SBC Medical Group Holdings Incorporated

I'm Fukui SBC's IR office head. It is time to start, so we would like to start. Thank you very much for attending SBC Medical Group Holdings Financial Results Briefing, despite your busy schedules. Today we have Mr. Aikawa, the CEO, and Fukui the Vice President, and we'll be explaining the financial results and outlook. On the right-hand side, there is a QA box, so if you do have a question, please Write it in that box. We would like to respond to your questions after the presentation. Without further ado, Aikawa CEO will make the presentations. Aikawa-san, please go ahead. Hello, everyone. This is Aikawa, SBC Medical Group Holdings CEO. Thank you for joining us today on this conference call. Today, I would like to provide an overview of our 2024 financial results the current state of our business, and our future direction. Today, because all of you have participated, I would like to first briefly introduce myself, Aikawa. I myself, in 2000, founded a Shonan Clinic, an aesthetic clinic, with myself, two more colleague counselors, and two nurses. And from the time of the foundation, we aim to become an aesthetic clinic group that is number one in Japan that many customers visit, and we were able to achieve that target in 2017. Nowadays, we're not limited to aesthetic clinics, but we have orthopedics, dermatology, ophthalmology, gynecology, and internal medicine, as well where we have the clinics. And right now, at this point, we have the aim of becoming the largest medical group that the most customers in Japan will visit. Once we set the target, achieving that, we have the strongest intention than anyone to do so. And we have been working in that. And we would like to continue to keep this attention and work towards achieving the target. And I would like to share you my thoughts keeping that in mind. So the overview of 2024 and the current state of business for FY 2024 financial year. Results, revenue increased by 6% year-over-year to $205 million. Japan currently is impacted by the depreciation of yen. And from the overseas perspective, there may seem that there is a disadvantage, but we were able to achieve this number. Currently, ROE on-year basis has declined by 4%. That is because last September we came listed on NASDAQ. At that time, there was the top-based compensation and impairment loss, which are one-time listing-related expenses that have occurred. As a franchisor of clinic franchisees, we have a company that is doing that operation. How much of franchise we have included, there was a 21% increase, 43 clinics increase, total of 251 clinics. And the number of customers is 6.03 million annually. And this is a 15% increase year on year. And we have entered the 25th year since we were founded. and every year we are seeing a steadily growth. And the reason behind we are seeing this steadily growth every year is as written here, the customers and patients that repeatedly visit us. We have a large number of those patients and customers, and that is why we're able to have this steadily increase of customers and patients And the reason why such a thing is happening, simply put, at each treatment, we conduct a customer satisfaction survey, and we look at which treatment has a high satisfaction level and low satisfaction, and we numerically make that clear. And depending on the result, the pricing of the service and the content of the treatment is changed so that we can continue to put the effort to increase this satisfaction level. And we are seeing the outcome of those efforts. And by having these repeating customers visit us, we're able to have this stable management of business. And this, I think, is a strength that we have in our group. of the aesthetic medicine market in Japan. During the COVID pandemic, there was increasing number of working from home and people were covering their faces with masks. So the Japanese aesthetics and medicine market from year 2000 grew by large. But at the same time, the aesthetics and medicine clinic has increased as well. So The number of the clinics increased. Therefore, though the market grew, the competition intensified. And so the competitive arena is more severe than before. And in this environment, how can we defend ourselves? And how can we stably increase the number of customers to the clinic is something that we have a thought on a daily basis in implementing the measures to realize that. Now moving on to the balance sheet. In a continuum matter, we have ample cash. Therefore, how can we effectively use this cash and lead this to the next growth is what we always think of. And for this, we will utilize various measures in a flexible manner. And the market itself, as I have mentioned before, is in a severe state. The current situation of the Japanese aesthetic medicine still has room to grow. In South Korea, more than 20% of the total population has experienced aesthetic medicine. But in Japan, it's only 10% of the population that have experienced the aesthetic medicine treatment. So we believe that at least we will reach the level of South Korea, and I believe that we can still triple this number. And as a number one player in the market, we will continue to put in the efforts to enlarge the market itself. And recently, male customers are showing interest towards aesthetic medicine products. And recently in hair removal, the business performance is better for the male customers than the female customers in terms of revenue as well. On the other hand, the aesthetic medicine itself competitive environment intensifying that is for sure therefore moving forward we need to become a more flexible franchisor and we need to revise the fee in line to become so the fee we had the one type of a fee for the clinics but once the clinic is open to the operation stabilizes and have a stable number of customers visit the clinic. It takes about a year. Therefore, receiving a lot of fee from a clinic that's just opened for the franchisee, it becomes quite of a burden. And also, like 50 Tsubo area-sized clinic, and also we have a hundreds of large-scale clinic. Therefore, there are differences in sizes and so not having the one same amount of fee, but will receive a fee depending on the size and the business. With that, we will be able to create a win-win situation as well as increase the number of franchisee clinics. who would like to become the member of the SBC Medical Group. So in this sense, we would like to revise our fees moving forward. Towards 2027, having the aesthetic medicine at the center, how are we trying to grow the SBC Medical Group holdings? First of all, regarding aesthetic medicine that is at the center, Continuously, we would like to maintain the number one position in Japan and have many more people experience the aesthetic medicine in Japan. We are experiencing aging society. But a woman would like to stay beautiful throughout their life. So currently, a woman over 40 years is the targeted customer group. And those customers that visit our clinics, we would like to take a strategy that they will continue to visit until they're in their 80s. And I will mention this later, but the aesthetics and medicine orthopedics or ophthalmology or fertility treatment clinic and AGA, treatment for hair loss, that type of treatment as well is increasing. So we would like to steadily increase this area as well. And we have become listed on NASDAQ. And to begin with, in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, in order to enter the Asian market, we have a clinic in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. And this clinic has steadily increased their performance as well. Therefore, moving forward, we would like to steadily continue to grow our overseas business as well. So the signage, SBC, people can feel safe and secure as they feel when they see the McDonald's and other type of well-known signage. That's how we would like to conduct our business moving forward. In the current situation, we are the number and status medical group in Japan. And the number of our customers and as well as the clinics is steadily growing.

