Benesse Holdings, Inc.
FY2022 1H Consolidated Financial Results Briefing
November 9, 2022

Event Summary[Company Name]

Benesse Holdings, Inc.

[Company ID]

9783-QCODE[Event Language]

JPN[Event Type]Earnings Announcement[Event Name]FY2022 1H Consolidated Financial Results Briefing[Fiscal Period]

FY2022 1H[Date]

November 9, 2022

[Number of Pages]

23[Time]

16:00 – 17:00(Total: 60 minutes, Presentation: 47 minutes, Q&A: 13 minutes)[Venue]Webcast[Venue Size][Participants][Number of Speakers]

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Hitoshi Kobayashi
Shinsuke Tsuboi

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Representative Director, President, and CEO
Managing Executive Officer, CFO, Executive
General Manager of Finance and Accounting

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Presentation

Tsuboi: I will now give an overview of our business performance for Q2 of the fiscal year ending March 31,
2023, and the outlook for the full fiscal year.
In our consolidated results for Q2 of this fiscal year, unfortunately, both sales and profits declined on year.
Net sales decreased JPY15.4 billion, or 7.1%, from the previous year. In addition to the impact of the sale ofBerlitz in the previous fiscal year, which reduced revenues by JPY13.1 billion and had the greatest impact,
there was also the impact this current fiscal year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced revenues in the
Kids and Family business segment by approximately JPY3.5 billion due to lockdowns in major cities in China,
particularly Shanghai.
Overall sales in the Education Business in Japan segment fell by JPY1 billion as sales declined by more than
JPY4 billion due to a decrease in Shinkenzemi enrollments, while sales in business for University students andWorking adults increased significantly by JPY2.8billion from the previous fiscal year.
In the Nursing Care and Childcare business, the seventh wave of COVID-19 delayed the improvement of theoccupancy rate, but the increase in new locations and the effect of the M&A of a nursing care staffing company
resulted in a JPY1.7 billion increase in revenues.
On the other hand, operating income decreased by JPY2.3 billion versus the previous year. Originally, we had
expected a slight decrease in profits in 1H of this fiscal year, but the negative impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on China and the Nursing Care and Childcare businesses was significant, resulting in a larger-thanexpected decrease in profits.
Ordinary income was down JPY2.2 billion as well.
Net income decreased by JPY132 million from the previous year, with the depth of decline reduced by theeffect of lower tax expenses due to the sale of Berlitz.

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2This is a waterfall chart of operating income by business segment for 1H of the year compared to the previous
year.
The main reason for the decrease in profit was the impact of lockdowns on our China business. One of thereasons for this was a JPY2 billion decrease in earnings in the K&F business, mainly due to shipment delays
caused by lockdowns, and the impact of enrollments withdrawal from the K&F business caused by thesedelays. In addition, in the Nursing Care and Childcare business, there was the negative effect of the occupancy
rate at the beginning of this fiscal year, which started at 90.1%, a decrease of 2.5% from the previous fiscal
year.
In addition to this, there was a significant decrease in profit to JPY2.6 billion, due to soaring utility costs,
increased personnel costs in response to the seventh wave of COVID-19, and up-front expenses for sales
promotion to raise the occupancy rate during the current fiscal year.
Regarding this, in addition to loss reduction due to the sale of Berlitz, which added JPY1.9 billion, there wasan increase of JPY0.6 billion in total Education Business in Japan in 1H of the year, but this was not enough tooffset the negative impact.

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I would like to continue with the announcement of our full-year earnings forecast.
In light of the situation in 1H of the fiscal year, we regret to announce a downward revision of our full-year
earnings forecast.
The new forecast is for net sales of JPY417 billion, a decrease of JPY9 billion from the initial forecast and adecrease of JPY14 billion from the previous fiscal year; operating income of JPY21.5 billion, a decrease of
JPY3.5 billion from the initial forecast and an increase of JPY1.3 billion from the previous year; ordinary incomeof JPY16.5 billion, a decrease of JPY3 billion from the initial forecast and an increase of JPY1.1 billion from theprevious year; and net income of JPY11.5 billion, a decrease of JPY2 billion from the initial forecast and anincrease of JPY10.4 billion from the previous year.
Although it is a downward revision, except for net sales, which will be significantly affected by Berlitz, we
expect the profit base to increase from the previous year, with operating income and ordinary income
increasing for the second consecutive year, and net income improving significantly due to the absence of loss
on sales of shares of affiliates resulting from the sale of Berlitz.

