Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us at GMO Internet Group full year announcement. While you might be very busy, thank you very much for giving your time. I would like to introduce today's presenters. Masatoshi Kumagai, Group Representative, and Group Vice President and CFO, Masatoshi Yasuda, are going to be presenting to you. Today, we are giving you the high-level announcement about our financial close, and we will take some question and answer at the end. Material slides are available on our website. After today's session, we will give you the guidance to the survey participation. Please help us in giving us your feedback with the survey form. With that, I would like to invite Kumagai, the Group Representative.
I am Kumagai, the Group Representative of GMO Internet Group.
Thank you very much for joining us and giving us your time for 2024 December full year financial announcement. This is how today's agenda looks like. Today, during our financial announcement, there were three highlights I would like to talk to you today. First is about our engagement in the long-term value creation. At our company, we want to make sure our company sustains for hundreds of years to come. We are committed to running the business in the long run. Sustainable growth needs to be accelerated. Therefore, we have decided to shift to holding organization, and we have recently been working on more advancement about group structures. Next, I will talk about our performance in FY 2024. FY 2024 has demonstrated and created impact about the effectiveness of giving autonomies to subsidiary companies.
GMO Internet, which is hybrid called 4784, is running the core business together with the payment business with the GMO PG is being growing quite substantially, and non-public companies under the group who joined our companies throughout the history of a company has been making a great contribution. And T hai Securities , we decided to close the business and that process has been completed. With that, we could manage to minimize the potential impact in the future. Number three is about maximization of group synergy and building new growth drivers. If I may, last week on February 1st, we have launched Network Security GMO project. This new project is giving us advantages that are core competencies that we own because of our experiences in internet infrastructure and services business, and the timing is right for launching this business.
We want to work with PR for addressing social challenges so that we can establish sustainable growth. This slide is showing you with full year performances. Top line revenue has seen 16 years back-to-back growth. We have to provide for Thai Securities' closure, which cost at about JPY 9.5 billion, but we could on the other hand, be able to manage the growth. This is showing you the yearly trends of full year performances. As you can see, we are hitting the record performances. Next slide is showing you summarized performances by different segments. Furtherless to the right is showing you with qualitative assessment by top management together with our assessment of the last quarter. First, we start off with the internet infrastructure. We gave double circle, which is very positive. Revenue has grown together with the stock revenue.
Last year, we had a one-time benefit, which made it a very challenging year to start off with, but we managed to grow more than 27% on profitability. Collections of the number one businesses is giving us a bedrock stock business, and that this year proved the resiliency of that business model. Next, online ad and media businesses is single circle. Good. The high margin advertising business was weakening, therefore, revenue have came down. But our own product and our own media, which has a higher mix implication has grew, therefore, profitability has been breaking as a record. Internet finances is a triangle. Top line grew, but not the bottom line. FX and CFDs transaction volume grew quite steadily, therefore single circle. But we have to see the provision again for Thai security, which is very good.
For that Thai securities, we decided to close the business and minimizing the impact of the post-merging phase of this business. We are successfully minimizing impact. This slide is showing you revenue and operating profits year-over-year performances. Left-hand side is top line revenue, right-hand side is operating profit. As I said before, infrastructure business's performance has expanded, crypto asset businesses has now finally profitable, and cost for Thai security closure, which need to be paid for JPY 9.5 billion, but we managed to grow both top line and bottom line. The graph that you are seeing right now is showing you the performance of infrastructure business, which drove this year's financial performances, and showing you past six years trends. You see the growth is exponentially growing, as you can see.
Backlog stock business model is the leverage in which we took, and we have made the record nine years straight. This slide is breaking down infrastructure businesses with payment business versus non-payment business quarter by quarter. Right blue is GMO Payment Gateway business, which is growing consistently, which is no different from the past. But ever since third quarter of last year, the brand security business has won a very big project, as exemplifying many profit contributions from non-payment business. This slide is showing you non-payment businesses and how different businesses have performed year-on-year on profit level within infrastructure business, non-payment. GMO Internet with security code 4784, which is our core business, apparently is doing a great job, but non-public companies which joined us later in the histories is also making a great profit contributions.
