TechnoPro Holdings Inc

TSE:6028

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q3

[Toshihiro Hagiwara, executive]

I am Hagiwara, CFO of TechnoPro Holdings. Assuming the overlap with a briefing session of other companies that announced full year financial results. Today, we will start 1 hour later than usual. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to participate. I guess the profit level in the third quarter has not met the market expectations, but we have not seen any particular changes in the business conditions and do not feel anxious about the future outlook at this moment.

The contract renewal ratio in March ended up with 90.3%, almost same level as the previous year, while the actual ratio could have exceeded 92% without our voluntary cancellations to stick to the improvement of base charge for staffing contracts. As a result of aggressive price negotiations at the time of March contract renewals, the aggregated amount of increase in monthly base charge through our charge-up and shift-up efforts reached more than 30% compared to the previous year. Additionally, we have secured a sufficient number of orders from customers. While this fiscal year, we are further strengthening the recruitment of less experienced individuals as a precondition for training, our engineer resources are chronically depleted.

Now I would like to brief the third quarter financial results, key KPIs in Japan and current status of overseas subsidiaries. First, let's look at the financial overviews on Page 2. Revenue for the first 9 months of this fiscal year totaled JPY 148.2 billion, up 12.6% year-on-year, while GP was JPY 39.3 billion, plus JPY 5.0 billion or up 14.6% year-on-year, and GP margin was 26.5%, an improvement of 0.5 points year-on-year. As shown in the main breakdown of the GP increment in the comment section, not only domestic staffing business, but also project-type services have been performing well. GP margin for 3 months in the third quarter was 26.4%, achieving a slight improvement quarter-on-quarter as many project-type services were delivered in line with the customers' accounting period, even though there were fewer working days than in the second quarter. However, compared to the same period last year, GP margin has declined from 27.3% to 26.4% because in addition to the financial results, linked bonus provision newly recorded from the second quarter, the increase in standby costs due to the slight delay in new assignments focused on contract price and the intensive training for less experienced hires have also had a certain impact.

On the other hand, the provision for paid leave in the third quarter was almost same as the previous year. And unlike the first half, it has been normalized. Core operating profit for the first 9 months of this fiscal year was JPY 16.4 billion, up 14.2% year-on-year, while operating profit was JPY 16.6 billion, up only 0.5% from the previous fiscal year when there was a gain of JPY 1.8 billion from the reversal of put option liabilities.

As of now, both of core operating profit and operating profit for the second half are trending slightly below the plan, which was projected at the timing of the upward revision of full year guidance based on the first half financial results and the progress rate up to the third quarter stays at about 75%. The guidance announced by the company shall be the management commitment to achieve at least, but cutting back on the expenses that should be spent in this fiscal year from a short-term perspective, might stun future growth and destruct value over the medium to long term. We would like to definitely avoid doing so.

Based on successful recruitment in the third quarter and current order volume, we increased the number of recruits planned for the second half by 200 and throughout the year. We have invested heavily in not only training less experienced hires, but also reskilling or upskilling our existing engineers for the acquisition of digital technology. Therefore, the current run rate of SG&A expenses, including hiring and training is higher than expected, but the payback period for these investments can be short. We will reflect such expected returns in the budget for the next fiscal year.

Page 3 shows the progress of investment for medium-term management plan implementation. The increase in recruiting and training costs is also notable in the field of solutions talent. Both have been already spent more than 80% of the full year plan, expecting budget overruns. In the latter 3 years of targeting higher growth, we will continue to use these expenses to a certain extent in order to expand the solutions business further. As explained in the second quarter briefing, the delay in the progress of strategic investment is mainly due to unutilized M&A-related expenses and IT digital investments to improve operational productivity and promote internal digital transformation are progressing as planned.

Pages 4 and 5 show the quarterly performance of each P&L item and the historical key KPIs that make up domestic revenue, along with the forecast for the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. So please check. Pages 6 and 7 show the segment-wise performance for the year-to-date third quarter and the only third quarter, respectively. Compared to the R&D segment, the Construction Management segment has struggled to higher and its growth in the engineer headcount as a little slower. Furthermore, for the Construction industry, the grace period for work style reform law, which has tightened regulations on working hours will end in March next year.

