ONE CAREER Inc. Q2 FY2026 Earnings Deep Dive Report

Overview and Earnings Summary

ONE CAREER Inc. (TSE Growth: 4377) has announced its consolidated financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2026 . The results demonstrate exceptionally strong performance, with significant growth in both revenue and profit, setting a new record pace for the company.

For the first half of the fiscal year, the company reported net sales of 5,809 million JPY (+44.8% YoY) , operating profit of 2,372 million JPY (+73.9% YoY) , ordinary profit of 2,390 million JPY (+74.6% YoY) , and net profit attributable to owners of the parent of 1,656 million JPY (+71.7% YoY) .

This robust performance was driven by increased demand for job postings and scout services, alongside improved internal productivity through AI integration, which has led to high profitability. In light of these results, the company has upwardly revised its full-year consolidated earnings and dividend forecasts for the fiscal year ending December 2026 .

---

Performance Highlights and Revenue Structure Analysis

The income statement for the first half highlights the company's highly profitable business model and its ability to leverage operating scale effectively.

As shown in the consolidated income statement slide above, each profit line item has grown significantly in tandem with the surge in net sales. This slide is critical as it clearly quantifies the company's high gross margin and disciplined SG&A structure. Gross profit reached 5,183 million JPY (+49.5% YoY) , with the gross profit margin rising to 89.2% (+2.8pt YoY) , underscoring the low-cost structure inherent to a digital platform business.

While SG&A expenses increased to 2,810 million JPY (+33.6% YoY), the growth rate remained below that of net sales (+44.8%). Consequently, the operating profit margin improved significantly to 40.8% (+6.8pt YoY) , and the EBITDA margin rose to 43.2% (+7.3pt YoY) .

Looking at the quarterly (3-month) trends, reflecting the seasonality of the new graduate recruitment market (where Q2 is the peak season for internship recruitment and selection), Q2 net sales reached 3,603 million JPY (+43.3% YoY) , with operating profit of 1,709 million JPY (+65.4% YoY) . The ratio of operating expenses to sales decreased to 52.6%, demonstrating that economies of scale are steadily taking effect.

---

Key KPI Trends: Strengthening Corporate Transactions and Member Base

The foundation of ONE CAREER's sustainable growth lies in the network effects generated by both its corporate client base and its job seeker member base.

The slide above provides critical data on the expansion of the company's corporate client base. The cumulative number of corporate clients reached 7,496 (+44.0% YoY) , and the number of annual transacting clients surged to 4,244 (+37.4% YoY) . Of particular note in this analysis is the coverage rate by company size. The company has achieved a 60.9% coverage rate among large enterprises (hiring scale of 51+ employees) , securing an overwhelming share of the major corporate market. Furthermore, there is significant room for expansion among mid-sized (35.7% coverage) and small-sized (12.2% coverage) enterprises, indicating a vast Total Addressable Market (TAM).

Meanwhile, the company maintains an dominant position in its member base. The cumulative number of members for its new graduate service reached 2.583 million (+411,000 YoY) , with a 64.5% utilization rate among university and graduate students expected to join the workforce in 2026 . The company has firmly established itself as an essential infrastructure platform used by a majority of students.

Furthermore, leveraging the user assets acquired through its new graduate business, the cumulative number of members for "ONE CAREER Tenshoku" (mid-career recruitment support service) has surpassed 200,000 . The "LTV (Lifetime Value) maximization model," where young professionals return to the service at career milestones after using it as new graduates, is now fully operational.

---

M&A Strategy: Acquisition of Kids Corporation and Expansion into High School/Education Markets

A major business update this quarter is the full acquisition of Kids Corporation (stock acquisition completed on July 31, 2026) , which operates businesses supporting career guidance and recruitment for high school students.

Kids Corporation is a long-standing company with a robust network of 5,000 schools, including 3,500 high schools and 1,500 universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools. It conducts 4,500 guidance sessions annually. In its most recent fiscal year (ended March 2025), the company reported net sales of approximately 2.6 billion JPY and an operating profit of approximately 280 million JPY.

