This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

Fujitsu Ltd
4/24/2025
Hello, everyone. My name is Tokita, CEO of the company. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us today. First, I will give you an update on our major initiatives and the results for fiscal 2024 and our fiscal 2025 targets in the current meter management plan, which concludes at the end of fiscal 2025. A Fujitsu group purpose is shown here. It is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. So this is the purpose of the company. We established this purpose in 2022, and today all of our corporate activities are dedicated to realizing it. This is the Fujitsu Way, which all Fujitsu Group employees are expected to follow. We adhere to our code of conduct and uphold the core values of aspiration, trust, and empathy. I will now report on our initiatives and progress in fiscal 2024. Let me start with a general overview. In fiscal 2024, consolidated revenue and profit increased on a company-wide basis, and we achieved a record high in adjusted profit for the fiscal year. In our mainstay service solutions business, digital transformation, and modernization business opportunities grew, particularly in Japan. At the same time, we proceeded with carve-outs of non-core businesses, including the devices business, and the transformation of our business portfolio has progressed as planned. Next, I will explain our financial results for fiscal 2024. Fujitsu's consolidated revenue increased 2.1% year-on-year to 3,550.1 billion yen and service solutions increased 5.1% year-on-year to 2,245.9 billion yen. Consolidated adjusted operating profit increased 15.8% year-on-year to 307.2 billion yen and service solutions increased 22.2% year-on-year to 289.9 billion yen. Next, I will explain the progress of our non-financial indicators. First of all, on the left-hand side, on our environment measures, both the Fujitsu Group's emissions and scope three emissions improved year on year. Secondly, we are targeting growth in customer NPS compared to fiscal 2022. This metric improved by 5.6 points in fiscal 2024. Starting this fiscal year, we are restructuring our frontline organization to be more industry oriented, focusing upon improving customer business engagement. Thirdly, productivity per employee has improved significantly due to the substantial growth in consolidated operating profit across our company and optimization of our workforce portfolio. Finally, on the far right, employee engagement remained flat and the percentage of female managers increased by 1%. To make improvements, we are focusing upon initiatives that incorporate employees' feedback and particularly the well-being of each employee. We will continue to develop these initiatives throughout fiscal 2025. Next, I will explain the status of our major initiatives. I would like to reiterate our approach to the current midterm management plan. During this three-year midterm management plan period, we are establishing a business model for sustainable growth and improved profitability for 2025 through to 2030 and beyond. To achieve this, we have established four key strategies, business model portfolio strategy, customer success and regional strategy, technology strategy, and people strategy. We are working to improve the profitability of our international business, including shifting towards being a service business. Next, I will outline the progress we have made on our key strategies through fiscal 2024, followed by our planned initiatives for fiscal 2025. First of all, regarding our business model and portfolio transformation, Fujitsu U-BANs is driving this shift away from traditional systems integration towards cloud-based business applications and cross-industry business models and portfolios. In fiscal 2024, Fujitsu U-BANs revenue increased by 31% year-on-year to 482.8 billion yen, exceeding our initial plan of 450.0 billion yen. With the launch of our consulting business, UBAN's Wayfinders, we have transitioned from traditional SIA negotiations to engagements that lead the customer transformation agenda These engagements are at the management level. They cover transformation from a formulation to implementation and generate new types of customer discussions. In addition, we have seen a steady increase in global standardization of U-BAN offerings in recurring business. Internationally, vertical domains growth was primarily driven by solutions from GKE software, who hold a significant market share in retail. In fiscal 25, we will continue to expand our consulting business and enhance quality and volume of business and to achieve revenue target of 700 billion yen.
