IR News｜Results

 Okayama, October 25, 2002 - Benesse Corporation today announced that it has lowered its projected financial results on a consolidated and non-consolidated basis for FY2002 (April 1, 2002 - March 31, 2003) as follows.

1. Consolidated Projections
(1)Revised Consolidated Results for the First Half of FY2002(April 1, 2002 - September 30, 2002)

[Revised projection (A)]
Sales : 130,600 million yen
Ordinary Income : 12,400 million yen
Net Income : 5,300 million yen

[Projection made on May 17, 2002 (B)]
Sales : 132,300 million yen
Ordinary Income : 10,900 million yen
Net Income : 6,100 million yen

[Change (A)-(B)]
Sales : -1,700 million yen (-1.3%)
Ordinary Income : 1,500 million yen (13.8%)
Net Income : -800 million yen (-13.1%)


(2)Revised Consolidated Results for FY2002 (April 1, 2002 - March 31, 2003)

[Revised projection (A)]
Sales : 256,700 million yen
Ordinary Income : 11,400 million yen
Net Income : 5,000 million yen

[Projection made on May 17, 2002 (B)]
Sales : 269,600 million yen
Ordinary Income : 20,800 million yen
Net Income : 11,200 million yen

[Change (A)-(B)]
Sales : -12,900 million yen (-4.8%)
Ordinary Income : -9,400 million yen (-45.2%)
Net Income : -6,200 million yen (-55.4%)


2. Non-consolidated Projections
(1) Revised Non-consolidated Results for the First Half of FY2002
(April 1, 2002 - September 30, 2002)

[Revised projection (A)]
Sales : 88,600 million yen
Ordinary Income : 11,800 million yen
Net Income : 6,500 million yen

[Projection made on May 17, 2002 (B)]
Sales : 89,100 million yen
Ordinary Income : 10,900 million yen
Net Income : 6,400 million yen

[Change (A)-(B)]
Sales : -500 million yen (-0.6%)
Ordinary Income : 900 million yen (8.3%)
Net Income : 100 million yen (1.6%)


(2)Revised Non-consolidated Results for FY2002 (April 1, 2002 - March 31, 2003)

[Revised projection (A)]
Sales : 175,400 million yen
Ordinary Income : 8,900 million yen
Net Income : 5,200 million yen

[Projection made on May 17, 2002 (B)]
Sales : 178,500 million yen
Ordinary Income : 17,700 million yen
Net Income : 10,200 million yen

[Change (A)-(B)]
Sales : -3,100 million yen (-1.7%)
Ordinary Income : -8,800 million yen (-49.7%)
Net Income : -5,000 million yen (-49.0%)

3. Major Factors in the Revisions
(1)Non-consolidated Results
Projections for sales, ordinary income, and net income were lowered primarily on account of continuing slow growth of enrollment in Benesse's main business, the Shinkenzemi home-study correspondence courses, and especially in Shinkenzemi correspondence courses for senior and junior high school students. The growth has remained below expectations, and the situation is expected to be harder in the second half. The slowing of growth is largely due to intensified competition in the education industry and a declining birthrate in Japan and comes against a background of sluggish consumer spending and worsening unemployment that continue to persist in the midst of Japan's prolonged economic slump. In addition, increasing sales promotion expenses and investment in new business operations are also reflected in the revisions.

(2)Consolidated Results
Consolidated results revised downward reflect lowered non-consolidated results, as well as weaker than expected financial results for Berlitz International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, which was negatively affected by a global economic slowdown and unfavorable exchange rate fluctuations as a result of yen appreciation. Berlitz lowered its sales projections by approximately 9.5 billion yen, mainly due to the yen appreciation of approximately 2.3 billion yen and sale of its translation service unit (approximately 3 billion yen) on September 30, 2002, which was resulted in an extraordinary loss of 2.2 billion yen.

Cash dividends per share are expected to be 29.0 yen per share (an interim dividend of 14.5 yen per share, and end-of-term dividend of 14.5 yen per share) as announced on May 17,2002.

NOTE
The above projections are made with presently available information and are based on current assumptions after taking into account uncertain factors that may affect future operations. Please be advised that actual results may differ substantially from these projections, depending on various changes and factors in the future.