Key strategic objectives for this acquisition include:

1. Earlier and Expanded Targeting : Moving the point of contact from "university students/young professionals" to "high school students," significantly expanding the target age range for the career platform.
2. Lowering CAC and Reaching Untapped Segments : Utilizing Kids Corporation's school network to strengthen reach to regional universities and vocational schools, improving member acquisition efficiency.
3. Product and Sales Synergies : Cross-selling high school recruitment support products to existing ONE CAREER clients while improving profitability by bringing Kids Corporation's IT and software development in-house.

Consolidation of Kids Corporation's P&L will begin in Q4. Due to the seasonality of their business, which concentrates profits in Q2, the contribution to Q4 (including goodwill amortization) is expected to be a negative 70 million JPY. However, this is offset by the outperformance of ONE CAREER's core business (+170 million JPY), resulting in an upward revision of 100 million JPY to the full-year consolidated operating profit forecast .

---

AI Strategy and Proprietary Data as a Barrier to Entry

The company has presented a clear strategy and competitive advantage regarding the impact of generative AI on the HR market.

ONE CAREER possesses a vast amount of "highly reliable, closed primary data" (interview experiences, reviews, selection process data, etc.) verified through student ID authentication. Unlike generic AI services that rely on open web information, the company's proprietary data forms a high structural barrier to entry (moat) that cannot be easily replicated.

Specifically, the company has integrated advanced AI models such as Claude and Gemini into its products and internal operations . For job seekers, it provides selection preparation AI (e.g., "ES Master," "Shu-Tre," "ONE CAREER AI") to enhance satisfaction. For corporate clients, it automates scout message drafting and profile entry. Internally, AI is used for research, document creation, and sales preparation, contributing to a lower operating expense ratio (improved productivity).

---

Upward Revision of Full-Year Forecast and Mid-to-Long-Term Growth Story (2030 Goals)

Based on the strong Q2 performance and the inclusion of Kids Corporation, the company has upwardly revised its full-year consolidated earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2026 .

• Net Sales : 11,000 million JPY (Previous forecast: 10,500 million JPY, +45.2% YoY)
• Operating Profit : 3,100 million JPY (Previous forecast: 3,000 million JPY, +45.7% YoY)
• Year-end Dividend per Share : 35 JPY (Previous forecast: 34 JPY, Previous year: 25 JPY)

In line with its shareholder return policy of a 30% dividend payout ratio, the year-end dividend forecast has also been increased.

Furthermore, the company has set mid-term goals for fiscal year 2030 to ensure sustainable growth.

The mid-term goal slide above is essential reading, summarizing the company's long-term vision and profitability. For FY2030, the company targets net sales of 35,000 million JPY (Breakdown: 30,000 million JPY from new graduate business, 5,000 million JPY from mid-career business) and EBITDA of 10,000 million JPY . Beyond mere scale, the company aims to maintain exceptionally high capital efficiency and profitability, with an ROE of 25% or higher and an EBITDA margin of 25% or higher annually .

The company plans to expand its target market (SAM/TAM) in stages, moving beyond the new graduate recruitment market (TAM approx. 160 billion JPY) into the mid-career recruitment market (TAM approx. 600 billion JPY) and eventually the broader 10 trillion JPY human resources service market.

---

Conclusion

ONE CAREER's Q2 FY2026 results demonstrate robust progress across all strategic fronts: overwhelming share expansion in the core new graduate recruitment business, the rapid launch of "ONE CAREER Tenshoku," the validation of high profitability (40.8% operating margin) through AI utilization, and the dramatic expansion of the target market via the M&A of Kids Corporation.

By combining high organic growth in existing businesses (41.3% revenue CAGR) with disciplined, financially sound M&A to drive non-linear growth, the company's growth story is expected to further solidify its position in the human resources platform market.