This photo taken July 7, 2025, shows trains on Osaka Metro’s Chuo Line, which connects the Yumeshima Island Expo venue to central Osaka. (Mainichi/Naomichi Senoo)
OSAKA — Osaka Metro Co. on Nov. 11 reported record profits for the first half of fiscal 2025 as passenger numbers increased to unprecedented highs during the Osaka Expo.
The company announced that as of September this fiscal year its operating revenue, corresponding to sales, reached 127.7 billion yen (about $827.6 million), an increase of 25.3% compared to the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, its net profits rose to a record high of 22.9 billion yen (about $148.3 million), up 41.3%. Both figures were the highest since the company’s privatization in fiscal 2018.
This growth is a result of the company operating the only rail line to the Expo’s closest station of Yumeshima, which saw a vast increase in visitors during the six-month event starting April 13.
Compared with the same six-month period last fiscal year, passenger numbers increased 13.3% to 528.37 million, and transportation revenue rose 22% to 96.5 billion yen (about $624.8 million). Both are record highs for the company.
Osaka Metro President Hideaki Kawai announces the company’s record profits for the first half of fiscal 2025 at a news conference in Osaka’s Nishi Ward on Nov. 11, 2025. (Mainichi/Tatsu Shingu)
Osaka Metro’s trains and shuttle buses transported about 85% of visitors to the Expo which, it declared, accounted for 22.2 billion yen (about $143.8 million) of its operating revenue and 9.7 billion yen (about $62.8 million) of its net operating profits.
The company forecast earnings of 236 billion yen (about $1.53 billion) in operating revenue and 31.8 billion yen (about $206 million) in net profits for the fiscal year ending March 2026. At a news conference, Osaka Metro President Hideaki Kawai expressed a desire to participate in the future development of Yumeshima’s Expo site, saying, “The development around Yumeshima Station is characterized by high continuity and compatibility.”
(Japanese original by Tatsu Shingu, Osaka Business News Department)
AloJapan.com