logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register Before April 15th for SlatorCon Remote and Save 15%!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Honyaku Center Posts Decline in Translation Revenues for H1 FY 2020

1 year ago

November 13, 2019

Honyaku Center Posts Decline in Translation Revenues for H1 FY 2020

Financial Results ·

by Marion Marking

On November 13, 2019

1 year ago
Financial Results ·

by Marion Marking

On November 13, 2019

Honyaku Center Posts Decline in Translation Revenues for H1 FY 2020

Tokyo-listed Honyaku Center (2483.T), Japan’s largest language service provider, published consolidated financial results for the first half of its fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.

In the six months to September 30, 2019, sales slid to JPY 5.65bn (USD 51.73m), down 1.1% year on year. Operating profit, however, increased 4.4% YoY to JPY 344m (USD 3.16m) thanks to better margins in the company’s Translation Business and the improved performance of its Conventions Business.

The company said the sales dip was due to the decline in revenues from its core Translation Business, despite an increase in sales from both its Interpretation and Convention business units. Honyaku’s two other business lines are Temporary Staffing and “Others.”

Advertisement

Temporary Staffing, “which dispatches human resources with high language skills,” posted a very slight 0.2% dip in revenues YoY to JPY 604m (USD 5.53m) as sales from IT-service, financial, and pharma related companies proved steady.

Interpretation revenues were up 16.2% year on year to JPY 556m (USD 5.09m) due to an increase in orders from pharmaceutical companies; while the Convention Business posted a 43.0% sales increase YoY to JPY 327m (USD 2.99m).

Slator 2020 Language Industry Market Report

Data and Research, Slator reports
55 pages. Total market size, biz dev and sales insights, TMS & MT review, buyer segment analysis, M&A, Covid impact & outlook.
$480 BUY NOW

Revenues reported under “Others” decreased 39.2% year on year to JPY 203m (USD 1.86m), due largely to a change in Honyaku’s Media Research Inc. unit, which it acquired in 2017.

For its core Translation Business, Honyaku further breaks out revenues into Patents, Pharmaceutical, Industrial, and Financial & Legal. Save for Patents — which posted a revenue increase of 12.5% ​​YoY to JPY 1.16bn (USD 10.64m) — sales were down across all sectors.

Patents were reportedly bolstered by an increase in orders from firms related to intellectual property, as well as a steady stream of business from patent offices that saw a rise in the number of international patent applications.

Meanwhile, orders from major Pharmaceutical customers were steady. However, according to Honyaku, this could not compensate for “the decline in large-scale projects recorded in the same period of the previous year.” Thus, Pharma sales were down 4.4% year on year to JPY 1.31bn (USD 12m).

Sales in the Industrial sector, on the other hand, dropped 10.3% to JPY 1.14bn (USD 10.41m) versus the comparable period of the prior year as “orders from automobile-related companies, our main customers, remained sluggish,” the company said.

Slator RFP Service - Request for Proposal

RFP Center

Business Development, Market Intelligence
Receive daily email alerts of tenders and RFPs issued by governments, NGOs and private entities from across the world.
BUY NOW

Within Financial & Legal, sales declined 11.2% year on year to JPY 344m (USD 3.15m) “due to sluggish orders from corporate management departments,” Honyaku said.

As a result, overall sales in the Translation Business fell 2.6% to JPY 3.96bn (USD 36.25m) year over year.

In explaining its latest results, Honyaku pointed to the uncertainty in the future of the Japanese economy brought about by friction from US trade policy, a slowing Chinese economy, and fluctuations in financial capital markets. As such, the company “is aiming for sustainable growth of its core translation business based on […] a three-year plan from the fiscal year ending March 2019.”

In line with this, Honyaku Center said it has promoted “the active use of cutting-edge technologies such as machine translation, and worked to capture the demand for translation / interpretation associated with the global expansion of companies.”

The markets registered no reaction to the LSP’s latest financial report as growth remained flat. Market cap for Honyaku was around JPY 6.7bn (USD 61.5m) at the time of writing.

TAGS

conventionsHonyakuHonyaku CenterIntellectual PropertyinterpretationJapanlegal translationlife sciencesmachine translationMedia Research IncMedia Research Institutepatent translationpatentspharmapharmaceuticalpharmaceutical translationpharmaceutical translationsstaffingtemporary staffingTokyoTokyo Stock Exchange
SHARE
Marion Marking

By Marion Marking

Slator consultant and corporate communications professional who enjoys exploring Asian cities.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

by Slator

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

by XTM International

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

by Xillio

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

by XTRF

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Smartling - Global Ready Conference 2021

    Global Ready Conference

    by Smartling

    · April 14

    When you can't traverse the world, let the world come to you. Join our annual global event from home.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

SeproTec

SeproTec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,800 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.