4168 Yappli

Yappli lets companies build smartphone apps without writing code. Revenue grew 19% last quarter — the fastest in three years — and fewer than 1% of customers cancel in a month.

▲ New products for HR, mini-apps, and mobile ordering can be sold to the same 958 existing customers through one platform.  ▼ Most customers use it for marketing apps, the segment where cancellations rose first. Retail app demand is the weak spot.

Buying Yappli replaces hiring an internal mobile team that would cost ¥30–50 million a year. Customers rarely leave, but average revenue per customer rose only 3.9%.

▲ Operating margin hit a record 23% last quarter, and each customer brings in 6.6 times what it costs to win them.  ▼ Weak price growth suggests many no-code rivals limit what Yappli can charge. The record margin partly came from ads postponed, not cut.

Co-founders Ihara and Sano each own 16%. The company paid its first dividend in 2025 and has raised it twice since, to ¥15. There is no written return policy yet.

▲ Two dividend raises in twelve months plus a small buyback show management has genuinely started returning cash.  ▼ The YFC acquisition was 87% goodwill with no stated payback plan, and the return policy is still undefined.

The business sells for 8.1 years of operating profit. Its capital earns 22.6%. Net cash is 11.2% of the market cap; 20.6% of profit goes out as dividends. Today's dividend yield is 2.1%. If the company paid out all of its profit, the yield at today's price would be 10.2% — past the 6% level where Japanese small caps tend to find buyers. Raising the payout 10 points a year would reach 6% in about 3.8 years. At the current payout, the cash pile alone equals today's market cap in about 11.0 years. How this valuation floor works →