Japanese animation production group Toei Animation Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the greater Toei Company, recently published an analysis of the animation company's operations that covers the most recent fiscal year. Per the business information and earnings analytics organization Datamonitor, Toei Animation earned a substantially less net profit through Fiscal Year 2008, which ended in March 2008, in comparison to it's results for FY2007.
Initially published this past June, Datamonitor's analysis of Toei was a company profile and a description and interpretation of the company's progression over the past year--or, as may have been the case, regression, in certain areas of operations. Toei Animation's success in generating popular and meaningful anime programming for nearly a half-century is well admired, and rightfully so. However, painful transitions in the Japanese animation industry that include the emergence of new media platforms, concerns over networking and infrastructure strability, and the constant threat of market over-saturation, remain visible.
Toei Animation, which currently employs 538 persons registered a slightly better than marginal increase in annual revenue, per the conclusion of its fiscal year. The company reportedly recorded revenues of JPY ¥21.148 billion, for FY2008, a gain of +4.9% over the 2007-year. Although sources have cited Toei as having revised their earnings forecast both last fall as well as just this past spring (for the rest of 2008, into FY2009); the anime production company's emphasized interaction with international broadcasters beyond domestic, consolidated efforts may or may not prove helpful in the immediate future. Over the past year and a half, the group has sold millions of shares to corporate partners, some domestic, some of them international, and often in great bulk of several hundred thousands.
Additionally, the cartoon producer's difference between revenue and the costs of operations -- operating profit -- for this past fiscal year, was estimated at JPY ¥2.726 billion; a sizeable decrease of -17.6%, in a fiscal year to fiscal year comparison, according to Dataminor. Toei's "ordinary income" -- the highest amount of taxed profit -- saw a drop of -22.1%, to JPY ¥2.938 billion.
There was however, an even heavier of a difference with Toei Animation Co., Ltd.'s final, net profit, post-deductions -- "net income" -- which was recorded at JPY ¥1.685 billion; a decrease of more than half, of -54.1%, in comparison to the previous year. Total assets were down -03.1% to JPY ¥32.758 billion; while net assets, as shareholders' equity, was down -03.7% to JPY ¥27.231 billion.
Recent productions from anime supplier Toei include titles such as the ongoing adventure anime One Piece, the latest installment of magical-girl stardom in Yes! PreCure 5 GoGo, funnily designed the slice-of-life comedy anime Uchino San Shimai, the reborn classic Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter-Elysion, and the horror anime property Hakaba Kitaro.
It should be noted that the Dataminor report traditionally includes the standard overview of the animation organization's current and/or anticipated strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The intent is to provide a breakdown of the company's content revenue streams and resultantly obtain a finer perspective of the structure and strategy of a substantial holder of its market share.
(Sources: JASDAQ, Jasdaq Securities Exchange, Inc., Datamonitor, TOEI Company, Variety Asia online, and others.) For more anime news, search AnimationInsider.net for news, reviews, highlights and insights; for articles such as "The Problem with Japanese Animation" (03/2008) and "Complete AX 2008 Convention Report" (07/2008).