AIFUL Group’s consolidated operating revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2024, rose 13.2% compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year to 163,109 million yen. The principal components were 95,400 million yen in interest on loans (up 14.6% year on year), 21,625 million yen in revenue from the credit card business (up 5.4% year on year) and 19,408 million yen in revenue from the credit guarantee business (up 14.0% year on year).

Operating expenses increased by 21,618 million yen, or 18.0% year on year to 142,045 million yen. This was mainly due to an increase in advertising expenses by 912 million yen or 5.4% year on year to 17,788 million yen and an increase in provision for allowance for doubtful accounts of 16,542 million yen or 45.9% year on year to 52,546 million yen.

As a result, AIFUL Group posted operating profit of 21,064 million yen (down 11.2 % year on year) and ordinary profit of 22,067 million yen (down 9.7 % year on year). Profit attributable to owners of parent stood at 21,818 million yen (down 2.3 % year on year), reflecting a profit attributable to non-controlling interests of -316 million yen.

As the economy is on a path of gradual recovery, the number of new contracts and the balance of operating loans are expected to increase. On the other hand, the impact of rising interest rates, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, and price increases will continue to require close monitoring.

In addition, the environment surrounding the Group is changing rapidly due to new entry from outside industries and acceleration of digital transformation, etc., and it is necessary to respond promptly to the changes.

Under these circumstances, AIFUL Group has formulated a 3-year medium-term management plan starting from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The plan is based on a 10-year long-term vision, "Transformation into an IT Company ~ Striving to be a company that lasts for 100 years ~." Under the theme of the medium-term management plan, "Try Harder: Toward a New Stage of Growth," the Group will strive to raise the profit levels for the entire Group by growing the balance of its mainstay businesses, such as the loan business, the credit guarantee business, and the credit business, and reforming its cost structure. In addition, in order to expand our customer base and acquire new business models toward a new stage of growth, we will invest profits of our mainstay businesses in high-growth businesses and M&A, thereby enhancing our corporate value.

With regard to earnings forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2025, the first year of the medium-term management plan, AIFUL Group expects to record operating revenue of 180,200 million yen (up 10.5% year on year), operating profit of 23,800 million yen (up 13.0% year on year), ordinary profit of 24,000 million yen (up 8.8% year on year), and profit attributable to owners of parent of 21,600 million yen (down 1.0% year on year).

The above forecasts are based on information available as of the date of publication of this document. There are various risks in the current business environment surrounding us, and the final results may differ from the forecasts.

The AIFUL Group recognize that returning profits to our shareholders is one of the most important management issues. The Company’s basic policy is to secure stable internal reserves and return profits to shareholders in accordance with our operating results, while aiming to maximize shareholder value through medium-to long-term profit growth.

As initially planned, we plan to pay a dividend of 1 yen per share at the end of the fiscal year ended in March 2024. For the fiscal year ending March 2025, we plan to pay an annual dividend of 1 yen per share (1 yen per share at the end of the fiscal year).

AIFUL has adopted the following provisions in its Articles of Incorporation: "The Company may determine dividends of surplus, etc. with a resolution of the Board of Directors pursuant to the provisions of Article 459, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act" and "the Company may pay interim dividends with a resolution of the Board of Directors with September 30 each year as the record date."

With the Corporate philosophy of “Earn the trust of society through corporate activity based in integrity,” the Group's mission is to contribute to the economy and society by supporting the sound consumption and business activities of its customers, and to promote transformation into an IT company, aiming for “growth as a financial group that transforms its organization and systems in response to environmental changes and utilizes digital technology.

We will continue to realize our management theme and long-term vision, “Transformation Toward an IT Company: Aiming to become a company that lasts for 100 years,” as well as the following growth strategies.

Growth Strategies Raise the Group's profit level by pursuing balance growth and efficiency in core businesses.

In May 2024, AIFUL announced medium-term management plan ending in the fiscal year March, 2027.
For details, please refer here.

During the consolidated fiscal year ended March 2024, Japanese economy showed a gradual recovery as restrictions on activities due to COVID-19 have been lifted and socioeconomic activities have normalized. However, the outlook remains uncertain due to factors such as rising interest rates resulting from changes in the Bank of Japan's monetary easing policy, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, and rising prices against the backdrop of soaring energy and raw material prices.

In the consumer finance industry, the number of new contracts at major companies has continued to increase year on year and the balance of operating loans has expanded accordingly. Although the status of interest repayment claims is susceptible to changes in the external environment and certain considerations are necessary, the number of claims is steadily decreasing.

Under these circumstances, AIFUL Group has aimed to grow the balance of operating loans and the top line by enhancing UI/UX from a customer's perspective as well as by investing in advertising with an emphasis on efficiency. In addition, we will continue to invest in IT human resources to promote DX and in-house production in order to optimize costs and raise the profit level.

The unsecured consumer loan market was worth 17 trillion yen in March 2008. However, due to an increase in filing for interest repayment and revisions to the Money Lending Business Act resulting from the introduction of regulations on the total amount of loans, triggered by the Supreme Court decision in 2006, the market shrank to 8.7 trillion yen in March 2013, affected by many consumer finance companies.

