Gentosha 2006 Mid-Term Financial Report

Gentosha released its 2006 mid-term financial report on November 15th.

According to the report, while the domestic Japanese publishing business has been on a decline with the decrease in operating profits and such, Gentosha's revenue is still on the same level as its revenue during the same period last year. Although Gentosha's results this year were affected by the decline of the overall publishing business, the comics business itself showed a positive trend.

The number of books published by Gentosha this year is 12 points higher compared to last year's 98 points; however, the number of reprints have decreased. Sales in the first half of 2006 amounted to 3,864 million yen (-4.3% from last year), and operation profit was 770 million yen (-28.0% from last year). The books that sold well include "Go-sen Special a Class War Criminal" (250,000 copies), "Love Exile" (400,000), and "Nameless Poison"(200,000).

In the manga publishing sector, volume 7 of Rozen Maiden was released in September. Volume 1- 6 of Rozen Maiden all met with strong sales. As a result, Rozen Maiden is currently the leading product of Gentosha's manga publishing sector. Sales of Tensai Family Company and Gentosha Rutile Bunko, a yaoi label launched last year, were also very high.

According to the report, 99 manga were released. Including the magazine Comic Birz and Shosetsu LINX, overall sales rose 8 points from last year's 91 points. As a result, revenue of the manga publishing sector amounted to 866 million yen (+13.5% from last year). The sales of manga, which takes up 18% of Gentosha's total revenue, showed an overall positive trend.

In the upcoming months, Gentosha is planning to expand its manga sector by creating more "big" titles that act as leading products. Due to the Japanese domestic market's declining trend, Gentosha is also beginning to experiment with new fields like the delivery of contents on cell phone, and expansion into the overseas manga markets.