Especially existing customers. are still coming back to the clinic. And on top of that, we acquire new customers. That has been the track record in the past 24 years. As has been said, in Japan, our share stays around only 12%. who receive aesthetic medicine services. Moving forward, we want to hit minimum 20% penetration. I'm quite confident that we can hit that, and now we do acquire more and more male customers, so that this is a market where having a huge growth potential moving forward. As for SPC, we are operating in a unique style. Normally, Clinica has a single brand offering services. But to meet the diversified needs of customers, I thought it would be better to offer a multi-branded approach like Louis Vuitton Group. having multiple brand offerings to better meet the needs of the customers. Not just the SBC brand, Ideal Beauty Clinic, Korean Beauty Clinic, or male-only Gorilla Clinic for offering aesthetic medicine. and a new skin clinic naturally open on the second of April, which I have a very high hope for. It's an aesthetic laser only clinic. So those are differentiating factors and we do offer some price advantage because this is the one we introduced to the Japanese market. So we are in a position to define prices and it's easier for us to ensure the margin. Having said that, it also requires a high initial investment. And this is the type of the market having a high entry barrier because because of the initial expenses and it's difficult for a single clinic to enter into the market. So with the clear brand image, we would like to deploy our business in Japan as well as overseas moving forward. And inbound business. Because of the weak IAN, we've got to hire patients or customers coming from China during COVID time, we had a drastic decrease. But after that, in post-COVID time, in 2024, the level of Chinese customers returned to the pre-COVID time. Previously, Chinese customers tended to visit Korea, but supported by Rika Yan, as well as high quality of Japanese medical care. Now, increasing number of Chinese customers coming to Japan. Moving forward, we will focus on increasing or attracting a higher number of Chinese customers. Apart from aesthetic medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, fertility, AGM are increasing as well, especially orthopedics. Japan will enter into an aging society. We've gotten a fewer number of the youth, but in exchange, we've gotten a higher number of senior people. When people get older, there will be a stronger need for orthopedics. Therefore, I believe that the orthopedics will be in a quite new perspective area for the future Japanese market. So we tend to put more focus on ortho. The Japanese aesthetic in the medicine market, the total market size is defined as 600 billion yen. Year by year, the Japanese and the entire medical market has been expanding and currently staying at 47 trillion yen. we have an aspiration to become number one medical group so that we can ensure our growth and the most prospective area is orthopedics. Going forward, we'll increase the franchise of clinic and Insurance-based clinic will offer support introducing self-funded services. So such conversion is another area that we plan to expand moving forward. As for overseas business, We have a clinic in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and last year, in order to expand around the footprint, if we become number one in Asia when having a population growth, we can achieve number one position in the world as well. decided to put our Asian base in Singapore. So from Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and India, the populous countries, we are planning to expand our network. So we have a plan to open an aesthetic medicine, and the beauty, and then the clinic in the 15, and the aesthetic in the salon. So now this is the group of an operator that we plan to, I mean, we already signed a partnership, and other in the U.S. There is one clinic. Starting from that, since we are already listed in the U.S. market, so we want to increase our presence and enhance our brand value. We are planning to open new clinics in the U.S. Right now, directly managed in the clinic numbers are high, but moving forward, when thinking about the further deployment in the U.S. or accelerating the expansion, I think it will be good to pursue the combination of the most models of expanding the number of directly managed clinics as well as franchise clinics. Finally, let me talk about share liquidity. Currently, the liquidity is quite low. So this makes it quite difficult to trade for institutional investors. So during the ION activities, we had such invoices, and we identified that as an issue. So two points. Efforts to improve supply and demand dynamics. Explore and discover new major shareholders or to conduct a share buyback. And make dividend payment. So through those activities then we want to attract more the shareholders coming in and ask for the low liquidity. I do have a majority share, so I would like to consider selling my share or issue new shares or exchange warrants to improve liquidity by doing so. we can create a better environment for investors to buy our shares. So we are committed to execute them thoroughly. So that was a brief explanation about the outline of SBC Group and its prospect. Thank you very much.