They joined to the group, they experienced the group synergy to help the entity themselves, but the group as a whole is growing. This ranking chart is the crown jewel demonstration of success of group management approach. I would like to talk about more progresses that we are planning for group management. At our group, two years ago, when we disclosed ESG, we have identified one of the governance challenge, and we have made a commitment to become group organization which will continue to grow for next hundreds of years to come. The internet industry is very competitive and changing very fast. For us to keep winning and sustainably grow, we need to explore a best format and a setup to become competitive. Shifting to holding company is a very strong step. Very first, but very strong step to establish this strong and resilient foundation.
And building group structure will continue to evolve. Now, shifting to holding company comes with two important messages that I would like to share with you. First point is about promoting more autonomy to the businesses. We have been traditionally giving discretion to businesses. We have been giving autonomy to subsidiary companies. Now, shifting to holding company is accelerations to giving more empowerment to the subsidiary company so that they can make more agile, faster decision-making for their business. Number two is about maximization of group synergy. When we become very close to a pure holding company, and subsidiary companies are going to be a good peer to each other, therefore, synergy can be identified and maximized more smoothly under this structure. So these two ideas will accelerate the speed of our growth so that we can more certainly accelerate the speed and sustainability of our growth.
Under this structure, the roles and the functions of holding companies can be listed in four things that you see on this slide. One is about us contributing, maximizing group synergy. Also, we are pushing forward with more projects that are cross-organization to give more enabler, more foundation for group synergy. The other thing is about identifying and creating new growth drivers. We will be supporting new growth drivers for different businesses. At our group, we are a collection of number one services, and that's how we grew. But we will identify and help develop more number ones and make the number ones bigger. So the first and the two points that I mentioned about, I will come back to these points with more specific examples. Number three is about bringing more efficiency for group structure.
When we are managing group businesses, we would want to explore the optimum setup for all the organizations to keep growing by shifting to the holding company. We do actually have a good new example, which I would like to talk to you later in the slides. Last is about sharing of know-how of group management. We can, as a holding company, become a hub to that. Becoming a hub to that or leveraging of the AI tools, we would like to support the business management of the group companies. So first, I would like to talk about group structure of the past. Now, we at the GMO Internet Group, we are now the business holding company, but running its own business, managing together with the other subsidiary companies like this setup, different entities all given autonomy with independence to manage what they are good at.
This is how the group structure has shifted. Group structure is bringing more efficiency, and we want to maximize synergy. There were two red numbers that you see to highlight the change. First, we had a former GMO Internet Group, but we have given this business to GMO AD Partners. GMO Internet Group now becomes something similar to a pure holding company. The change number two, GMO Research & AI and GMO TownWiFi is going to be integrated, and we have just made an announcement shortly before this announcement. By having a strategic change in the organization, we would like to maximize and accelerate the speed of value creation. There are some companies who have a bigger box on this slide. GMO Payment Gateway, GMO Internet, and GMO Financial Holdings were bigger boxes.
They both are going to be having, be able to make its own issuance, its own ranking. We hope their presence within the group is going to be maximized. Now, I would like to discuss and remind you once again about bringing more efficiency to group organization. From here on, I would like to invite Yasuda-san, who is our group CFO. 30 years ago, when we started the GMO Internet Group, I was a personal business, and it became entity, only one company. The internet evolution is going very fast. Many and many evolutions happen to today's format, but this type of growth will continue in the future as well. I would like to hand it over to Yasuda-san.
This is Yasuda. Now, I would like to go through the rest of this presentation.
What you are seeing right now is just reminding you the scheme in which how our company and GMO AD Partners, former GMO AD Partners, are just reorganizing themselves. We have been managing infrastructure business, and that particular business is being handed over to GMO AD Partners. That makes this company now becoming similar to a pure holding company, so that we can focus on group management. Former GMO AD Partners, effective as of January 1, 2025, this year, changed its name to GMO Internet Group and has been listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. This is the main overview of the businesses and main services by GMO Internet. Domain, rental server, and internet connectivity. Also, those are the core businesses that have been driven our businesses for the last 28 years, and that responsibility is handed.