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4Next, I will use this waterfall chart to explain how the initial forecast for operating income was changed to therevised forecast.
First, as mentioned in the 1H results, the negative impact of the lockdown in China and the effect of theseventh wave of COVID-19 in Japan on the full year is expected to be negative JPY1.7 billion in the K&F
business, and negative JPY0.6 billion in the Nursing Care business, for a total negative impact of JPY2.3 billion.
The impact of price hikes and foreign exchange rate fluctuations is estimated to be minus JPY0.4 billion for
the K&F business and minus JPY0.7 billion for the Nursing Care and Childcare business, for a total negative
impact of JPY1.1 billion. The total amount of uncontrollable factors caused by changes in the external
environment that may cause a decrease in profits is JPY3.5 billion.
In the Nursing Care and Childcare business, in response to soaring prices, we will implement a uniform priceincrease at all facilities starting this December, which is expected to have an effect of increasing profits by
JPY700 million for four months in the current fiscal year.
On the other hand, in the Education Business in Japan, although we expect profit for the full year to be higher
than in the previous year, the impact of changes in the business environment, mainly the acceleration of intrayear university entrance exams; non-general entrance selection held earlier than general exams, has slowed
profit growth in the Shinkenzemi business, School &Teacher Support business, and Prep School business, as
top-line growth is not expected to be as strong as we had expected at the beginning of the fiscal year. The
full-year forecast includes the impact of this slowdown.

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5This is the last part of my explanation, and it is a waterfall chart of the revised forecast by business segment,
this time comparing it to the previous year.
Education Business in Japan business, which was negative in the initial forecast, will secure an increase of
JPY1.3 billion in profit compared to the previous year. While the Shinkenzemi business is expected to see aslight decrease in profit, the business aimed at university students and working adults, which is positioned asa growth area, is expected to increase profit by about JPY900 million. The Prep School and Classroom businessand the school business are also expected to maintain profit growth.
K&F expects a much smaller decline in profit for the full year, although the impact of the China lockdown willremain.
In addition, full-year loss is expected to be narrower than in 1H due to price hikes in the Nursing Care andChildcare businesses starting in December.
After bottoming out in FY2020, there have been two consecutive terms of profit increase. Although the levelof operating income will unfortunately decline, we hope to achieve the target set in phase one of the mediumterm management plan of operating income exceeding FY2019 in two years.
That is all from me.

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Kobayashi: Tsuboi just explained the details of the figures, but I would like to focus on the progress of ourcurrent strategy and what we are thinking about now.
I’ll begin with an executive summary.
First of all, as Tsuboi mentioned, we have revised our forecast for FY2022 due to the significant impact ofexternal factors. It revises the operating income forecast from JPY25 billion to JPY21.5 billion.
As Tsuboi said, the reason for the revision is our recognition that external environmental factors, such as theimpact of Covid-19, rising prices, and the weaker yen, as well as changes in the business environment for theeducation business, have had an impact.
The second point here is that the Education business in Japan is facing changes in education, and some alarms
have been raised, which I will talk about later. We are currently considering taking measures to address thisissue as soon as possible, and are about to begin work on it.
The third point is that, as I have been saying for some time, we will focus on the area of university and working
adults support, and we have seen steady growth in this area during the past half-year. We have identified
sufficient opportunity points and would like to strengthen them further.

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First, I would like to discuss three changes in the environment in the Education business in Japan area,
especially those that we see as changes that we should pay attention to.
The first is that children are less motivated to learn, and it has already been three years since COVID-19 began.
We believe that it is very significant that children’s motivation to learn is not rising, but rather falling, aschanges in lifestyle and in school education are being explored due to COVID-19.
The diagram on the left shows the percentage of children who say they have no desire to study, which in
FY2019 was 33% for fourth to sixth graders, is now 53.7%. This has happened over the past three years, goingup 20 points.
In particular, the percentage of children in the fourth through sixth grades has increased by 10% compared toa year ago, showing that the percentage of children who are not easily motivated to study has increased. This
was three years ago, so these children were in first and second grade when the COVID-19 started. COVID-19
occurred when their learning style was still not fully developed, and the students were not able to stabilize
their learning at school or develop their own learning style. The percentage is largest for students going into
grade four to grade six.
In junior high and high school students as well, this year’s survey is the worst, as the numbers here remainpoor.
The table on the right shows the percentage of children who do not know how to study well, and here, too,the largest gap appears in grades four through six. The reason, as I mentioned earlier, is that during thesethree years of growing from first through second grade to fourth through sixth grade of elementary school,
they still have not fully established their own learning style. Or I think it may be an indication that the children
are affected by the fact that school learning was being explored in the midst of so many changes.
As for the threat from this change, the decline in motivation to learn has naturally affected the focus on outof-school learning. For example, specific figures are available on the intention to join or continue Shinkenzemi.