Mr. Acasio, thank you very much. Now, we would like to move on to the Q&A session. Among the questions that we are receiving from you, we would like to answer to them in order. The first is, what is the growth driver moving forward? First of all, for the aesthetic medicine area, is to increase the overall market of the customers. The characteristics of aesthetic medicine is that the first step observed one, meaning that maybe I'll have an injection. Once the person experiences it, the patient will feel more value than what they have paid. And from there, they continue to visit. That's the characteristics. So if we make the entry for the first stop easier, we'll be able to increase some more patients or customers, meaning the easiness to visit, the easiness to receive the treatment, easiness to experience the aesthetic medicine. Through those measures, and increasing the aesthetic medicine patients and customers will become a large positive factor for us in the future.

Moving on to the second question. Japanese beauty industries, management, environment, what is your assessment and what sort of strategy would you plan to take moving forward? As I mentioned earlier, the environment itself market has expanded, so many competitors entered into the market, so the situation gets tougher, but market itself has been expanding. So we were trying to increase the market, and within the expanded market, how we can increase our market share. So those are the two prime focuses. So the aesthetic in the medicine offers comfort with a reasonable price and attract many more people trying to experience to receive the service. And within the market, how we can win more shares using laser drug or procedures. By using them, how we can differentiate ourselves from the others, that's our focus. And we do have an overseas clinic that is a very powerful strength. State-of-the-art practice can be introduced to Japan or what has been boomed in Singapore, brought to Japan. So we are achieving those than anybody else. So the state of the art aesthetic medicine to be introduced as the first party to Japan and we will enhance that even further moving forward.

Next is the financial related question. The financial results up to the third quarter was quite steady. However, for the first quarter, it seems that you have a slowdown in growth. What were the reasons and factors behind this? It is going to overlap with the competitive environment situation with the competitors increasing. For us, strategically, we want to enhance the aesthetic medicine And that is why, strategically, we implemented measures to increase the number of customers. Strategically, we lowered the price so that the first step by the customers will be easier to be taken. And as a result, there was a decline of the revenue per customer. And where there was the most prominent was the latter half of last fiscal year and Q4, so compared to the first half. the speed of these performance growth has slowed down. And this is Aikawa speaking, and if I may add, last year in Japan, I believe it was around last September, this is not us, but it was one of our peers of the industry. They had a problem or issue that they faced in terms of managing the business, and they were reported through magazine articles or mass media and was criticized. And they were a major player in the industry, and they were well-known. Therefore, it imposed a negative news for the overall industry, and that was one of the major events that have happened. And if I may further add, because there was this unfavorable wind against us, in the industry and we have lowered the price and maintained a number of customer base and also further increased it. Last year is what we did and this year, there was a change in the competitive environment. The service supplier side, the hair removal specializing clinics, the number of them went down. So, strategically, we increased the price of a part of our hair removal treatment and we increased the number of customers. And through that, we have recovered the revenue per customer and go back on to the growth trajectory is what we have done. So the measures that we have implemented last fiscal year are starting to bear fruit this year.

