Sakura Internet raised its forecast for operating profit in the year to March 2027 by 64.0%, to ¥4.1bn, after first-half operating profit of ¥2.96bn beat its own July forecast by 34.7%. The company credits better GPU pricing, GPU capacity running near full and large contracts at group companies. It also says first-half profit was helped by advertising, event and hiring plans it reviewed after an August unauthorised-access incident.
What the new guidance says
The revised full-year forecast puts sales at ¥46.6bn, 2.4% above the July forecast and 32.0% above last year. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent is forecast at ¥2.55bn, 70.0% above the July figure. Last year the group reported sales of ¥35.3bn and an operating loss of ¥403mn.
| Measure | July forecast | Revised forecast | Change vs July forecast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 45,500 | 46,600 | +2.4% |
| Operating profit | 2,500 | 4,100 | +64.0% |
| Ordinary profit | 2,300 | 3,900 | +69.6% |
| Net profit | 1,500 | 2,550 | +70.0% |
Sakura expects GPU infrastructure revenue of ¥20.85bn for the year. It says strong demand for compute and a stronger sales operation should keep the GPUs it bought last year near full operation, and that it is working to improve pricing. Its results presentation puts the forecast at 156.0% above the prior year. Those are the company's expectations for the rest of the year, not a record of full utilisation already achieved.
Pricing and contracts against spending choices
First-half sales were ¥22.83bn, ¥327mn or 1.5% above the July forecast and 46.0% above a year earlier. GPU infrastructure revenue was ¥10.12bn, up 258.9% year on year, on continued use of a large bare-metal generative-AI contract won last year and new orders.
The group-contract lift needs reading carefully. Other services revenue fell 12.3% year on year to ¥3.27bn, because a large contract had been won in the prior-year period. The upside from group companies is against Sakura's forecast, not against last year.
Operating profit beat the forecast by ¥763mn, more than twice the sales beat. Sakura attributes that to higher sales plus a review of some advertising, event and hiring plans, after it prioritised customer response, recurrence prevention and stronger security foundations following the incident. Its results presentation shows a bridge from the ¥2.2bn forecast with a ¥327mn sales contribution alongside lower advertising, hiring-related and other costs. The presentation also says the incident's effect on results for the year to March 2027 is limited. Earlier Tokyo Brief coverage
A second half that spends more
The presentation shows second-half operating profit of ¥1.14bn against ¥2.96bn in the first half, on forecast second-half sales of ¥23.77bn. Sakura says growth investment and one-off costs for the year are concentrated in the second half. It plans about 70 mid-career hires, against 12 in the first half, along with events, web advertising and measures for its 30th anniversary, which falls on 23 December 2026. The guidance revision says the company will assess the return on that growth spending and carry it out steadily.
The presentation adds that GPU servers are written off over three years, with depreciation ending in stages from January 2027.
Dividend
The board also declared a ¥2.50 commemorative interim dividend per share, ¥100.8mn in total, for a 30 September 2026 record date, payable from 14 December 2026. Sakura now plans ¥8.00 for the year, including the ¥2.50 and a ¥5.50 year-end payment, against a previous forecast of ¥5.50.
Sakura's results note says forward-looking statements rest on information and assumptions available to it now and are not a commitment to achieve them.