GMO Internet Group Q1 Operating Profit Jumps 28% to ¥18.7 Billion on Record ¥81.6 Billion Revenue

GMO Internet Group, Inc. (TSE: 9449) reported consolidated results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026 (FY12/2026 Q1, covering January 1 to March 31, 2026) under IFRS. Revenue climbed 13.3% year-on-year to ¥81,604 million, a quarterly record, while operating profit rose 28.0% to ¥18,684 million from ¥14,596 million. Business profit — the company's preferred operating measure, which strips out impairments and other items judged temporary or contingent — advanced an even faster 32.0% to ¥19,387 million. Pre-tax profit jumped 39.2% to ¥18,800 million and total quarterly profit rose the same 39.2% to ¥12,668 million.

Owners' profit up 13.5%; EPS reaches ¥64.04

Profit attributable to owners of the parent — the figure most relevant to shareholders, after stripping out the large minority interests held by listed subsidiaries such as GMO Financial Holdings and GMO Payment Gateway — rose 13.5% to ¥6,353 million from ¥5,596 million. The slower growth at the owners' line versus the operating line reflects how much of the profit upside accrued to those partly-owned subsidiaries. Basic quarterly EPS came in at ¥64.04, up from ¥53.75 a year earlier, and diluted EPS was ¥63.58 versus ¥53.44. Total comprehensive income nearly quadrupled to ¥13,217 million (+292.6%) from ¥3,365 million, lifted by valuation and currency-related items.

An internet-infrastructure-to-crypto conglomerate

GMO Internet Group is one of Japan's broadest internet conglomerates, spanning five business areas: Internet Infrastructure (domain registration, web hosting, cloud, SSL security and the payment-processing arm GMO Payment Gateway), Online Advertising & Media, Internet Finance (FX, equities and CFD brokerage via GMO Financial Holdings and GMO Click), the Crypto-asset business (exchange and mining), and Incubation (venture investment). The infrastructure and payments cluster provides the stable, recurring-revenue backbone, while the finance, crypto and incubation units add high-beta upside that swings with FX volumes, equity-trading activity and crypto-asset prices.

Balance sheet and per-share metrics

Total assets edged up to ¥2,059,682 million from ¥2,036,559 million at the end of FY12/2025, reflecting the large customer-deposit and settlement balances carried by the group's financial and payment businesses. Total equity rose to ¥246,644 million from ¥239,990 million, and equity attributable to owners of the parent increased to ¥112,279 million from ¥111,221 million, leaving the owners' equity ratio steady at 5.5% — a structurally low figure typical of a group whose balance sheet is dominated by client-asset and payment float rather than the operating businesses themselves. Shares outstanding (including treasury) stood at 107,349,121 at quarter-end.

Dividend running ahead; full-year guidance withheld

GMO targets a payout ratio of roughly 33% of profit attributable to owners and pays a dividend each quarter. The first-quarter FY12/2026 dividend was set at ¥21.20 per share, ahead of the ¥17.60 paid for the first quarter a year earlier, with the payment scheduled to begin on June 18, 2026. Management did not disclose a full-year FY12/2026 earnings or dividend forecast, citing the difficulty of forecasting the internet-finance, crypto-asset and incubation businesses, which are heavily exposed to financial-market and crypto-market conditions. The company said it will release a forecast as soon as one becomes possible, and noted that listed subsidiary GMO Financial Holdings continues to disclose monthly operating metrics — FX, equity-brokerage, CFD and crypto trading volumes, plus customer account counts — for investors seeking interim visibility.

JapanStockPulse provides informational content only and does not constitute investment advice. Figures are taken from the company's published earnings short report and may be subject to subsequent revision.