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8When asked about their next study method after withdrawing from Shinkenzemi, we found that a large
number of students planned to do nothing.
So, of course, there is an opportunity here. This kind of situation is occurring among children all over Japan,
and I also believe that this is a social issue. We will squarely face this issue and motivate children to learn. We
are aware that the needs of parents and guardians are growing, and we would like to address this issue by
expanding the scope of learning beyond academic subjects. This will help deal with changes in theenvironment.

The second area is environmental change.
This shows what we call intra-year university entrance exams, which is generally referred to as therecommendation entry exams. The percentage here is spreading year by year, and furthermore, that spread
is likely to continue in the future.
The table on the left shows the percentage of students admitted to private universities by entrance
examination type, and the red line shows the percentage of those admitted to private universities throughintra-year entrance exams. It has already exceeded 50% and has done so for quite some time, and now it isapproaching 60%. These numbers are expected to spread further in the future.
The table on the right side shows the number of applicants for the National Center Test for University
Admissions, the common test held in January. Of course, the number of students who take the common test
will decrease in proportion to the increase in the percentage of private university intra-year entrance exams.
This year has not yet been finalized. The number of people surveyed is estimated to decrease from 530,000
last year by 23,000 or more this fiscal year.
As for what will happen as a result of this, the threat is naturally a decrease in the need for general entrance
exam preparation. The number of students who take the Shinken Simulated Exam to prepare for the common
test will be impacted, and the number of students in the third year of high school will have a rough idea of
their entrance exams by summer, which naturally poses a threat.
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9Conversely, this is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to respond to expanding needs, which means that it
will become more necessary to choose a college with a clear idea of future career paths first. How can you
make the right career choice for yourself with a sense of fulfillment? Or, support for basic academic and study
skills in schools with diverse career paths.
The willingness, or necessity to learn falls away because of the intra-year entrance exams. In that case, without
having acquired sufficient basic academic skills, they would pass the intra-year entrance exams and enter
university life. This will be a very big social issue, and I believe that there are ample opportunities in addressing
this issue, and that it must be faced.

The third and final point regarding environmental change is the progress of the GIGA school initiative. One
terminal per person became that norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of digital technology inschools has come a long way in the past three years. We recognize that the barriers between school and homeare becoming lower, and that such changes are taking place.
The table on the left shows the frequency of teachers’ use of ICT equipment in the classroom, from lower
elementary school to upper secondary school. This is a two-year comparison, of 2021 and 2022, that shows
considerable progress.
The table on the right shows the percentage of municipalities that have introduced purchased software. In
April 2021, about 60% of municipalities had adopted it. We already estimated that 60% of municipalities
adopted paid software by March, but this figure is expected to increase to 85%. The threat here is that thebarriers to learning at school and at home will become even lower. Our view is that the advantage of
Shinkenzemi and Prep school and classroom businesses may decline.
Conversely, it is an opportunity. These terminals are actually due for replacement in 2025. The replacement
would involve distributing terminals again, or purchasing them at personal expense. Although this has not yet
been fully decided as a national policy, we believe that there is a good possibility of expanding the market

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share of paid-for software at the time of replacement of Mirai Seed, which currently has the largest market
share.
To be more precise, when municipalities install paid software now, it is based on a five-year contract. Recently,
there has been a slight increase in one- and two-year contracts, which means that at the end of this five-year
contract, there is an opportunity to further increase market share.
Another opportunity is the creation of a new business model that strengthens the collaboration between the
School & Teacher Support and Shinkenzemi businesses more strongly. To be a little more specific, for example,
the dedicated tablet PC is now included in the Shinkenzemi course fee. This is also where a BYOD type ofsystem becomes possible for the Shinkenzemi business, if the device really becomes a personal expense at
the time of replacement. In a BYOD environment, we believe there is a good chance of connecting school
learning and Shinkenzemi contents on a single device. We will take these points of opportunity into carefulconsideration.

