Inuneko Seikatsu, the Tokyo Growth market-listed pet-food and services startup, is asking investors to look past a weaker headline at the bottom line. In a Q&A published on Friday, after a June 16 share-price fall that the company said took the stock close to limit-down, management argued that the forecast 5.6% drop in net income for the year ending April 2027 reflects tax normalisation, not slower trading. Sales and operating profit are still expected to rise, pretax profit is projected to increase 20% year on year, and the tax burden is seen returning to about 35% after a prior year helped by tax-effect accounting and the use of past tax losses.
The other sore point was subscriber momentum. Recurring members slipped to 70,186 at year-end from 71,290 at the end of the previous quarter. Management said that did not reflect a slowdown in growth, but a deliberate cutback in ad spending after customer acquisition ran well ahead of plan through the third quarter. The company said ad volumes were expanded again from May, the start of its new fiscal year.
Inuneko's Q&A also tried to defend the economics of broadening beyond its own website. It said wholesale and animal-hospital channels are roughly as profitable as its in-house e-commerce business once lower delivery, advertising and payment costs are taken into account. That matters because the company wants to build a nationwide group of more than 50 animal hospitals over the medium to long term, turning clinics into a second core business after direct-to-consumer pet food. Management also described Taiwan as a model case for wider Asian expansion and said it wants a shared data platform linking food sales, hospitals and grooming services to raise customer lifetime value.
On shareholder relations, the company said it plans to announce and introduce a shareholder benefit programme using its own products within the current fiscal year. It also said it is maintaining close communication to prevent sudden market impact when top shareholder Maezawa Fund's lock-up expires.
There are still some missing terms. The filing does not say when that lock-up expires, what the shareholder benefit scheme will look like, or when the 50-hospital target could be reached. It is also a company-prepared Q&A summary rather than a verbatim transcript, and Inuneko says some questions and answers were edited for clarity.