HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 28 June 2024 - HONMA Golf Limited ("HONMA"; together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"; HKEX stock code: 6858), one of the most prestigious golf brands worldwide, announces its consolidated annual results for the year ended 31 March 2024 (the "Period"). Financial Highlights

• Due to negative impact from global economic uncertainty and retail sentiments, the Group's revenue decreased by 11.1% to JPY26,222.9 million (equivalent to USD182.6 million).
• Notwithstanding this, the Group's gross profit margin expanded by 0.4 percentage points during the same period to 51.2%, thanks to its unique brand and price positioning as well as continued channel optimization.
• Similarly, the Group's EBITDA rose robustly by 22.0% as compared to the same period last year and reached JPY 7,285 million (equivalent USD 50.7 million). Net profit increased by 48.3% and net profit margin improved by 7.4 percentage points.
• Net operating cash flow remained positive, standing at JPY5,416.1 million (equivalent USD 37.7 million) for the year ended 31 March 2024. The Group's net operating cash flow grew by a CAGR of 18.7% over the past six years.
• A final dividend of JPY1.5 per share was declared, which together with the interim dividend of JPY1.5 per share led to a total dividend for the year of JPY3.0 per share. Total dividend payout will amount to JPY1,816.9 million, representing 37.6% of the Group's distributable profits for the period.

Major Achievements For the year ended 31 March 2024, HONMA continued executing its growth strategy of "single brand, multi-categories and Asia-focused" while carefully protecting its financial strength and cash flow. Despite sales performance, HONMA delivered rock solid profitability improvements by continuously implementing operational efficiency improvement initiatives while re-strategizing its distribution footprints in Asia. As a result, HONMA continued to experience positive sales growth in its direct-to-consumer channels and hero product categories during the Period. Furthermore, the Group also recorded net profit growth, improved net profit margin and operating cash flow, demonstrating the Group's exceptional management capabilities and business resilience in a volatile economic environment. Improving Profitable Growth by Focusingon High-Margin Self-Operated Channels Revenue from self-operated stores increased by 7.2% from JPY10,217.0 million for the year ended 31 March 2023 to JPY10,952.2 million for the year ended 31 March 2024; and gross profit margin sharply went up by 7.0pp to reach 56.8%. Such increase was mainly due to robust retail sales performance in Japan and mainland China, with year-on-year retail sales growth of 16.0% and 15.7% respectively. HONMA operates the largest number of self-operated stores among major golf companies. Self-operated stores provide consumers with a 360-degree experience of the HONMA brand and its products. As at 31 March 2024, the Group had 95 HONMA-branded self-operated stores, representing a net increase of five stores during the Period, all of which were located in Asia. The Group aims to continuously upgrade the design, visual display and consumer experience of its self-operated stores to project one consistent brand image and consumer experience. At the same time, HONMA strategically redeployed its wholesale channels by a better focus on the larger and more relevant retailers across all of its markets. As a result, revenue from third-party retailers and wholesalers decreased by 20.8% for the Period. As at the end of March 31, 2024, HONMA has substantially completed its channel optimization in Europe and the US, but the process in the home markets (Japan, Korea and China (including Hong Kong and Macau)) remains underway. Visible Ecommerce Sales Growth with Revenue up 17.4% YOY across Public and Private Spheres The creation of a robust and active digital ecosystem, from content to sales conversion, from public to private sphere has been a key part of HONMA's growth initiatives. During the last financial year, revenue from e-commerce grew by 17.4%. The rapid expansion of digital communications generated improvements in organic traffic, conversion and other digital brand engagement matrixes such as bounce rate and time on site, among others. In addition, to boost customer loyalty, the Group revamped its customer relationship management ("CRM") systems in China to cover all of its sales and engagement touch points with elevated loyalty benefits. The Group's CRM system upgrade led to a consistent rise in member recruitments, with the total number of members in China rising 43.7% YOY; while sales conversion rate and repurchase rate went up hand in hand. Customer events have always been key to the continued enhancement of HONMA's brand and product awareness as well as consumer engagement. During the Period, HONMA hosted 3,564 customer days across its home markets, most of which were...