Next, let's discuss our efforts to improve the overall profitability of service solutions. We will continue to transform our delivery services centered on the global delivery centers, Japan Global Gateway, and work to enhance the profitability of service solutions as a whole. In fiscal 2024, we standardized and automated development by leveraging the JGG along with a common development infrastructure platform. We also evolved our pricing structure to be value-based and focused on increasing recurring revenue. As a result of these measures, the gross profit margin improved by 2% in fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2025, we aim to achieve around 2% annual improvements by establishing an optimal global delivery system. This will involve further improving efficiency and standardization by actively incorporating generative AI into delivery while giving due consideration to cybersecurity and the ethical use of AI. Next, I would like to explain our modernization efforts. In the modernization business, both orders and sales are growing steadily with revenue increasing significantly by 86% year on year in fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2024, we focused on enhancing the sophistication and efficiency of our operations through efficient and flexible resource allocation, developing specialist personnel certified by the company as modernization masters and developing automated code conversion tools. In fiscal 2025, we will accelerate our proposals for digital transformations that integrate horizontal solutions as a modernization pathway leading to Fujitsu U-Vans. In addition, we will continue to improve efficiency and automation using generative AI to further enhance our competitiveness. Next, I will explain the status of our international business. In fiscal 2024, revenue in international regions was 589.7 billion yen, a decrease of approximately 2.4% compared to the previous fiscal year. However, the operating margin improved from 1.7% to 4.1%, driven by structural and business portfolio reforms. More specifically, for each region, to complete structural reforms in fiscal 2025, the Europe region continued to carve out unprofitable businesses and refine its focus areas. The Americas region, already service-focused, launched their consulting business. the Asia-Pacific region initiated structural reforms to focus on more profitable business areas and geographies. This includes transitioning from a regional system to a country-specific model, which takes effect from this April. In fiscal 2025, we will continue with our structural reforms to improve our profit structure and expand our human-centered service business to improve profitability in all areas. Next, I will share how we are progressing our technology strategy. With a focus on AI and computing, we are also engaged in strategic alliances to strengthen our combined technologies, leading to differentiation of our services. We continue to strengthen our AI capabilities, focusing on generative AI. In July last year, we announced a strategic partnership with Cohere, a Canadian company, and launched Takane, a large language model with particularly high Japanese capabilities. It is now available as part of the lineup of our AI platform, Fujitsu Kozuchi. We have also started providing AI agents and multi AI agents to help our customers advance their business. In quantum computing, we have now developed a 256 cubic quantum computer. We plan to start providing this to companies and research institutes during this first quarter. In fiscal 2026, we plan to develop a 1000 qubit quantum computer and install it in a dedicated facility. This facility is scheduled to be completed in September this year at Fujitsu Technology Park, our company's headquarters. We are also developing the next generation processor, Fujitsu Monaca, in strategic collaboration with Supermicro and AMD. We will continue to accelerate research and development with the aim of creating and commercializing new technologies. Lastly, our people strategy. We are promoting the transformation of our workforce portfolio aligned with our business portfolio, and we are continuing to review the human resource management practices and systems that are necessary to support this. To increase global workforce mobility, we have transitioned to a job-based personnel system. Starting from April 2026, this system will be used for role-based recruitment of new graduates in Japan. We have also implemented performance and capability-based evaluations, aligning compensation with market rates. we have adopted globally competitive compensation levels for Japan-based employees. This resulted in a rate increase of approximately 20% over the two years from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2024. We will continue reviewing compensation levels based on market trends going forward. The role posting system introduced in fiscal 2020 has become a well-established career development tool By fiscal 2024, approximately 3,000 employees per year were utilizing this system for internal transfer opportunities. Along with this, re-skilling initiatives have been gaining momentum with employees autonomously acquiring the skills necessary for our focus business areas and their own career development. Improvements in the role opportunity posting system and learning environment have led to positive changes in employee behavior. Looking ahead, we will continue our efforts to achieve business growth and improve productivity by strengthening resources in our focus business areas, improving corporate efficiency, and strategically shifting resources to create an optimal workforce portfolio aligned with our business