IR News｜Results

 Benesse Corporation announced today its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004 (April 1, 2003 - September 30, 2003). Benesse's consolidated sales during this period amounted to 125,863 million yen, a 3.5% drop from the last year's same period. The sale's decrease is attributable primarily to declining enrollment in Shinkenzemi home study correspondence courses, the mainstay business in Benesse's Education Company, as well as to decreased sales in the Language Company as a result of last year's divesture of the translation service unit at Berlitz International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Benesse. While sales expanded briskly in the nursing care business for seniors at the Senior Company, this growth did not offset the sales decline in the Education Company and Language Company.

Consolidated operating income during the first half of this year amounted to 18,510 million yen, a 40.7% jump from the same period last year. The improvement in operating income reflected the cost reductions achieved by streamlining the product lineup at the Education Company, strong sales and profits at the Senior Company, and the withdrawal from non-performing operations at the Women & Family Company.

Ordinary income also increased 53.8% to 19,165 million yen during this half-year period. Benesse recorded a net income of 10,607 million yen, a whopping 114% increase from a year earlier.