By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp on Tuesday broke with tradition on Tuesday by not reporting operating profit, saying it was “not useful” as a measure of investment performance, and pointed to a first-quarter Vision Fund investment gain of $2.8 billion.
Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has long pointed to the total value of SoftBank’s assets as his preferred measure of success. The group plunged to a record operating loss in the year ended March following huge writedowns at the $100 billion fund.
Vision Fund’s 297 billion yen ($2.80 billion) investment gain in April-June was driven by the sell-down of assets and upwards revaluation of its portfolio.
The fund is benefiting from a global rally in technology stocks and demand for fresh listings, with portfolio company Lemonade Inc making its public debut in July and BigCommerce Holdings Inc’s shares popping on launch last week. Further listings are planned.
SoftBank also booked gains on the sell-down of assets such as wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc following its merger with Sprint. Asset sales have raised 4.3 trillion yen, SoftBank said.
The conglomerate has propped up its share price with a massive share buyback plan. Its shares ended down 2.5% ahead of the earnings announcement, versus a 1.9% rise in the benchmark Nikkei index. The stock has risen almost 140% since March lows.
SoftBank reported a 12% rise in April-June net profit at 1.3 trillion yen.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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