In the midst of these three major changes in the environment, I would like to introduce what we are currently
thinking about, or taking steps for, in each business.
First, I would like to introduce an approach based on the current status of Shinkenzemi.
The most immediate thing that Shinkenzemi needs to address in the changing environment that I mentioned
earlier is the need to respond to children’s lack of interest and motivation in learning.
In that sense, as we have already announced, we are now thinking about incorporating new learning into the
Shinkenzemi starting this March or April. We are preparing to launch a new service that will motivate children
to learn through VR learning or through a tie-up with Nintendo Switch, and are working on its release.
The challenge is that children are less motivated to learn, given the decrease in the competitive rate of
examinations and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. We are firmly facing this issue through Shinkenzemi. As
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for the campaign, we would like to respond to the feelings of the children and their parents by launching the
new marketing campaign during this peak time.
We are now considering three specific areas for this approach.
The first, which is shown on the left, is the consulting service, which is supporting people with date. We not
only send out Shinkenzemi, but we also know the status of its utilization. In this context, we are trying toenhance our efforts to work directly with children by providing learning advisors based on each student’s
learning data.
The second point is that we will develop unprecedented learning using VR. We are planning to start offering
the program beginning with the junior high school preparatory course. to develop a new type of learning,where students can enter into learning by seeing and experiencing for themselves, rather than abstract
learning.
The third point is that, as we announced today in a press release, a new service called Shinkenzemi Score
Boost Series for Nintendo Switch. We hope that this service will provide an opportunity for students to study
on a daily basis, and to create many experiences in which they can learn and enjoy studying. First, we areconsidering releasing a service within tuition fees, exclusive to Shinkenzemi members, for the three gradesfrom new fifth graders to new junior high school first graders.

Regarding a marketing transformation for Shinkenzemi, we also face the problem of how to improve
marketing efficiency while encouraging people to consider enrolling in Shinkenzemi.
Currently, we can actually see one major achievement in summer sales. That is experiential-style marketingthat allows people to get a firm grasp of the evolving value of Shinkenzemi. We have always offered handson experience, but this summer we took on the challenge of sending the entire trial materials so that students
can experience more than ever how easy it is to understand Shinkenzemi explanations and how easy it is to
use the materials.
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12Comparing the results of using that approach and not using it, we can see that the student acquisition cost
per person, or CPO, improved by about 40%. We would like to introduce this approach during this peak time
as well, while pursuing more efficient sales of Shinkenzemi.

Next is the School and Techer support business.
For the high school business, we have just talked about the issue of intra-year entrance exams as a challenge
and environmental change. I believe it is very important to face this first.
In the elementary and junior high school business, I mentioned the changes with the GIGA School initiative,
and that tablet replacement in 2025 is a major opportunity. With this in mind, we see this as a challenge tothoroughly strengthen the product power of Mirai Seed, which currently has the number one market share.
First, in the high school business, due to the expansion of intra-year entrance exams, the number of students
taking the Shinken Simulated Exam has slightly decreased again this year, mainly among high school seniors.
The total number of examinees in 1Hof the year was 1.5% lower than the previous year. Within that, since theimpact of the declining birthrate was about minus 0.9%, we understand that there was an impact of about
0.6% from the intra-year entrance exams.
In such a situation, it is a fact that the number of children who will take intra-year entrance exams is increasing.
We are determined to meet the needs of such children by preparing them to face the intra-year entrance
exams and to prepare them to study for college. We will strengthen the contents of the Career Achievement
Program and the Personal Statement and Self-Promotion Preparation Pack, which are designed to firmly meetthose needs. In the high school area, that is what we are trying to prepare.
Now for the elementary and junior high school area. Here, for Mirai Seed, we are still steadily increasing thenumber of orders we receive, in line with progress in the GIGA school initiative. We started with 6,000 schoolsin April 2021, and are currently looking at 9,000 schools at the end of March 2023. In addition, we will

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strengthen our products so that our customers will choose Mirai Seed when they replace their terminals in
2025. We will take a solid approach to this.

