Arama They Didn't

taylorniw
9:10 pm - 03/13/2012

Guess what? H!P's company isn't poor, it's just cheap!



The company that Hello!Project and Up Front Agency, Up Front Group,  are under recently published their balance sheet.




A basic summary:

Up Front publishes only a balance sheet because it is not listed on the stock exchange, but based on this single balance sheet:
1.  The company reduced its capital stock by 16 million yen (192,896 USD). This is usually done to cancel loss/deficit, but this can't be Up Front's reason because its current assets are close to 9 billion yen (approx 108.5 million USD). The author thinks that the company brought its capital stock down to below 100 million yen to reduce taxes, especially corporate tax.
2.  Net profit is 510 million yen (approx. 6.1 million USD), probably from real estate investment profits, subcontracting, consulting, etc.
3.  The company has a sound financial structure with extremely low debt.  Its debt is 900 million yen (approx. 10.9 million USD), but assets are close to 30 billion yen (approx. 361.7 million USD). So, unless it has subsidiary companies upon which it pushed debt so it looks good, or has subsidiary companies that are in deficit because of business failures, for the time being, Up Front is unlikely to go bankrupt. Also, its earned surplus is close to 28 billion yen (approx. 337.6 million USD), so it seems to have plenty of money reserved.
4.  So, to what use did it put this 28 billion yen surplus? Answer: fixed assets.  Their assets are divided into 1 part current assets (cash) and 2 parts fixed assets (real estate).  By itself, this looks healthy.



Sources: 1, 2

Not sure if this post is okay, but I thought it was interesting since people are always worried about H!P's financial status. In short, their company is actually doing well, so it's unlikely they're going anywhere anytime soon. It looks like it's less an issue of not having money to spend, and more an issue of just choosing not to spend it. 
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sperm_violence 14th-Mar-2012 02:37 am (UTC)
so basically they get all their money from other endeavours and not H!P groups lol?

up front could potentially find H!P a burden in the future I hope that isn't the case.
taylorniw 14th-Mar-2012 02:38 am (UTC)
I don't know. The company itself has tons of sub-companies (supposedly they even own a FARM). UFA is just one of them. This is vague, rather than going into specifics. How much they get from H!P itself is still unknown at this point, because no one knows just how much money is going in and how much of a profit is being made. But the company that runs H!P is doing quite well.

Edited at 2012-03-14 02:40 am (UTC)
yasmine2009 14th-Mar-2012 02:38 am (UTC)
Can't make money if you don't spend money.
sadistic_dance 14th-Mar-2012 02:43 am (UTC)
I thought it was pretty much well known that UF* in general does really well. Although I do wonder how much profit H!P brings them.

It obviously isn't making them bleed any money though.
taylorniw 14th-Mar-2012 02:46 am (UTC)
I always suspected they were doing well, but you'd be surprised at how many people think the company is going down the drain because of how little money they put into H!P.
sadistic_dance 14th-Mar-2012 03:22 am (UTC)
They've never put a lot of money into H!P though. I was looking at the PVs for the 4th gen and they're just as cheap as they are now.
taylorniw 14th-Mar-2012 03:34 am (UTC)
I know, which is why I'm confused when people complain as if it all used to be awesome. Someone told me it was okay back then because of the time period, but I'm pretty sure their covers and MVs weren't actually that great by late 90/early 00 standards too.
sadistic_dance 14th-Mar-2012 05:22 am (UTC)
Nope those things have always been terrible and badly photoshopped. They're just remembering the good old days from when Morning Musume was the most popular.
okadarei 14th-Mar-2012 01:03 pm (UTC)
you just hitted the jackpot LOL
They still consider doing things the early 1990's way, which worked out fine for them and a lot of everyone else... but right now, things have changed. Also, musically, their productions are half-assed. Is not the songs are worse or better, it's just their sound is not polished and is like they made the beats, recordings, etc. at home with a crappy computer, most of the times. People tend to accuse the lack of charisma of the younger generations... but I think is way too much cruel to just blame the girls... is like what happened to s/mileage... having a 4-piece group that's been like that for ages as a non-debuted group, and once you debuted, it instantly becomes MoMusu part 2.

A lot of people can deal with graduation/admission concepts... but when you do this, better do it from the beginning, don't make people think you're going to debut a certain type of group... even with that, the nowadays s/mileage aren't doing that bad.
newsvsyamapi 14th-Mar-2012 03:52 am (UTC)
LOL @ the title!
love_etcetera 14th-Mar-2012 10:50 am (UTC)
It's probably now wonder that they put so little effort and money into H!P if it's just one of their many many endeavours, not a very profitable one at that.
asweetsymphony 14th-Mar-2012 02:02 pm (UTC)
This makes me curious as to what other sideline projects/businesses other talent agencies own or has a stake in.
crimsonbreeze 14th-Mar-2012 04:24 pm (UTC)
I was a huge H!P fan, but after Kaori's graduation, I kinda started leaving the fandom, while still paying attention at their worthy acts like Buono!, so I feel entitled to give an opinion about this.

H!P are great at what they do. They produce good idols. The thing here, is that if they keep hiring cheap personnel to style and direct their products, they are all going to fail, of course. Add the lack of proper promotion on TV, and it's doomed.

Buono! has a great production, for a reason I don't quite get. The same with S/mileage, but the latest releases by Berryz and Momusu have been so lackluster that it's embarrassing even to remember them.

Also, let's remember that they graduated amazing people like Aya Matsuura. Just look at her evolution as a performer. She's so boring now it's even sad. She has a great charisma, amazing voice, and yet they ruined her, practically. She isn't old enough to stick to a ballad style, yet her last releases with H!P were utter crap. And Erina Mano is heading towards the same way.

Even if they are doing good, nobody takes them seriously anymore, and that's mostly because of bad production values. I hope they step up... or at least, they won't ruin Buono!.
stephie184 14th-Mar-2012 05:35 pm (UTC)
this.
nyappnyappcafe 15th-Mar-2012 05:08 am (UTC)
Took the words right out of my mouth, especially the bits about Buono and Aya.

Edited at 2012-03-15 05:09 am (UTC)
lamely46 16th-Mar-2012 03:43 pm (UTC)
+1 on everything
taylorniw 16th-Mar-2012 04:24 pm (UTC)
Actually, from what I've seen, H!P isn't popular, but they are still taken seriously. People do commend them on their performance ability and admire their talent. Even other idols really do admire them. It's mostly international fans that think they're a joke. The fact that they're still able to get thousands of girls to show up for auditions is proof of that. H!P isn't the best, but in the big picture, if you want to be an idol, it's still one of the better places to end up. You could do much worse.

As for Aya, that was half her fault. She wanted a more mature image and enjoyed all that ballad stuff. And even if she hadn't, her current condition would keep her from being able to do upbeat songs that required dancing and stuff. She can't do it anymore. Mano's stuff has always been like that, though. And she's mainly a merchandise pusher, anyway. Her music is definitely a niche but she still outsells almost everyone in H!P in terms of goods.

The reason they don't spend lots of money on things is because they don't have to. No amount of money is going to make anyone in H!P huge again. Morning Musume are an old act. They can keep stable sales, but girl groups can't keep their old selling power for long. They all lose it. They know who their fanbase is and what they're happy with, and that's why they don't go the extra mile. It wouldn't do them any good.

Edited at 2012-03-16 04:25 pm (UTC)
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