portfolio. This includes, where appropriate, providing support to employees to further their careers outside of Fujitsu. Next, I would like to explain our targets for fiscal 2025. For fiscal 2025, we have set targets of 3.45 trillion yen consolidated revenue, 360 billion yen adjusted operating profit, a 10.4% adjusted operating profit margin, and 250 billion yen adjusted profit for the fiscal year. We are aiming to achieve record high adjusted operating profit and adjusted profit for the fiscal year. In service solutions, we are targeting 2.33 trillion yen in revenue and 360 billion yen in adjusted operating profit and an adjusted operating margin of 15.5%. We will continue to reform our business model and portfolio, focusing on service solutions to drive increased profitability. Next, I will explain the progress of our business portfolio transformation, beginning with an update on the service solutions business. We will continue to shift from traditional IT services to cloud-based digital services centered on Fujitsu U-Vans through modernization. In fiscal 2025, we project Fujitsu U-Vans will account for 30% of service solutions revenue, an increase from 21% in fiscal 2024. Finally, I would like to explain how we are strengthening the foundation of our hardware solutions business. Today, we announced the transfer of our network products business to a new company, Onefinity, which will be established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited on July 1st. The establishment of Anfinity is based on the same thinking as the establishment of EFSAS Technologies last April. The purpose is to accelerate management speed by consolidating the various functions of the network products business, such as research and development, manufacturing, sales, and maintenance, which are currently dispersed throughout the group into one place and thereby enhance global competitiveness. AI is increasing in prominence at pace and is fast becoming an indispensable part of our lives. Our hardware solutions that support data utilization for AI applications must also evolve and be put into practical use at the same speed. We will continue to consider how to best provide each of our solutions and fulfill our role as a technology company. We will celebrate our 90th anniversary in June this year. With the support of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, and shareholders, we have been able to continue our business from 1935 to the present day. While the products and services we provide have evolved with the times, we value the idea of making people happy with technology, which underpins all our corporate activities. The evolution of technology has the potential to create new solutions to address various social issues such as environmental and resource problems, geographic conflicts, and societal disparities. Going forward, we will continue to contribute to a safer, more secure, and prosperous society through technology. We also aim to transform into a company that can respond quickly to changing times and contribute sustainably over the long term. This concludes my update. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Now, we will call upon CFO Isobe to explain the consolidated financial results of fiscal year 2024. This is Isobe speaking. I would like to introduce the outline of the consolidated financial results. First of all, please turn to page three. I will start by presenting financial highlights for fiscal 24. Service solutions, the most important segment, both revenue and profits were higher and both exceeded our targets. fiscal 24 revenue was 2,245.9 billion yen, increase of 5.1% year-on-year. For business in Japan, revenue rose by 8%. The core growth drivers were Fujitsu U-BANs and the modernization business. U-BANs revenue rose by 31% over the previous year. Modernization revenue rose by 70%, enabling both to exceed our original targets. Adjusted operating profit for service solutions was 289.9 billion yen, increase of 52.7 billion yen, up 22%. Adjusted operating profit margin improved to 12.9% up by 1.8 percentage point from the previous year. In addition to the benefits of higher revenue, steady progress has been made in profitability. Adjusted operating profit for service solutions posted a record high. page 4 shows our overview of the consolidated total sales revenue 3550.1 billion yen up 2.1 percent increasing revenue was primarily from service solutions revenue declined in ubiquitous solutions because of the impact of exiting low margin business in europe adjusted operating profit 307.2 billion yen up 41.9 billion yen year-on-year representing 16 increase increase was driven by higher profit in service solutions. Profit for the year was 240.9 billion yen, up 5.1 billion yen. Excluding one-time gains and losses, profit for the year continued from last year to hit a new record high for the second, years in low. Page 5 shows the consolidated profit and loss. On the right-hand side of the table in the outer margin, there is a column that shows comparison with the previous forecast in January. Revenue exceeded our forecast by 80.1 billion yen, mainly from foreign exchange movement. Adjusted operating profit exceeded our forecast by 17.2 billion yen, mainly because of the resulting service solutions and ubiquitous solutions. Page 6 shows the results for each segment. Starting from the following page, I will explain the results for each segment, but here I'd like to comment on the comparison with the previous forecast. At the top, service solutions revenue expanded, driven by the twin pillars of Fujitsu U-BANs and modernization business, and the productivity improvement also proceeded. As a result, adjusted operating