Next question. In order to realize impactful growth, enhancement of the presence in the U.S. is going to be important. I think you've got the biggest M&A opportunity in the U.S. So what is your plan to enhance your platform in the U.S.? Well, there is one clinic in the U.S. So how to horizontally deploy the clinic is one of our scope. And in order to achieve impactful growth, M&A strategy is powerful. So we would like to seek M&A an opportunity to realize win-win situation.

Last year, you have acquired AHH in Singapore and are they generating profit? both profit and number of our customers. They're experiencing a steady growth. And now we're going to have the AHH group as a hub and increase the number of clinics in Asia. We're in the midst of planning.

As a new initiative, what is your plan? And what sort of synergy would you plan to derive in the existing business? So business diversification is a topic that I would like to better understand. Well, now from the medical and aesthetic medicine, we see steady growth. So in those areas, we would like to become number one, the business group in Japan. That's a continued initiative. Apart from that, B2B. For example, the Korean, American lasers to be imported or the laser devices or the products. So we want to be a supplier of those moving forward. So for example, botox and hyaluronic acid and rejuvenation, yarn and lasers. So we want to be a supplier of those. So we are aspiring to buy the supply company if I may add. Intensification of the competitive landscape. Of course, it provides a harsh environment to us, but from the perspective of the M&A rich buyer, there are some good, attractive M&A items tabled on with attractive price. So growth opportunities and growth potentials are increasing. So by properly capturing those opportunities, not just focusing on our core, the aesthetic and medicine, but in other medical fields. Now we see better visibility of acquiring companies in medical fields moving forward.

The next question, you have ample cash on hand, but the interest income is quite limited. So the rate of the interest In specific terms, how much is that? The payment interest rate, we are not disclosing that. However, till now, there was yen asset heavy. So thinking of the overseas business deployment, we are going to consider diversifying the currency used itself. And yes, we are in a cash-rich situation. So how we are going to utilize that and diverse the usage of that is also what we are considering right now.

2025 forecast.

How many franchisee clinics to be the total number?

to meet the needs of our customers, changing some business operational format or conducting M&A. We have those activities on the agenda. So last year, 43 new clinics opened. There is some conversion of the operational format, but the net increase, we expect 20 clinics. That's organic net increase of the total number of clinics. In addition to that, through M&A, there may be some clinic number increase through M&A. Regarding the capital allocation, can you share your thoughts?

You're talking about the capital policy? Well, regarding the liquidity of the stock, I believe that it was mentioned during the explanation of the liquidity being low and difficult for the investors to purchase it. We would like to implement appropriate measures at the appropriate timing. And within that, what we are considering is already disclosed as a share buyback and payout dividends included. How we will be using the capital is something that we would like to further continue to consider. And once it's decided, we would like to share that with you. Thank you.

Next. The Vietnamese market is quite attractive.

So what is your plan for business expansion in Vietnam? Vietnamese clinic. During COVID, we struggled. But in post-COVID time, gradually the performance improves. Right now, we see now the situation is ready to achieve rapid growth. Once the strong business model is established, then we can horizontally deploy that model. So within this year, we want to establish the strong business model, and from next year, we will be ready to expand the number of clinics in Vietnam. Thank you very much.

2024 financial results was not that good is how I feel. I'm sure by that, should be considered, is what I think. Of course, I'll conduct the share buybacks and return to the shareholders. We have a strong feeling that we would like to do that. And the share price currently, whether that's truly reflecting our performance or not, we believe that it could go higher. Therefore, We would like to consider all this in a positive manner. Thank you.

So we've covered all questions. So lastly, we would like to have a closing remarks by Ms. Daikawa. Thank you very much for joining the quarter's budget with the schedule. The foundation of the clinic was since the year 2000, so we've been operating for 25 years. But NASDAQ and the market we just listed in September last year, so we are a relatively new company. But first, we want to be the biggest medical group in Japan, and we are determined to accomplish this. So I thank you for your continued support. Thank you very much for your kind attendance. Thank you very much. With this, we would like to conclude the earnings call. Once again, thank you very much indeed for your kind participation despite your busy schedule. Thank you very much indeed.