Speee Posts Full-Year Operating Loss of ¥887 Million; Wider Financial DX Investment to Drive ¥1.5 Billion Loss Next Fiscal Year

Speee reported full-year results for the fiscal year ending September 2026. Revenue rose 2.1% year-on-year to ¥16.78 billion (approximately $104.9 million), but the operating loss widened to ¥887 million (approximately $5.5 million), from a ¥685 million loss a year earlier. The main factors were aggressive investment in financial DX and higher personnel costs from adding senior hires within the DX consulting business.

CEO Hideki Otsuka said at the outset of the briefing that company-wide revenue was up 2.1% year-on-year, with a progress rate of 98.7%, emphasizing that results landed broadly in line with the company's plan.

Full-Year Results Overview

On a standalone fourth-quarter basis, revenue was ¥4.2 billion (approximately $26.3 million), up 2.1% year-on-year but down 4.9% quarter-on-quarter, while the operating loss narrowed to ¥246 million (approximately $1.5 million), compared with a ¥359 million loss a year earlier.

By Segment: Legacy Industry DX the Profit Engine, DX Consulting Hits Record Revenue

Results diverged by segment. Legacy Industry DX saw revenue fall 2.5% year-on-year to ¥11.438 billion (approximately $71.5 million), but operating profit jumped 56.5% to ¥1.564 billion (approximately $9.8 million) on improved customer acquisition efficiency. A 11.8% cut in advertising and promotion expenses contributed to the gain.

DX Consulting set a record with revenue of ¥5.37 billion (approximately $33.6 million), up 12.5%, as it expanded into new areas. Average revenue per customer rose 19.7% year-on-year, but operating profit fell 19.7% to ¥1.312 billion (approximately $8.2 million). Investments in Spiral Partners and ThinQ Healthcare weighed on profit.

Financial DX booked ¥36 million (approximately $230,000) in revenue from consulting sales, but upfront investment pushed it to an operating loss of ¥1.545 billion (approximately $9.7 million), compared with a ¥1.264 billion loss a year earlier.

Cost Structure: Advertising Down, Personnel Costs Up

In the fourth-quarter cost breakdown, advertising and promotion expenses fell 11.8% year-on-year to ¥1.689 billion (approximately $10.6 million), while personnel costs rose 10.2% to ¥1.504 billion (approximately $9.4 million). Recruiting expenses were ¥56 million (approximately $350,000), down 27.9%. Total expenses were held to ¥4.447 billion (approximately $27.8 million), down 0.6%.

FY September 2027 Forecast: Wider Financial DX Investment to Drive ¥1.5 Billion Operating Loss

For the fiscal year ending September 2027, the company forecasts revenue of ¥17.702 billion (approximately $110.7 million), up 5.5%, and an operating loss of ¥1.5 billion (approximately $9.4 million), wider than the ¥887 million loss a year earlier. Financial DX is expected to book only ¥100 million (approximately $630,000) in consulting revenue, while the company plans to expand investment in stablecoin- and tokenized-deposit-related businesses.

On Financial DX, CEO Otsuka explained: "We expect ¥100 million in consulting revenue from major financial institutions and operating companies. For revenue from the issuance of trust-type stablecoins and product provision fees, it is difficult to set clear assumptions on timing and scale of issuance, so we are conservatively assuming zero."

Legacy Industry DX is forecast to post a 13.9% decline in operating profit to ¥1.348 billion (approximately $8.4 million) due to upfront investment in new product development and the customer acquisition base. DX Consulting is expected to deliver higher revenue and profit, with revenue of ¥6.163 billion (approximately $38.5 million), up 14.8%, and operating profit of ¥1.346 billion (approximately $8.4 million), up 2.6%.

Q&A: Company Confirms Non-Participation in Three Megabank Pilot, Says "No Change to Strategy"

The most closely watched topic in the Q&A was the company's involvement in the joint stablecoin issuance pilot by the three megabanks announced on October 16. Director Satoshi Hisada (CEO of Datachain) stated plainly: "The October 16 announcement was the result of a pilot conducted in July this year by five companies — the three megabanks, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, and TISI — and Datachain did not participate in this pilot." He then stressed: "There is absolutely no change to our policy of aiming for major growth in stablecoins and tokenized deposits."

As an alternative project, Hisada cited Project Trinity, announced on October 6: "We are also conducting pilots on DvP settlement of stablecoins and security tokens with megabanks, securities firms, exchanges and others. The three megabanks' stablecoins are one example, and this is a use case that connects to all other stablecoins and tokenized deposits." He added: "Rather than being tied to a specific issuer platform, we aim to create an environment where Datachain is always behind digital asset transactions," expressing his ambition to establish the company as an infrastructure platform.

Asked about its technical support for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's efforts to build on-chain financial infrastructure, he explained: "Taking into account the control and sovereignty required by financial institutions, future scalability, and medium- to long-term operational continuity, we supported the organization and evaluation of a wide range of technical issues, including the underlying architecture and privacy protection." He positioned the consulting service as "a stepping stone to future product revenue."

On progress in the tokenized deposit business, he described the current situation: "In the fiscal year ending September 2025 we were exploring this as R&D, but in September 2026 it was approved by the company as a new business and we have moved into aggressive investment. It has the utility of being able to pay interest and of being able to proceed based on existing legal systems as a deposit, but it requires substantial investment and there are technical challenges, including integration with existing systems."

On-Chain Finance Privacy Technology "KuraPrivacy" Unveiled

In the latter half of the briefing, Hisada made the case for the importance of privacy technology in on-chain finance and introduced Datachain's new product "KuraPrivacy." He pointed to the problem: "On public chains, anyone can view amounts, senders and recipients, and transaction history, making them hard to use for business-to-business payments or payroll." He added: "To balance regulatory compliance with expanded stablecoin use, we need to provide confidentiality that issuers and electronic payment service providers can control — not just hiding things, but controlled confidentiality," emphasizing the need to reconcile privacy and compliance.

Change in Segment Profit Calculation Method

From the fiscal year ending September 2027, the company will change the method for calculating segment profit of consolidated subsidiaries to a basis before the allocation of administrative department costs and head office rent. There is no impact on consolidated operating profit, but as a retroactive effect on FY September 2026 results, profit would increase by ¥151 million (approximately $940,000) for Financial DX, ¥62 million (approximately $390,000) for Legacy Industry DX, and ¥38 million (approximately $240,000) for DX Consulting.

What's Next

Investor focus is on the uncertainty over when Financial DX will become profitable and on the sustainability of profit growth in Legacy Industry DX. CEO Otsuka outlined the growth strategy for Legacy Industry DX: "Having surpassed the ¥10 billion revenue scale, we will expand our target markets and value chain coverage with an eye toward the ¥30 billion scale." For Financial DX, the policy is to "ride the global tide of on-chain finance and combine product offerings such as Datachain Wallet, KuraPrivacy and cross-chain."

At the same time, the ¥1.5 billion operating loss forecast for the fiscal year ending September 2027 may exceed market expectations, and the timing of concrete revenue recognition related to stablecoins will be a key focus.

Earnings Call Transcript

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