Next is Prep School and Classroom business.
In the Prep school and Classroom business, we also saw TKG Inc, Tokyo Individualized Educational Instituteand UP Inc. struggle in 1H of the year, especially for high school students, due to the expansion of intra-year
entrance exams. By strengthening guidance for intra-year entrance exams and expanding support for juniorhigh school entrance exams, we are also trying to reform the enrollment structure of our prep schools, whichused to be centered on high school students. That is the kind of challenge we intend to take on.
The graph on the left shows the current status of enrollment. Enrollment in September and for Tetsuryokukai
are still doing very well, exceeding the previous year’s enrollment. On the other hand, TKG, UP, and Ochazemi
are currently struggling a bit, especially among high school students.
We will expand our business by firmly establishing a new structure in growth areas, such as junior high school
entrance exams or intra-year entrance exams, instead of focusing mainly on high school students. This is anarea where there is competition, especially in preparation for hard-to-enter universities in the Tokyo
metropolitan area. We will be sure to do a thorough job here as well, as these are the two points we arethinking of.
Specifically, UP and Ochazemi will merge, and we will bring UP’s know-how in the Kansai region to the Tokyo
metropolitan area. We will start a new school in February next year called Shingakukan Rootas, which has
already been announced as an entry into the junior high school entrance exam market in the metropolitan
area. We will newly develop prep schools that can firmly meet the needs of junior high school entrance exams
here.
Also, with the integration of UP and Ochzemia, we will be able to strengthen the entrance exams for hard-toenter universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. We are already taking concrete steps in this regard.
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Next is the University and Working Adult business area.
In the summary, it was noted that the University and Working adult business area posted solid growth. I said
that we will further strengthen our efforts in this area. We are currently making good progress in this area.
We will continue to strengthen our efforts in this field, utilizing the opportunities of high re-skilling needs andincreased within-the-year entrance exams.
On the left you can see the status of the Udemy implementation. We are developing Udemy business forcorporations, and in 2021, one year ago, 517 companies had adopted the service. Currently, at the end of thispast September, there were 916 companies, a very large increase. This is a 77% increase. We are confident
that we will be able to expand our business in this area, as the need for this service is further increasing.
In addition, the expansion of intra-year entrance exams is actually a very favorable tailwind for this college
and working adult area. An increase in pre-entry education needs is occurring. For intra-year entrance exams,
the high school students decided which universities or colleges to go in the fall or so, and they enter the school
the following April. Among them, the number of university students who have inevitably not accumulated
sufficient learning and are not prepared is increasing, and universities are facing challenges in this area. We
want them to be well educated and learn before they enter college. Pre-entrance education needs in thissense are increasing.
The company in charge of this program is Shinken Ad, a Benesse Group company. Shinken Ad is developing a
pre-university education needs program called the Gakumon Sakidori Program. Already, 13,731 people in 368
departments at universities and colleges across the country have received this program. We see this need as
an opportunity as well, as it will spread further with the expansion of intra-year entrance exams.

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Now I will discuss Kodomo Challenge business in China .
The lockdown effects on Kodomo Challenge in China is actually one of the main reasons for the downward
revision. The negative impact of the lockdown occurred from the end of March to the end of May, and thefirst thing that happened at that time was that educational materials could not be sent. Also, in the case of
China, continuance is not automatic as in Japan. There is a process to confirm whether or not to continue, but
this was also not done sufficiently during the lockdown period. New ones were also stopped. This had an
extremely large impact on the business and led to the downward revision.
However, as for the current situation, I believe that there is a solid need for education. As I mentioned lastyear, the competitive environment is very severe. Due to policy changes and the policy of double reduction,competitors’ businesses are actually continuing to shrink.
Therefore, I see the market as being in a very positive turnaround at the moment. New enrollment in
September increased by about 13.3% from the previous year. What is also very significant is that the retention
rate for the upper grades and pre-school grades is recovering. I believe this is a very big deal.
In that sense, the lockdown really hurt us, but we will take this market environment in stride and get backinto recovery shape once again. If we can do that kind of thing well enough, that is how we view our China
business.
Due to the nature of some of the projects, we will not make that recovery all at once. We will continue towork on the China business with a view to achieving 1 million people again by 2025. Since selling expenses
will accrue, while watching our profit balance, we will firmly grow and recover.

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The last category by business is Nursing Care and childcare.
Nursing Care and Childcare business is also similar to what I mentioned earlier in China, and the impact of
COVID-19 here is a major factor in the downward revision. Inevitably, when COVID-19 spreads quickly,
observation tours stop and then less new residence in facilities as we expect. Moreover, sharp rise in prices
were very significant in terms of profits this time around. We are dealing with the issues swiftly to achieve
early recovery in this area.
The impact of the seventh wave of pandemic was significant this time, but the seventh wave has subsided alittle and we have resumed operations since then. The number of visitors is currently even higher than the
pre-COVID-19 level, and we are currently working to strengthen our sales activities to increase the occupancyrate.
In addition, the rising cost of utilities has been very severe this year affecting this business. We have alreadyacted to raise the price of this area to cover the increase in the cost of utilities starting in December. Since weare in the middle of the current fiscal year, it will not cover everything, but from next fiscal year, we believethat the negative impact of the utility cost hike on the profit and loss statement will be erased by this priceincrease.
In addition to this, 2H of the year will also see an expansion in occupancy due to the approach of trial shortstays. The number of users of the Trial Short Stay program is currently at an all-time high. We will make every
effort to link that to long-term stays. In addition, we introduced age-based occupancy fees in October for highend home series; Aria and high-end Granda. Through this process, we are also taking steps to make it very
easy for people 91 years of age and older to move in.
We are now considering measures to increase the occupancy rate and profit and loss statement of the Nursing
care and Childcare business through such efforts.