Also GMO Cloud, which is going to be the pillar of our new growth driver, will be part of the responsibility. The other synergy maximization and group optimization, bringing more efficiency, comes with this new exciting example. GMO Research & AI is listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, and GMO TownWiFi will integrate themselves to start a new history. Both companies are committed to addressing challenges, pain points of consumers. These believe there is a great synergy opportunities for customers. The name of the customers will be changed to GMO Platform as of April this year. GMO TownWiFi, which is one of the organizations, let us just briefly talk about what they do in their business, just briefly. Yes, just a minute, please. On GMO TownWiFi, remember that list of the ranks?
This is our second-best performer in terms of year-on-year profitability under non-payment infrastructure business. So they are managing apps, consumer-related apps, whether it is about free Wi-Fi connectivity, the app, or [shift petrol app]. They are going to be evolving to become monetized platform business, and they were actually growing tremendously. Both companies' projections and plans can be found out with those announcements. GMO Internet's announcement presentation will start shortly after this session, from 4:45 P.M. So GMO Research & AI presentation will start from 11:00 A.M. tomorrow, February 13. So hope you are excited about finding more about them. Next, I would like to talk about important initiatives that we are running for group growth strategy. This slide is showing you different drivers about how we are maintaining this growth.
So you see, as this slide is showing you, there are many technological innovations, but also cause some technological or social challenges. These are the list of drivers that are performing quite well. Shows left, we have much more services. But in any case, we are providing number one services to address the pain points of the consumers to make a steady growth. Having competitive products are coming from sharing and commitment to GMOism, and also commitment to have group-wide business management. This slide is showing the map of different businesses, internet connectivity, domain, c loud, rental servers, or the infrastructure businesses for internet. That is our starting point. We are helping the business run efficiently of internet shopping, security, payments. Each one of them are essential services. They were number one. We cannot afford to lose them by providing essential values.
We are demonstrating synergy across different number one services to have a sustainable growth. Now, we are paying more attention and focuses to security. Now, different medias are talking about writing articles about cyberattacks, cybercrime. There is no day that media doesn't talk about. Now, GMO, back in 1995, which makes us about 30 years ago, started a business, or internet business, and helped facilitate adaptation and development of internet in this world. But the reality is, some people have bad intention in using internet. We have always been concerned about, yes, we have to do something about this. Now, the world is going to be requiring more use of AI and robotics. Security, therefore, is going to be even more important than before. Therefore, security and safety is an urgent matter we need to address.
But we now want to give a safe and confident future to everybody. We decided to launch a new project called GMO will protect your Internet Security. I said GMO also provides net security. I hope I didn't confuse you to some of the investors. But please take a look at these numbers. These are the numbers of our partners. By the way, we call our employees partners. This is the number of the people engaged in security business. So 8,000 partners in total across the group. Out of that, 1,100 people, partners, are security experts. We actually are the biggest security providers in Japan domestically.
The first project is this. The comprehensive internet security service, GMO Security 24. In the physical world, when people sense the risk of burglary, they can check their own windows and door locks. However, in the online world, even when hearing about the threats of cyberattacks, most people don't know where to lock their doors. To address this, we provide a free 24/7 service that helps users identify website security risks. Here are the details. GMO Security 24 provides password leakage diagnosis, web risk assessment, and an AI chatbot for security consultations, all available 24/7 for free. We take pride in being the first in the world to offer such a comprehensive internet security diagnosis service. Here is an example of the actual web security risk assessment results.
By offering a free security check as an entry point, we aim to raise awareness of security issues and establish the recognition that when it comes to internet security, it's GMO. Furthermore, we offer detailed security assessments, security measures, and regular security checkups as paid services, expecting them to contribute to solid recurring revenues. Our security business consists of three key areas. Encryption security provided through GlobalSign, utilizing authentication technology to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and identity fraud. Cybersecurity offered by GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae and GMO Flatt Security, featuring the world's most skilled white-hat hacker teams for cyberattack protection. Brand security, professional domain and trademark monitoring to detect and eliminate impersonation. This project leverages our unique, differentiated technologies, making it an exclusive initiative within the GMO Internet Group. Please stay tuned. Now, let me introduce the second project.
