Issuer: Benesse Holdings, Inc. (9783)

JCR has assigned a AA- rating to senior debts of the issuer. The rating outlook is Stable.

Senior debts: AA-/Stable

<Rationale>
Benesse Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is the largest company which provides correspondence course programs for students and children. Its businesses range from life-styles (publication of magazines for housewives and mail order), languages, senior care and nursing care, to tutoring schools. In our view, the Company can maintain solid earnings growth over the medium term in its domestic education-related business, as the Company can still increase its members by enriching teaching materials and developing its marketing activities continuously on the strength of its overwhelming competitiveness, despite negative factors from the long term point of view including a low birth rate. The Company's revenue and profit in its senior care business, one of the growth industries in Japan, will also continue to increase because of its high competitiveness. Although one of its issues is the generation of stable earnings from its language business including Berlitz International, Inc., earnings from the domestic education-related business are large enough to offset deteriorating financial performance of the language business at the moment and its satisfactory financial condition is a buffer for business risk.