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Two of Japan's biggest toy companies, Bandai Namco (Bandai) and Tome, have announced their results for the first half of their latest fiscal year (April 2022.04- September 2022.09). Overall, turnover at both companies has increased, but profit margins have fluctuated. However, both sides are on track with their original medium-term plans.
Bandai Namco Group, which has the strongest comprehensive entertainment power in Japan, recorded sales of 477.6 billion yen (about 24.41 billion yuan) during the reporting period, with sales revenue up 17.59% year on year and an operating profit margin of 17.09%, up 1.41 percentage points from the same period last year. Dumex, which specializes in toys and entertainment products, posted sales of 89 billion yen (4.549 billion yuan) in the same reporting period, up 15.58 percent year on year. Its operating profit margin in the same period was just 6.7 percent, down 1 percentage point from the same period last year.
However, Bandai Group's business includes digital games, toys/hobby products, IP content production, entertainment facilities, and other sectors, so the comparison is not fair. Then, let's take a look at the situation of each plate in Bandai, especially the achievements of the toy/hobby plate:
In the first half of this fiscal year, the sales revenue of the toy/hobby segment reached 213.3 billion yen (about 10.840 billion yuan), accounting for 44.66% of the total revenue of the group, up 19.76% year on year. However, the operating profit margin, similar to that of Domes, which specializes in toys, entertainment, and consumer goods, fell slightly year-on-year, from 18.53 percent in the same period last year to 15.71 percent this year, or 2.82 percentage points, less than that of Domes (down 1 percentage point). However, Bandai Namco said in its earnings statement that its digital games, toys/indulgences, and entertainment segments all recorded record sales during the reporting period.
Below, let's take a look at the two companies' different business strategies for the toy sector's performance.
Bandai: Pan-entertainment as the chassis, with IP as the axis
As can be seen from the above, Bandai Namco Group's business involves multiple entertainment sectors, covering the whole industrial chain of IP production, and derivative development (digital games, toys/hobby consumer goods, theme entertainment facilities). In order to strengthen this advantage, Bandai Namco Group has developed a medium - and long-term strategy centering on IP.
Among them, the Dragon Ball series is Bandai Namco's most popular IP in the world, with a revenue of 65.7 billion yen, or about 3.358 billion yuan, in the first half of this fiscal year, up 7.35% year-on-year. It was followed by the Gundam series and One Piece, which earned 35.9 billion yen, or 1.835 billion yuan, during the reporting period, up an astonishing 66.20 percent from a year earlier.
But if you look only at the impact of the toy/hobby revenue in Japan (the "domestic column" above), the Gunda series ranks first, with a revenue of 30.1 billion yen, or about 1.538 billion yuan, in the first half of this fiscal year, up 38.07% year on year. "One Piece" and "Dragon Ball" ranked second and third, with the latter's revenue reaching 12.3 billion yen (about 629 million yuan) during the reporting period, with a year-on-year growth of 132.08 percent higher than that of the global region. The growth rate of both global and domestic toy sales in Japan was the highest among all IPs.