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17However, as I have just discussed by company and by business, it is true that major changes are taking placein education in Japan. I believe that it is necessary to accurately grasp the changes that need special attention,and put in place an all-Benesse strategy to respond to those changes that transcend the boundaries of eachcompany. Beginning with a horizontal strategy for our education business area, we are now beginning thatwork.
The theme is the GIGA terminal replacement for FY2025, which I mentioned earlier, for mandatory education.
This is an opportunity not only for our school business, but also for the Shinkenzemi business. We will createa firm all-Benesse strategy to deal with this.
Also, the area of connection between high school and university, I mentioned the spread of intra--year
entrance exams, and it would be necessary to create a new business model within this area. We are thinkingof making an all-Benesse effort to address this issue as well.
Another key word is actually “region.” Each region has taken considerably different steps toward educational
reform. Regional disparities are also occurring. I believe that it is also an extremely important proposition for
us to create a model to firmly support regional education.
The Management Reform Promotion Headquarters was established at the beginning of October under the
direct supervision of the President, and all Benesse companies are now working on these three themes.

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As I mentioned earlier, Saitama City is said to be the city with the most advanced approach in Japan. In fact,
there is a movement to further enhance and strengthen local education in Saitama City through collaboration
between the city and four private companies. The project is called the Saitama City Smart School Project, andI participated in the signing of it the other day.
Through this kind of project, we would like to think about how school and home learning should be, and how
our schools business and out-of-school learning programs should be organized in such a context. I think it isalso an extremely important theme to raise this issue not only with Saitama City, but also with local
governments throughout Japan, and to firmly support education in the local community. We will approach
this enhancement as a key point in our horizontal strategy for our Education business in Japan.

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In this context, regarding dividends, there is no change to the dividend plan of JPY60 per share for the current
fiscal year. We would like to increase the dividend by JPY10 from the previous fiscal year.
There are many changes, but I believe that we can improve the current situation further by taking thenecessary measures. In this context, we would like to firmly implement the dividend of JPY60 and further buildon this in the new fiscal year and beyond.

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I would like to reiterate here that this is the Benesse Group’s goal.
It is true that changes are significant. How do we think about sustainable society or sustainable growth as
Benesse, and how to achieve this? I believe that this is the very question that is being asked now, and that wemust think about it carefully. We will contribute to solving social issues related to people at all stages. We
hope to realize this as Benesse and as a group.
What is happening in the changes in education, and this naturally affects Benesse’s business, is also the verysocial issue of education in Japan. Opportunities have been created in the business for university students andworking adults, and we will make sure to create a society where working adults can learn as well. I believe
this is truly one of Japan’s social issues. For senior citizens, of course, we will continue to provide solid, unique,and high-quality services to residents, but I believe that another theme, the shortage of caregivers, will also
become a very big social issue because it relates to people.
We believe that what we need to do now is to tackle social issues that affect people at every stage of theirlives, in a comprehensive manner. We will not forget this broad perspective and aspiration as we thoroughly
implement our efforts toward the latest changes in education.

This will be my final point.
As for education, as I mentioned, we are now in the phase of formulating a business plan for thistransformation, while also firmly setting the themes for horizontal implementation. We need to ensure that
we put this together properly, and we will not settle for half measures. In May, I would like to take a little ofyour time to announce to you what initiatives Benesse will take in the midst of this change.
I mentioned to you that we are going to give thorough business briefings this year, and especially in thiseducation area, I feel the necessity to make the kind of initiatives mentioned today. After firmly implementing
them, we will present our business plan for this transformation in May in place of an explanation of the
Education Business in Japan.
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That is all. Thank you very much.
______________
Document Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.

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Portions of the document where the audio is obscured by technical difficulty are marked with [TD].
Speaker speech is classified based on whether it [Q] asks a question to the Company, [A] provides ananswer from the Company, or [M] neither asks nor answers a question.
This document has been translated by SCRIPTS Asia.

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