enterprise and distribution segments exceeded ¥1 trillion for the first time in fiscal 2025.
The financial segment also posted strong growth, with revenue rising 27.5% to ¥241.9 billion, while segment income increased 73.9% to ¥67 billion. The company attributed the performance to higher transaction values in QR code payments and credit cards. In the distribution segment, revenue rose 19.1% to ¥602.5 billion, supported by information and communications technology products and recurring sales of cloud services and software as a service. These results complete a picture of growth distributed across enterprise, finance and distribution businesses, alongside expansion in cloud services and artificial intelligence. All five reported segments posted revenue growth in the first half.
The comparison with the previous period reflects a broader revenue base, with first-half fiscal 2025 revenue at ¥3.4008 trillion, versus ¥3.80 trillion in the current period. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, revenue was ¥7.0387 trillion, up 8%, and operating income was ¥1.0426 trillion, up 5%. Net income attributable to owners also reached a record ¥550.8 billion at the time, up 5%. Miyakawa said cuts to mobile service prices weighed on mobile service revenue and that rebuilding the consumer segment's earnings base had been a priority during the first two and a half years of his presidency. This puts growth in other segments in the context of the company's efforts to offset pressure on its consumer business.
SoftBank also raised its estimate for annual net income attributable to owners to ¥610 billion from ¥560 billion, with coverage noting that part of the increase reflects a gain from selling preferred shares in Energy Global. Alongside the higher operating forecasts, the company is targeting an annual dividend of ¥8.80 per common share for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, split into an interim dividend of ¥4.40 and a year-end dividend of ¥4.40. The annual dividend in the previous fiscal year was ¥8.60 per share. The company set December 4, 2026, as the payment date for the interim dividend. On its operating strategy, Miyakawa said the company is preparing to expand AI data centers, sovereign cloud computing and domestic generative AI, adding that these initiatives do not produce results over a short period.
In the market, SFTBY shares closed at $11.47 on November 6, 2026. On future activity, plans for data centers, cloud computing and generative AI are among initiatives the company said will take time to produce results. The interim dividend payment date of December 4, 2026, remains the next scheduled milestone for shareholders. The new annual forecasts cover the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, and include revenue, operating income and net income attributable to owners. The estimates represent increases in all three measures compared with the previous forecasts.