In the future, the risk of reduction in working days and overtime hours as supposed to enhance, and it would become imperative to improve base charge to at least offset such risks. Today, we announced the executive appointment of our major subsidiary, TechnoPro Construction, Inc., which belongs to the Construction Management segment so that we can revamp operations under new leadership. The details for each foreign subsidiary will be explained in a separate slide later.

Page 8 shows balance sheet and cash flows. In anticipation of the diffusion and prolongation of the COVID pandemic and the concerns about a global economic recession, the company procured the syndicated loan of JPY 10 billion in September 2020. So far, half of the borrowing period has passed and the principal balance has also been halved. This time, we refinanced this loan with a remaining term of 2.5 years and an outstanding balance of JPY 5 billion by a new bank loan with the same interest rate spread in a term of 5 years. Thereby, from April this year, the annual scheduled paydown will be reduced from JPY 2 billion to JPY 1 billion.

From Page 9, the key KPIs of the domestic business are presented. Please refer to the Factbook file posted on our website for the KPIs of the Solutions business. The number of engineers at the end of the third quarter was 22,962, up 914 from the end of June last year. And the number of engineers at the end of June this year has been updated to 24,100 compared to 24,000, a second quarter briefing forecast. The average utilization ratio for the year-to-date third quarter was 95.9%, up 0.2 points year-on-year and the utilization ratio of 95.7% at the end of March this year at the same level as previous year. On the other hand, the utilization ratio at the end of June this year has been revised downward from the previously announced 95.2% to 94.8%. Of the 102 new graduates who joined the company this April, 210 new grads will deliberately undergo strategic training programs for 3 months or more in order to set a higher unit sales price for new assignments compared to 110 last year. Also, such strategic standby has been up 70 compared to the initial plan.

In order to assign attractive jobs from the first assignments, we will develop engineers in the digital field, which are in more robust demand, even among new grads. Also, the slight decline in the utilization ratio is partly affected by standby due to less experienced hires as a precondition for training.

The next topic is the status of recruitment and turnover. Although the hiring environment remains severe, the number of mid-career hires in the third quarter reached 870, setting a new quarterly record since the COVID pandemic, mid-career recruitment in the fourth quarter is usually a little restrained as new grads joined in April, but we confirmed mid-career hiring of 370 this April, expecting to exceed 800 in the fourth quarter. Of the 2,482 mid-career hires for the past 9 months period, there are 212 less experienced newcomers in the R&D segment and 151 in the Construction Management segment with a total of 363 and also 78 non-Japanese engineers with in-demand skills hired globally.

With the exception of the aforementioned strategic standby, the assignments of new grads has been progressing smoothly so far, and we are aiming for full assignments by July 1, the start of our new fiscal year. The turnover ratio for permanent employees hit a record low of 6.0% in the second quarter but deteriorated to 8.0% in the third quarter, even taking seasonality into account. Retention of IT engineers and stronger demand in the career change market, especially digital talents we are intensively developing has become more and more challenging.

Our engineers are typical job type employment and in our personnel system, we define and visualize the market value of engineers by grade and strive to treat them fairly with a sense of satisfaction. Specifically, rather than having pay hike uniformly with age, we place more emphasis on a system in which the grade increases based on skill improvement and the wage increases based on promotion to a higher grade. Additionally, we have a policy of rewarding employees with bonuses that are as varied as possible according to individual performance and the company's financial results.

To that end, we are working to establish a proper infrastructure, such as education and training programs in order to encourage our engineers to acquire new technical skills. At the same time, we are focusing on the opportunity to gain experiences by offering more attractive projects to them. Our regular pay hike occurs in July every year, and the discussions with the labor union have begun. Last year, the average pay hike at TechnoPro was around 2.5% for your reference. This year, while keeping an eye on pay hike momentum in Japanese society and the retirement trend of engineers, we will come to an agreement with an awareness of GP margin using the base charge increase acquired at the time of March contract renewals as part of the funds. The details of the number of assigned engineers and year-on-year growth rate by technology and industry sector can be found on Pages 11 and 12.

