The Japanese SoftBank Group on Tuesday, November 12, published information about its earnings for the second quarter of the fiscal year, which will end on March 31, 2025.
The mentioned business giant’s net profit for the specified period was fixed at 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion). This company was able to become a beneficiary of the growth of value shares of listed firms within the framework of its investment vehicles Vision Fund.
It is worth noting that the results released on Tuesday significantly exceeded preliminary projections. The LSEG consensus forecast stipulated that SoftBank’s net profit for the second fiscal quarter would be fixed at 287 billion yen. It is worth noting that for the same period last year, the business giant reported a loss of 931 billion yen.
The information released on Tuesday indicates that SoftBank’s strategy, based on a cautious approach to investments, is already generating positive results.
It is worth noting that in the past, at some point, the business giant was faced with the need for retrenchment. The corresponding need was formed in the context of the state of affairs, in which rising interest rates provoked a drop in the value of SoftBank’s holdings in technology startups. Currently, some of the business giant’s indicators demonstrate what can be described as the dynamic of recovery. The Vision Fund unit recorded an investment gain of 608 billion yen in the second fiscal quarter. It is worth noting that this unit has reported positive financial results in four of the last five quarters.
SoftBank chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto said that after significant losses in the Vision Funds, the company began to take a more conservative approach. It was also noted that investment gains were very strong in the second fiscal quarter.
Yoshimitsu Goto announced high hopes associated with companies from the business giant’s investment portfolio. In this case, this means firms that are getting closer to public listings.
Yoshimitsu Goto also said that he would monitor the impact of any tariffs that the new administration of Donald Trump, returning to the White House, could potentially impose on China. At the same time, it is worth noting that in recent years SoftBank has reduced the scale of its direct exposure in the specified Asian country.
Some of the Vision Funds’ largest holdings, such as ride-hailing giant Didi, are based in China or carry out large-scale activities in this country, which make up a significant part of their business, but as disruptive firms, they are less affected by government policies. This was stated by Vision Fund chief financial officer Navneet Govil during a conversation with media representatives. According to him, the companies in which the mentioned unit invests are not as sensitive to the administration that is in power. He also noted that the Vision Fund began investing in 2017 during the first presidential term of Donald Trump.
As we have reported earlier, SoftBank to Invest $500 Million in OpenAI.