We will hold Japan's largest security event, GMO Cybersecurity Conference & Awards 2025, on Thursday, March 6th at the ballroom on the second basement floor of Cerulean Tower in Shibuya, where our first headquarters is located. The main speakers are as follows. Prime Minister Ishiba, Mr. Taira, Minister for Cybersecurity, Lieutenant General Hiroe, the Third Commanding General, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Professor Matsuo from the University of Tokyo, a leading expert in AI, and Director Furuta from the Chiba Institute of Technology's Future Robotics Technology Center, among others, will be joining us for keynote speeches. Additionally, we will host the GMO Cybersecurity Awards 2025, recognizing individuals and organizations that have contributed to the development of the industry. This is one of Japan's largest security events with an expected attendance of around 1,000 participants. We warmly invite investors to attend as well.
Next, we will discuss the second key initiative in our group's growth strategy, GMO Aozora Net Bank. The performance trends of GMO Aozora Net Bank are as follows. We have achieved our first ever quarterly operating profit. The primary factor behind this success is the expansion of corporate accounts. As the number of accounts increased, transaction revenue from transfer fees and other sources steadily accumulated, and the rise in deposit balances also contributed to revenue stability. The key KPIs, corporate account numbers, and contracts for BaaS by GMO Aozora are as follows. As you can see, the pace of account expansion is accelerating. This growth is driven by the convenience and superiority of our in-house developed products. We have reached a point where many newly established corporations choose us. Another crucial KPI is the number of contracts for BaaS by GMO Aozora.
This service provides various banking functions such as payments and deposit notifications previously exclusive to banks as a cloud service via API to external businesses. Companies can seamlessly integrate banking functions into their services without disrupting their brand experience, making GMO Aozora the preferred choice. The future strategy of GMO Aozora Net Bank is based on three pillars. Becoming number one bank for small businesses and startups. Number one in embedded finance. Number one tech-first bank. At the core of this concept is our strength in in-house development and operation, enabling us to offer number one services. We will continue to focus on building a solid recurring revenue model and expand our business as a unified group in the internet banking business as well. Please stay tuned. Next, we will discuss the segment-wise performance. First, an overview of the group.
Here is the lineup of our group's major products, all developed and operated in-house. The combined customer base of our infrastructure, financial, and crypto asset businesses has exceeded 17.38 million. This chart shows the quarterly revenue trends by segment, as explained earlier. The deep blue section at the bottom, representing internet infrastructure, continues to grow steadily. Primarily consisting of highly sustainable and predictable solid recurring revenue. This has enabled continuous growth with quarterly revenue surpassing JPY 70 billion. The quarterly trend of operating profit by segment is as follows. While this quarter was temporarily impacted by allowances for Thai securities, we aim for a V-shaped recovery backed by the continued growth of our infrastructure business. Now, let's review the status of each business segment. This chart shows the six-year performance trend of our infrastructure business.
With our solid recurring revenue model, we have achieved record-breaking results for the ninth consecutive year. Here are the quarterly revenue trends and their breakdown. To improve understanding of our businesses and services, we have renamed some sub-segments starting this quarter. Cloud and hosting business is now cloud and rental server hosting business. Access business is now internet connection provider business. Regarding quarterly infrastructure performance, we achieved an 8.1% year-over-year increase, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of record results. In addition to the growth in our payment business, our infrastructure companies, both listed and unlisted, continue to build solid recurring revenue through monthly and annual subscription models. On the other hand, our internet connection provider segment appears to have declined due to a one-time negative JPY 1 billion adjustment from previous quarters net revenue processing corrections. However, this does not indicate any change in business momentum.
Moreover, this correction has no impact on operating profit. Next, quarterly operating profit trends. It shows a year-over-year decrease, but we still recorded a high level profit of JPY 9.5 billion. Considering the impacts of large deals by GMO Trust and Security in the previous year, this reaffirms the strength of our infrastructure segment. Now, let's discuss online advertising and media. We recorded the highest profit in this segment's history. Revenue from our in-house products under GMO Tech and GMO Media performed well. However, our online advertising business operated by GMO AD Partners faced some challenges due to budget reductions in certain industries, resulting in weaker transaction volumes. The quarterly revenue trends and their breakdown are as follows. Year-over-year revenue saw a slight increase while our in-house products performed well, the advertising agency business was negatively impacted by reduced ad budgets in some industries, leading to a weaker trend.
