SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. Announces Notice of Revisions of Consolidated Financial Forecasts and Year-end Dividend

TOKYO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (the "Company") had released consolidated financial forecasts and a projected year-end dividend for the fiscal year through March 31, 2020 (April 1, 2019 - March 31, 2020) on May 13, 2019, but now announces the following revisions made to reflect recent earnings trends.

1.  Revisions to Consolidated Financial Forecasts for the Fiscal Year through March 31, 2020 (April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020)

2.  Reasons for the Revisions

The Company now expects lower net sales than previously anticipated under its consolidated financial forecasts for the fiscal year through March 31, 2020, primarily due to the postponement of the release of the major HD game title "FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE" to April 2020. By contrast, despite booking valuation losses related to its content production account, the Company now expects higher operating income, ordinary income, and profit attributable to owners of parent than previously anticipated under its forecasts because of contribution profit from expansion pack sales and subscriber growth for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game "FINAL FANTASY XIV" in its MMO sub-segment, a strong performance from "DRAGON QUEST WALK" in the Games for Smart Devices/PC Browsers sub-segment, and sales growth in digital formats such as the "MANGA UP!" comic app and e-books in the Publication segment.

*The above forecasts are based on information available at the time of this document's release and are subject to various uncertainties. As such, actual performance may differ from these forecasts.

3．Revision of Projected Dividend Per Share for the Fiscal Year through March 31, 2020

4.  Reasons for the Revision

The Group recognizes the return of profits to shareholders as one of its most important management tasks and has set a consolidated payout ratio target of approximately 30% to guide its shareholder return policy for the fiscal year through March 31, 2020. Given the aforementioned revisions to its consolidated financial forecasts, the Company revises its projected year-end dividend for the fiscal year to 44 yen per share, which would make for an annual dividend per share of 54 yen.   

SOURCE SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD.