Hello, everyone. My name is Takaku of Kyoritsu Maintenance Co., Ltd. Thank you very much for taking the time today to participate in the financial results briefing for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 of Kyoritsu Maintenance Co., Ltd. As in the previous meeting, this financial results meeting is being held online, so investors from overseas as well as from Japan are able to participate. In particular, we would like to extend appreciation to the investors in North America and the U.K., where there's a time difference between Japan, for joining us late at night or early in the morning. As reported in the media, the number of foreign visitors to Japan in March and April of 2024 exceeded 3 million for two consecutive months.
Six months ago, at this financial results briefing, I mentioned that the Akihabara area, where our company's headquarters is located, has more foreign visitors than Japanese. Now, however, the number of foreigners have increased even more, and Japanese people are in the minority. Although there are some issues related to inbound tourism, such as over-tourism, we believe that there is still room for further growth considering Japan's abundant tourism resources, the current exchange rate environment, and government-led project to promote sustainable tourism. In this context, we will report on our financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, which marked the first record high profit in five years, and our forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, in which we entered the regrowth stage one year ahead of schedule.
We will also report on the progress of the medium-term management plan announced in May last year. So first, I, Takaku, will first provide an overview of the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and then our President, Nakamura, will explain the full year earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, and the progress of the medium-term management plan. I would like to start with a summary of the financial results. The first will be the financial highlights for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. Although the impact of the novel COVID infection on economic activities was largely resolved, the outlook remained uncertain due to the exchange rate fluctuations, rising prices, and heightened geopolitical risks, including the situation in Ukraine and Palestine.
Against the backdrop, consolidated earnings for the period under review reached a record high for the first time in five years as an improvement in the business environment and the promotion of sales price optimization absorbed the increase in costs. The main points by business segments are as follows: First, in the dormitory business, the number of rooms occupied at the beginning of the period, mainly by Japanese and international students, increased significantly by 6.5% year-on-year into 2,639 rooms, resulting in increase in both sales and income. In the hotel business, both sales and profit increased significantly due to strong domestic and inbound demand, as well as revenue management that responded to cost fluctuation. In addition, the Noto Peninsula earthquake occurred on New Year's Day, 2024.
First of all, we would like to express our deepest sympathies to those who were affected by the earthquake and to all those involved. Due to the earthquake, Shirasagi-no-Yu Noto Kaishu is still closed, and we will work to reopen for business while taking into account the recovery situation in the region. In addition, we acquired Cosmos Initia shares to strengthen our development promotion capabilities and to achieve business synergies, as well as for large-scale renovation work started to maintain and improve customer satisfaction. On April 1, we executed a stock split to improve the liquidity of our shares. Next, I will explain consolidated financial results and key management indicators. Net sales increased 16.2% from the previous year to JPY 204.1 billion. Operating income increased 128% to JPY 16.7 billion.
Ordinary income increased 196.8% year-on-year to JPY 21.1 billion. The main reason for the large increase was a recording of JPY 5.02 billion in equity in earnings of affiliates associated with the acquisition of Cosmos Initia under non-operating income. In addition, the company examined the possibility of future recovery of net income by properties as a result of the normalization of economic activities. Although impairment losses of JPY 2.01 billion were incurred at some facilities, net income increased 192.7% from the previous year to JPY 12.4 billion. Figures on the right-hand side exclude special factors in order to provide a comparison with the previous period on an actual basis.
First, column B shows the increase/decrease in the previous period for large-scale renewal work carried out to maintain improved customer satisfaction. Next, column C shows the increase/decrease in the 9 facilities rented out as COVID quarantine accommodation in response to requests from local municipalities in the previous fiscal year. The total of the sales and profits of the facilities opened in the previous period and the results of the facilities opened in the current period are shown in column D as the increase/decrease in the number of facilities opened.
... Taking into account the above three special factors, we can compare the results with the same period of the previous year. Net sales increased by JPY 16.9 billion, and operating income increased by JPY 8.7 billion, which is the level of recovery in the existing buildings. In addition, hotels that opened during or after the previous fiscal year have been performing well. Next, I will explain the factors behind the deviation of operating income from the plan. First, in the dormitory business, the increase in utilities and foodstuff costs was less than expected, and this was the main reason why operating income exceeded the plan.
Next, the hotel business exceeded the plan due to an improved business environment and revenue management that responded to cost inflation, as well as better-than-expected performance at six facilities in the Hokuriku area, which had anticipated a decline in occupancy due to the Noto Peninsula earthquake. Other businesses exceeded the plan due to the comprehensive building management business, and the development business exceeded the plan, as well as a difference in consolidation and elimination. As a result of the above, operating income for the fourth quarter was JPY 1.7 billion higher than originally planned. The next slide shows a breakdown of net sales and operating income by business segments compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, the year in pre-COVID, and the previous fiscal year.
As you can see, Dormy Inn in the hotel business has grown significantly, and the resort business has recovered to profitability, exceeding the level in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, the year in pre-COVID. We will now explain each segment. First, the dormitory business. The occupancy rate at the beginning of the period, a KPI, started the period at 98.2%, up 7 points from the previous period. Net sales increased due to an increase in the occupancy rate at the beginning of the period and favorable monthly contract for employee dormitories during the period. In addition, the opening of 12 new buildings during the period, with an additional 1,037 rooms, resulted in a 3.9% increase in net sales from the previous period to JPY 52 billion.
Operating income on the right side increased 29% from the previous year to JPY 5.88 billion due to the effect of increased sales and decreased energy cost. So this slide shows the KPIs of the dorm business, which is the occupancy rate at the beginning of the year and the number of rooms under contract. In the number of rooms under contract at the beginning of the fiscal year of March 2024 increased by 2,639 rooms from the previous year to 43,254 rooms. Especially, the number of rooms for foreign students will continue to increase due to gradual ease of immigration restrictions from May 2022.
This increased number is at 3,586 rooms in April 2023, up 1,609 rooms from the previous period. The number of rooms in operation at the beginning of the fiscal year in 2025 increased by 578 from the previous period to 11,595 rooms for employee dorms. On the other hand, the number of rooms for Japanese students remained almost unchanged from previous year at 22,255 rooms. As a result, the number of rooms in operation totaled at 43,624 rooms. Next, the Dormy Inn business.
This year, international flights resumed and increased operations following the lifting of immigration restrictions, and weaker yen resulted in significant increase in inbound travels. In addition, business environment in Japan also improved with extended nationwide travel support. Our hotels and service were highly appreciated. And as a result, RevPAR at existing properties increased by 2,162 JPY year-on-year to 11,115.1 JPY, and revenue increased by JPY 6.65 billion. Also, we opened 4 new properties with a total of 750 rooms in this year, including two Japanese-style premium brand Onyado Nono. In addition, all contracts for the COVID quarantine accommodations have been terminated, so variable expenses increased with the resumption of normal business operations.
A large-scale renovation work was done to improve customer satisfaction, so profit was negative JPY 2.14 billion year-on-year. As a result, in the Dormy Inn business, revenue was up by 26.2%, up to JPY 72.8 billion, and operating profit increased 65.2% to JPY 12.66 billion. Next, we have the KPIs of the Dormy Inn business. It is the occupancy rate and ADR by month. The occupancy rate this year was 3.9 points down compared to the pre-pandemics level in 2019. But room rates significantly increased by JPY 3,021, and we focused on optimizing prices with increased ADR and adjusting labor, material, and linen costs.
As of April, we can see this number here, and as of May 22nd, occupancy rate was at 83.9%, and ADR was at 15,093 JPY. This slide shows the monthly RevPAR trend, which is the occupancy rate multiplied by ADR. As explained on the previous page, the occupancy rate is lower than the pre-pandemic levels, but with optimized pricing, RevPAR outperformed year-on-year as well as the pre-pandemic levels. Next is the resort business. In the same manner as the Dormy Inn business, this resort business improved, and we received many guests as business environment got better.
In existing buildings, RevPAR increased 2,724 JPY year-on-year, resulting in a revenue increase of JPY 3.74 billion, and operating profit increased by JPY 2.09 billion. We also opened La Vista Kannonzaki Terrace with 75 rooms in Kanagawa Prefecture. Also, we had the Noto Peninsula earthquake that happened on New Year's Day this year, and because of that, Noto Kaishu was closed and had large-scale renovations, causing revenues to decline. However, with reduced energy costs, profits increased by JPY 130 million.
As a result, the overall resort business posted a 21.7% year-on-year increase in revenue to JPY 52.76 billion, and operating profits increased by JPY 4.32 billion to JPY 2.1 billion. So this shows the KPIs of the resort business. So while occupancy rate was down by 5.5 points this year, room rates went up by JPY 6,352 compared to pre-pandemic levels. So in much the same way as Dormy Inn, as a result of revenue control, efforts to improve customer and employee satisfaction, and we have been also managing costs against inflation. And if you look at April, the results look like this, and as of May 22, the occupancy rate was 76.8%.
ADR was JPY 51,091. This is the RevPAR trend for the resort business. As you can see, the full year RevPAR has exceeded the same time last year and also the pre-pandemic levels. So let me explain the consolidated balance sheet and the net debt to equity ratio. As of March 31, total assets were at JPY 270.9 billion, a decrease of JPY 1.3 billion from the end of the previous fiscal year. If you look at the equity ratio, we saw an increase of 4.6 percentage points from the end of previous period to 32%, and this is the first time for the four years that the ratio has exceeded 30% after COVID.
The net interest-bearing debt was 106.7 billion JPY, and net debt to equity ratio was 1.23x. We'll continue to improve our financial performance to achieve a net debt to equity ratio of 1x or less, which has always been our guideline. Let me talk about the dividend policy. For this current fiscal year, we have added 5 JPY and will pay a year-end dividend of 33 JPY, and provide an interim dividend of 49 JPY per share. The full year dividend will increase by 27 JPY per share, and this current year's dividend payout ratio is going to be 15.4%.
And if we exclude special factors of equity in earnings of affiliates of 5.02 billion JPY and impairment loss of 2.01 billion JPY, the dividend payout ratio will be 20.3%. So that is all on the earnings presentation. Next, we have President Nakamura talking about the earnings forecast and the progress of the midterm management plan. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
This is Nakamura. I would like to explain our business forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, and the progress of our medium-term management plan, Kyoritsu Growth Vision Rise Up Plan 2028, which just was announced last year and is now in its second year. First of all, I would like to explain our consolidated earnings forecast for the current fiscal year. Our two main businesses, the dormitory business, which has a stable earning space, and the hotel business, which is making great strides as a driver of growth. Although still affected by cost inflation due to the expansion of new openings and price optimization, we're aiming operating income of JPY 18.5 billion, exceeding the previous year's record high by increasing margin profit from sales, our top line growth.
Next, I will explain the special factors behind the profit forecast for the current fiscal year. First of all, sales and operating income are affected by the absence of operations and construction costs incurred due to the reinforcement of large-scale renovation work to improve customer satisfaction in the current period. In addition, a decrease in new opening expenses due to the impact of restrained development in the COVID period is reflected in the differences in the figures, as you can see. In addition, ordinary income is expected to be affected by the acquisition of Cosmos Initia shares, which resulted in a gain on negative goodwill in the previous fiscal year, but not in the current fiscal year. Investment gains associated with equity are expected to be recorded.
Therefore, operating income at steady state is expected to be JPY 20.4 billion, which is the actual value of the previous year's JPY 16.7 billion, plus the corrected value of JPY 3.7 billion. Next, I would like to explain how we expect operating income in each of the major segments to change from quarter to quarter. First, in the dormitory business, there was progress in optimizing sales prices. However, we expect a decrease in occupancy rate at the beginning of the period and an increase in variable costs of over 7% from the previous year. We expect operating income to increase only moderately. As for the hotel business, a certain increase in RevPAR has been factored in for the first half of the year.
But in the second half of the year, the increase is expected to shift to the level of the previous year. The fourth quarter is forecasted to be negative year-on-year because the planned large-scale renovation work is scheduled during this period for the year, when relatively few guests are using the hotel. There is a difference from the previous year in the other businesses. This is mainly due to the increase in consolidation and elimination costs and head office expenses in connection with the expansion of the scale of business. Next, I will explain the sales and operating income of each business segment in comparison to the previous fiscal year and to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, in pre-COVID era.
As you can see in the dormitory and hotel businesses, the largest improvement in profits during the period under review was a JPY 2.0 billion year-on-year increase in the hotel business, particularly in the Dormy Inn business. I will explain the details of the factors later. I will now explain the factors behind the increase or decrease in sales and profit for each segments. So in the dormitory business, we will continue to expand our strength of safety and security to as many customers as possible throughout Japan. And to cope with rising cost inflation, we will promote customer satisfaction and productivity improvement through the use of DX, including Domico, a dedicated application for supporting dormitory life. And in addition, we will work to further optimize sales prices.
As a result, we expect net sales to increase 4.8% from the previous period to JPY 54.82 billion, due to a JPY 1.03 billion increase in sales resulting from the optimization of sales prices, in addition to a JPY 1.19 billion increase in sales resulting from the opening of 8 new dormitories with 907 rooms during the period. Operating income is expected to increase by 2.2% to JPY 6.01 billion, taking into account an increase in variable costs. Next is the Dormy Inn business. In the business environment, in addition to continued strong domestic demand, the pace of foreigners visiting Japan has reached a record high, and tailwind has become even stronger.
First, for existing facilities, we have set RevPAR at JPY 903, higher than the previous year, and plan to increase sales by JPY 7.08 billion, and operating income by JPY 4.36 billion.
... In addition, a total of four hotels opened during the previous term, Aomori, Beppu, Toyohashi, and Asakusa Bettei , are expected to increase sales by JPY 2.94 billion and profit by JPY 1.29 billion. The reopening of the capsule-type Global Cabin Yokohama Chinatown is expected to generate JPY 100 million in sales and JPY 60 million in opening expenses.
On the other hand, after factoring in increased expenses of JPY 2.3 billion for a large-scale renovation, JPY 180 million for the energy costs, JPY 130 million for opening preparation expenses, and JPY 860 million for the headquarters expenses, for a total of JPY 3.55 billion, the Dormy Inn business as a whole forecasts a 13.6% increase in net sales to JPY 82.69 billion, with operating income rising 16.1% to JPY 14.7 billion. Next, we will look at the resort business.
First, RevPAR is set to increase by JPY 2,682 from the previous year for existing business, which is expected to result in a JPY 4.09 billion increase in sales and JPY 1.66 billion improvement in operating income. The La Vista Kannonzaki Terrace, which opened in September of the previous year, is expected to increase sales by JPY 600 million and improve operating income by JPY 240 million. We have factored in costs such as JPY 980 million for large-scale renovation work and JPY 160 million for the increased energy costs, which, like Dormy Inn, we plan to absorb by raising the top line through optimization of sales prices through revenue management.
As a result, the result business as a whole is expected to post a 4.7% increase in net sales to JPY 55.22 billion and a 26.2% increase in operating income to JPY 2.74 billion. The following shows the quarterly trends of Dormy Inn's KPIs, including occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR. It is in chronological order since the fiscal year ending March 2019. The upper graph shows the KPI trends of six quarters since the fiscal year ending March 2019, before COVID, and the red box line in the lower table shows the current period's plan and comparison against last year.
The plan for the current term is 2.0 percentage points higher than the previous term, but the occupancy rate is set lower than the 19.8 of the pre-pandemic level in fiscal year ending March 2019. This is intended to increase customer and employee satisfaction by adjusting utilization and letting customers enjoy more spacious restaurants and spa experience. While adjusting the occupancy rate, we expect to improve the ADR to JPY 14,900 through thorough revenue management, resulting in a 7.2% increase in RevPAR to JPY 13,300. Here are the quarterly KPIs for the resort business.
Like in the Dormy Inn, we will continue to conduct thorough revenue management for each facility to optimize sales prices, and the year RevPAR is planned to be at JPY 38,000, up 7.6% from the previous year. In April and May, all KPIs are slightly exceeding the plan, and we are off to a good start. This is a list of newly opened dormitories and hotel establishments. So the one that says L on the left is development projects based on lease contracts, which is our business model, and others are capital investment projects based on acquisition of ownership or leasehold of land of buildings.
As you can see, for the current fiscal year ending March 2025, the dorm business plan is to open 8 buildings with 907 rooms in April, and for the hotel business, Global Cabin Yokohama Chinatown will open during the next fiscal year with additional 99 rooms. We will report our development plans in the next fiscal year and beyond in our midterm plan that I will explain later. That concludes my explanation of the business forecast, and let me continue with the update on the medium-term plan... Now let me talk about our 5-year medium-term management plan, Kyoritsu Growth Vision Rise Up Plan 2028, which started last year in the fiscal year ending March 2024.
First, let me show you the quantitative targets of the plan and its progress through the second year in fiscal year ending March 2025. As shown in the upper part of the table, the first two years are positioned as a recovery period, and the following three years are positioned as a regrowth period. In the fiscal year ending March 2024, the first year of the recovery phase, inbound demand increased much more than we expected, and with successful optimized prices, we exceeded our criteria of the recovery phase one year earlier than we expected, and we entered the regrowth period in the current fiscal year. Going forward, we will continue to manage our operations with an eye of capital efficiency and financial discipline in order to achieve the quantitative targets set for the fifth year.
Next, I would like to explain the specific progress of our external growth strategy. So as we move towards the final fiscal year ending March 2028, the number of rooms in the dorm business is expected to be 97%, and of the-- against the target of 50,000 rooms in five years, and the ADR are expected to be 94% of the target. And the forecasted sales of for the current fiscal year will be 88% of the fin-- against the final year.
Similarly, in the Dormy Inn business, the forecast is to reach 102% of against its final 20,000 room target, and the ADR at the 115% level, and net sales at the 98% level in the current fiscal year's forecast. In addition, the resort business plan, businesses plans to grow in the second half of the year, up to 98%, and unit price will be 86% as of this year, and sales is still at 67%, so there will be more room to grow in the second half of the plan.
As a result, the group consolidated net sales forecast of the current fiscal year is 26 billion JPY, or 80% of the final year's net sales of 280 billion JPY. Let me talk about the internal growth. So in addition to the corporate membership program, Shiki Club , we launched Dormy's, and which is an app exclusive that is used exclusively for individual members from 2022 to strengthen the status system and offer more attractive accommodations. And we have achieved 700,000 members, and we launched a new reservation website in February 2024 to further improve customer satisfaction and rationalize commissions on customer acquisitions so we can achieve a 40% self-reservation ratio.
Also, in addition to improved labor productivity, we plan to introduce hotel PM systems, including smart check-in, check-out systems and automated payment machines at each hotel so that we can see tangible results from this year. In addition, we are making good progress in automation by using cleaning and catering robots and paperless systems to improve cost efficiency, both in the field and the headquarters. Next, I would like to talk about our investment plans, shareholder returns, and our financing plans. First, regarding our investments, we have decided to increase the scale of development and large-scale renovations in response to the recent increase in profit and cash flow levels. Especially, we have increased our investment in new facility development.
The dorm business investments will increase from JPY 10 billion to JPY 20 billion, and the hotel business investments will increase from JPY 160 billion to JPY 175 billion, with a total increase of JPY 25 billion altogether. For large-scale renovations to improve customer satisfaction, we have increased investments by JPY 15 billion to JPY 20 billion, and added another JPY 40 billion and revised the total investment amount to JPY 240 billion over a five-year period. In terms of financing, we expect after-tax and after-dividend cash flows to increase with improved profit margins amidst the improved business environment and implementation of our growth strategies.
We believe our investment plan can be updated to JPY 240 billion through steady liquidation of real estate with our partners and with borrowings from financial institutions. Last slide shows the list of new dormitories and hotels expected to open during the period of the midterm plan. The red shows plans that are not included in the development plan that I explained earlier. The total number of rooms to be opened by the fiscal year ending March 2028 is 5,561 in the dorm business, against the plan of 6,700. 4,187 for the Dormy Inn business, against the plan of 3,600, and 1,210 for the resort business, against the plan of 1,300.
We apologize the lack of openings in the current fiscal year, and we would like but we would like to reiterate that despite delays in openings, we are well on track to achieve growth through steady increased, increase in rooms, driven by external growth. So that was the midterm management plan of Kyoritsu Maintenance Co. The entire Kyoritsu Maintenance Group will work together to achieve the plan as soon as possible, and we are determined to get the company back to a new stage of growth. So we ask for your continued support and guidance. Thank you very much for your kind attention.