Year Ending September 2004:
Overview of Financial and Operating Results for the Nine Months of Fiscal 2003 (Summary)July 29, 2004

1. Overview of Financial and Operating Results for the Nine Months of Fiscal 2003 (October 1, 2003, to June 30,2004)
Financial Results
Net sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2003 (October 31, 2003, through June 30, 2004) decreased 10.6% year
over year to ¥830 million. By service segment, Product sales increased 1.9% to ¥411 million, whereas Consultancy
sales and Training sales decreased 20.6% and 12.2%, respectively, to ¥397 million and ¥20 million.
Product sales amounted to ¥411 million, up ¥7 million year over year. Segment sales for commercial standard
products, mainly aptitude tests, were apparently supported by a gradual trend toward increased employment among
Japanese corporations as a result of the overall economic recovery. On the other hand, Consultancy sales, mainly“SOFT” (SHL’s original filter test) products that are sold directly to large-scale companies, totaled ¥397 million,down ¥103 million year over year. This considerable sales decline was the direct result of improper marketing
initiatives by our competitors, and we have initiated lawsuits against several competitors to claim for damages. Thesales decline in the training services segment was due principally to the increased number of free seminars topromote sales.
Operating income for the first nine months of fiscal 2003 was ¥167 million, falling ¥146 million or 46.6% year overyear. This decline was due principally to a decrease of ¥98 million in net sales, an increase of ¥14 million in cost ofsales and a rise of ¥32 million in selling, general and administrative expenses. Major factors for the increased cost ofsales were a rise of ¥17 million in personnel expenses, which were used to reinforce the Sales Department, ¥12
million in attorneys’ fees including the cost of litigation and an increase of ¥4 million in remuneration forconsulting.
Ordinary income for the first nine months of fiscal 2003 was ¥163 million, declining ¥150 million or 48.0% year
over year.
¥4 million rise in nonoperating expenses was mainly attributable to new share issuance cost of ¥3 million.
Extraordinary loss of ¥2 million resulted from a loss on retirement of the Product Master.
As a result, net income of ¥93 million (a decline of 48.6% year over year) was recorded for the nine months of fiscal
2003.
2. Forecasts of Operating Results for Fiscal 2003 (from October 1, 2003, to September 30, 2004)

Full-term

Net sales

Ordinary income

Net income

Millions of yen
1,250

Millions of yen
350

%
190

Net income pershare
Yen
11,291.76

Operating Results
As the operating results for the first nine months of the fiscal year and the full-term forecasts based on the outlook
for the fourth quarter (July 1 through September 30, 2004) are expected to underperform the previously announced
projections, we hereby revise our full-term forecasts for operating results for the year ending September 30, 2004.
(Millions of yen)
Net sales
Ordinary income
Net income
1,421
513
289
Previouslyannounced
forecast (A)
1,250
350
190
Revised forecast (B)
△170
△162
△99
Change (B – A)
△12.0
△31.7
△34.3
Percentage change
1,291
468
266
Results for the year ended
September 31, 2003
The revised forecasts of operating results for fiscal 2003 are as follows: net sales of ¥1,250 million (down 3.2%
from the previous release), ordinary income of ¥350 million (down 25.2%) and net income of ¥190 million (down28.6%).
In view of the two-for-one stock split conducted by the Company as of May 20, 2004, we intend to allocate ayear-end dividend of ¥3,250 per share, which is substantially the same as the interim dividend amount andconsistent with the previous release.
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