Looking at the results of March contract renewals and the recent order flows, we are not aware of negative information such as curtailment of investment in R&D and IT system development in the new fiscal year budget of our customers whose fiscal year ends in March. Of course, depending on the individual company, the timing of spending budgets may be delayed, but considering our broad customer base, we do not consider this to be a major business risk as of now.

Page 13 shows the change in its waterfall chart in unit sales price. The average monthly unit sales price for the year-to-date third quarter was JPY 667,000, plus JPY 10,000 or up 1.4% year-on-year. In addition, the base charge for our existing dispatch engineers at the end of this March, which is not affected by working days or overtime hours, was up 3.5% compared to a year ago, and the rate of increase is expanding. The effect of the charge-up and shift up based on March contract renewal negotiations will be reflected in this table at the end of the fourth quarter.

Next is the update of our overseas subsidiaries. This fiscal year, Robosoft got off to a tough start due to curtailed digital investment by existing North American customers, raising wages and deteriorating turnover ratio in India. However, revenue and GP bottomed out in the first quarter and turned positive in the third quarter, both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Moreover, GP margin has recovered to the 40% level due to progress in passing on costs to customers. Compared to the second and third quarters of the previous fiscal year, when there were some special factors, operating profit in this third quarter recovered to the level excluding these special factors of the previous fiscal year and also increased quarter-on-quarter.

TechnoPro fourth quarter as the start of the new fiscal year for Robosoft, which ends in March. As usual, Robosoft raised the wage in India this April, not as much as last year, though, and also continues to actively recruit talent for marketing and business development in end customer markets such as North America. Therefore, in the fourth quarter, GP margin and operating profit are projected to decline quarter-on-quarter, but please understand such upfront investments as securing engineer resources and bolstering sales organization so that we can grow the top line sustainably.

In the third quarter of the China business, although it was within the expected range, the operations deteriorated to some extent and the operating profit decreased significantly due to Chinese New Year holidays and a surge in the number of infections by the change in the Zero-COVID policy. We would like to aim for growth in the next fiscal year, while promoting a shift from projects relating to semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment, where demand in China is getting weak to high value-added solution services.

Helius continues to perform well. Operating profit for the second to fourth quarters of the previous fiscal year included COVID-related subsidies of about JPY 50 million each quarter. So excluding that impact, there is a significant operational improvement year-on-year. As explained in the previous briefing, Helios has been promoting regional diversification in Southeast Asia and transformation to a solution company with offshore delivery capabilities.

Orion, which suffered from high inflation and economic recession in the U.K. finally surpassed the same period last year in revenue and operating profit in the third quarter. I assume it will take a little more time to return to a growth trajectory, but we will carefully manage operations in order to secure a minimum quarterly operating profit of around JPY 100 million.

Page 15 is the full year guidance and Page 16 as a breakdown by segment. Based on the third quarter results and the fourth quarter forecast, some key KPIs in Japan have been updated. The reason why the revision of the number of engineers at the end of this fiscal year is only plus 100 compared to the increase of 200 hires in the second half as that 100 more than the previous forecast is supposed to leave the company. Our management team is becoming more sensitive to retirement risk.

Finally, please see Page 17. Today, we announced to introduce a new share buyback program of JPY 3 billion. The company has budgeted JPY 40 billion for M&As in the medium-term plan, which is equivalent to the cumulative amount post annual dividend payout of 50% from the plain net profit for the 5 years period. Net profit for the first 2 years is expected to exceed the initial plan by approximately JPY 6 billion, and after Robosoft acquisition, which invested JPY 12 billion, we have not seized investment opportunities that could generate a justifiable return. Therefore, the remaining JPY 3 billion, which is based on the dividend payout ratio of 50% will be appropriated for the share buyback, as we expect to have ample free cash flow from the latter 3 years of the medium-term plan, together with sufficient borrowing capacity, we will proactively and flexibly explore inorganic alternatives through M&A consistent with our growth strategy.

In today's explanation, I touched upon some figures that were not included in the deck, but the script will be posted on our website as soon as possible. So please check it later. That's all for my presentation. Thank you very much.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]