Quarterly operating profit trends show a significant increase year-over-year, driven by the expansion of highly profitable solid recurring revenue based in-house products. Next, the internet finance business. FX revenue decreased compared to the previous high-performing period. However, thanks to the spread reduction measures to boost trading activity, the business remains at a high level. In CFD trading, commodity prices influenced by global events and rising stock indices led to increased trading volumes. However, operating profit declined due to a JPY 9.5 billion allowance for doubtful accounts in our Thai securities business. Here are the quarterly financial results. Revenue declined due to a highly brisk market activity previous year and our spread reduction campaign to boost trading. Additionally, a JPY 2.8 billion allowance for doubtful accounts in Thai securities business resulted in an operating loss.
We have decided to discontinue margin trading in Thailand in December 2024 and already completed business closure process toward the closure of business in December 2025. This chart shows revenue trends by product category. FX and CFD revenues declined compared to last year's strong performance, both remain at high levels. This graph illustrates the correlation between FX revenue and trading volume. Until FY 2022, increased trading volume negatively correlated with revenue due to high volume traders disproportionately impacting profitability. To address this, we implemented restrictions on daily trading volumes for some large clients starting in fourth quarter of FY 2022. As a result, profitability improved as we successfully built up trading volume from smaller clients. Revenue has declined in Q4. However, this was due to a strategically implemented campaign aimed at stimulating transaction activity. There has been no notable change in the competitive environment.
Finally, the crypto assets business. Amid the thriving crypto market, GMO Coin's exchange business saw trading volume and revenue more than double year-over-year. Operating profit turned positive for the first time since 2021's crypto boom. Here are the quarterly financial results. Since Q4 last year, exchange business developed by GMO Coin has seen the crypto market recover, thanks partially to some hot topics from crypto assets, driving increased trading volume and a continued profitable trend. We will continue operating the business without hesitation while expanding customer base and taking various initiatives. Finally, let's discuss shareholder returns. Our basic policy is a total shareholder return ratio of 50%. This consists of allocating 33% to dividends and the remaining 17% to share buybacks and cancellations. This is the trend of dividends per share.
Dividends are announced quarterly, and the year-end dividend is JPY 10, bringing a total annual dividend to JPY 41.8. Finally, regarding the establishment of a new share buyback program. This is funded with JPY 10 billion, exceeding 17% of net profit as per our basic policy. Here are the actual shareholder returns. You can see that the total shareholder return ratio has been consistently above the basic policy level of 50%. For fiscal year 2024, the total shareholder return ratio is 108% of net profit. Additionally, today, we have announced a partial revision of our shareholder benefits. Considering our transition to a pure holding company structure, we have decided to focus shareholder returns on dividends and share buyback. Going forward, we will continue to implement steady shareholder returns while maintaining a balanced capital structure. From now on, Kumagai will provide a summary.
Lastly, I would like to summarize today's presentation.
GMO Internet Group remains committed to achieving our vision of a corporate group that will last for 100 years by taking a long-term management perspective. As explained earlier, in 2024, we saw strong performance in our core business and payment services, along with notable growth in our recently joined unlisted subsidiaries. This accelerated the expansion of our infrastructure business, allowing us to fully showcase the strengths of our group management. In 2025, we have transitioned to a holding company structure to drive further evolution. With this reorganization, GMO Internet 4784, which inherits our core businesses, and a new company formed by the merger of GMO TownWiFi and GMO Research & AI 3695, are expected to achieve significant growth. Please pay close attention to the presentations from both companies that follow.
Additionally, as Yasuda-san mentioned, we are intensifying efforts to establish GMO for Internet Security as a new growth driver for the group. The security business is now entering a major expansion phase. We are also pleased to report that GMO Aozora Net Bank has firmly established itself in profitability. To meet shareholder expectations, we will continue to prioritize shareholder returns across the entire group. Each group company that is listed has announced an increase in dividend payout ratios. Since around 2007 or 2008, we have consistently delivered on our promise of share buybacks, and we will continue to do so. We aim to demonstrate the validity and the progress of our group management through tangible results, and we appreciate your continued support. That concludes today's presentation. Thank you very much for watching. Internet for everyone.