In 2014, however, the market bottomed out and reversed out, and recovered to 10.4 trillion yen in March 2020, thanks to an improvement in business confidence in Japan's economy and aggressive advertising by consumer finance companies on television and the web.

Although the market shrank to 9.2 trillion yen in 2022 due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors, the overall market has recently recovered to 9.6 trillion yen.

【AIFUL】

In the loan business, in addition to effective and efficient advertising strategies mainly on TV commercials and web, AIFUL is working to increase the number of new contracts and the operating loan balance by implementing initiatives to improve UI/UX and customer satisfaction, such as speedily upgrading official sites, smartphone apps, and application forms through in-house production in the digital field.

As a result, the number of new contracts for unsecured loans was 338,000 (up 12.4% year on year) and the contract rate was 35.9% (up 4.0pt year on year) in the fiscal year ended March 2024.

At the end of the fiscal year ended March 2024, unsecured loans outstanding were 548,554 million yen (up 11.9% from the previous year-end), secured loans outstanding were 1,836 million yen (down 26.6% from the previous year-end), small business loans outstanding were 12,522 million yen (up 21.9% from the previous year-end), and the total balance of loans outstanding was 562,913 million yen (up 11.9% from the previous year-end) (5,126 million yen off-balance sheet operating loans from the securitization have been included).

【LIFE CARD】

In the credit card business, LIFECARD is working to attract new members and increase active cardholders by issuing new alliance and tie-up cards, redesigning proper cards, adding app functions and renewing benefits that meet the needs of customers as well as aggressive advertising.

As a result of the above, the transaction volume for the fiscal year ended March 2024 was 741,515 million yen (up 4.0% year on year). The balance of installment receivables for credit card business at the end of the fiscal year was 111,725 million yen (up 4.2% from the previous year-end) (6,036 million yen off-balance sheet operating loans from the securitization have been included).

【AIFUL】

In the credit guarantee business, AIFUL leveraged its know-how related to credit operations for individuals and small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as its unique strengths as an independent entity to increase the credit guarantee balance by promoting the diversification of credit guarantee products and increasing the number of guarantee partners.

As a result, loans outstanding for unsecured personal loan guarantee at the end of the fiscal year ended March 2024 was 162,266 million yen (up 14.1% from the previous year-end), and loans outstanding for unsecured business loan guarantee was 56,193 million yen (up 32.6% from the previous year-end).

Of the credit guarantee for the unsecured business loans, 1,415 million yen comes from guarantees provided to AG BUSINESS SUPPORT CORPORATION.

The AIFUL Group currently operates group companies in the Kingdom of Thailand and the Republic of Indonesia, where we offer consumer finance and used car loans to local customers.

In the Kingdom of Thailand, although consumer spending has been recovering, the real GDP growth rate (January-December 2023) has slowed to 1.9%. Against this backdrop, in AIRA & AIFUL Public Company Limited introduced eKYC ahead of other companies and worked to expand the balance of operating loans by acquiring new customers. However, the collection environment has recently slightly worsened somewhat due to the completion of the COVID-19 remedy measures.

As a result of the above, AIRA & AIFUL Public Company Limited posted operating revenue of 8,269 million yen (up 16.8% year on year), operating loss of 1,383 million yen, ordinary loss of 1,368 million yen in the fiscal year ended March 2024. Net loss was -1,087 million yen.

In the fiscal year ended March 2024, amount of non-performing unsecured loans outstanding increased to 88,365 million yen (up 19.2% year-on-year) and the ratio of unsecured loans NPL stood at 16.1% (up 1.0pt year on year).

The increase in non-performing loans outstanding was primarily due to an increase in the number of settlement receivables with regular deposits (restructured loans), although it takes a certain amount of time to settle.

On the other hand, the ratio of bad debt write-offs remained stable at a low level of 3.2%.

The situation still requires careful attention although the declining trend in interest repayment claims at AIFUL (non-consolidated) has become more apparent, dropping significantly from the peak of 16,000 cases in February 2011 as more than 15 years have passed since the Supreme Court decision.

In the fiscal year ended March 2024, interest repayment claims decreased by 37.4% from the previous year to 3,380. Interest repayment decreased by 21.8% year on year to 4,995 million yen and waiver of principals related to interest repayment decreased by 17.4% to 491 million. As a result, total withdraw for interest repayment decreased by 21.5% year on year to 5,486 million yen.

The AIFUL Group's equity ratio stood at 15.6% on a consolidated basis and 16.8% on a non-consolidated basis as of fiscal year ended March 2024.

Please refer to Corporate Bonds/Rating.

The Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

8515.

100.

AIFUL has not introduced a shareholder gift scheme.

The transfer agent of AIFUL's shareholders' register is the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited. (Please see here for contact details.)

The various procedures for AIFUL's shares are handled by the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited which is the transfer agent of the shareholders' register. Please contact the transfer agent of the shareholders' register for details. In addition, shareholders who use the depository system should contact the securities company where they conduct business.

Please see here for historical stock splits and purchases of treasury stock.

AIFUL closes the fiscal year on March 31. AIFUL announces quarterly result.

Monthly Data is announced on the 25th of the following month.
The monthly data for June, September, December and March which are the quarterly fiscal year-ends, will be announced in the same date as the announcement date of each financial period.

February 1978. See History for a list of AIFUL milestones.

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