profit margin reached 12.9%. And the previous, the e-profit exceeded previous forecast by 9.9 billion yen. Hardware solutions, although revenue exceeded our forecast, profit was roughly on par with the forecast because of the large amount of sales outside companies or products. Ubiquitous solutions, the increase in demand spurred by the upcoming ending of Windows 10 support materialized earlier, and revenue profit exceeded our forecast. Inter-segment eliminations incorporate while we have been aggressively expanding growth investments, The profit exceeded our forecast because of the progress in generating expense efficiencies. Page seven, as we informed you in the third quarter, because of progress in the sales of our businesses, starting with this reporting period, we are classifying device solutions as discontinued operations. And along with the prior years figures for fiscal 23, here represents the classified amounts. Starting from page nine, I will explain the results for each segment. Service solution on page nine, fiscal 24 revenue was 2,245.9 billion yen, a 5.1% increase from last year. Looking at the business in Japan, revenue rose by 8%. And the results were bolstered by the strong flow of DX and monetization. With the launch of more vertical offerings, revenue in Fujitsu Yubans rose 31%. Revenue in modernization business also rose sharply. With the full-scale impact of higher demand beginning in 24 and driving revenue up 70%, adjusted operating profit was 289.9 billion yen, up 52.7 billion yen. In addition to the impact of higher revenue, steady progress was made in improved profitability. As a result, even while pursuing expansion in growing investments, the large increase in profit covered the higher expenditures, and the adjusted operating profit margin was 12.9%, increase of 1.8%. On page 10, this chart shows the factors that caused increase and decrease in the adjusted operating profit and service solutions. On the far left, the adjusted operating profit in fiscal 23 was 237.2 billion yen. And therefore, the first factor in the increase of the 8.3 billion yen in adjusted operating profit from the impact of higher revenue in Japan. Second factor is the increase of 46.5 billion yen due to improved profitability. We continue to make progress in initiatives to increase the productivity including the standardization and also the utilization of a global delivery center gross margin was rose by nearly two percentage point third factor is a decline of 42.1 billion yen from higher expenses including investment in growth business we expanded investment on the such as development of fujitsu urban sufferings aggregating knowledge in modernization knowledge center and developing automation tools in the modernization business, and also enhancing security countermeasures and expanding employee risk-giving. Adding all these activities up, adjusted operating profit for service solution in fiscal 24 increased by 52.7 billion yen. On the far right, the result was the increase in the adjusted OP by 22%, up to 289.9 billion yen, and adjusted operating margin of 12.9%. Now, page 11 shows the factors affecting the waterfall. First of all, the status of orders, and this shows the orders in Japan. Compared to previous year, in the fourth quarter, orders in Japan rose by 11%, double-digit, continuing strong performance from the third quarter. For the year as a whole, orders rose 5%. The column on the far right margin shows the CAGR with the end of fiscal 22 as a starting point. Over this two-year period, overall orders in Japan have grown at the average annual rate of 10%. I will comment on each sector. Private enterprise business sector, the order rose 6%, and of course, the range of our customers, including manufacturing mobility, we saw order increase. And compared to 2022, the compound annual growth rate was 7%. Orders were up 14% in the finance business sector. In the fourth quarter, we were able to win a major multi-year contract for the maintenance of Megabank's mission-critical system. enabling us to achieve double-digit growth rate for two consecutive years. Public healthcare sector fell 2%. There was a pullback from last year when we received orders for large-scale multi-year deals from government ministries. So it's negative as compared to last year. However, we have gained The number of multiple orders for system upgrades, the compound CAGR for the past two years has been 7%, representing a clear expansion. Mission critical and other sector orders were up 11% from a previous year. We received multi large-scale deals, particularly international security, enabling us to exceed even last year's high level. compound annual growth rate over past two years has been 22% continuation of extremely high growth. While there are variation in figures by market sector and by quarter, overall major trend over business in Japan has been continuing. In addition to modernization mission-critical systems and projects, we were also able to release some more offerings from Fujitsu Yubans, including the sustainable transformation. Page 12 shows the orders in the international regions. Europe was down 9%. This represented a pullback from last year's large-scale deals. Demand remains weak. Recently, rather than expanding business, we have placed a priority on the health of our business and improving profitability. America's down 12%. In fiscal 2024, there was a pullback from a multi-year contract we received last year. CAGR over the past two years has been 6%, this demonstrating a growth trend, mainly by Fujitsu events. Asia Pacific were up 34%. In Oceania, there were multiple new deals and the renewals in public sector. Page 13 shows the progress of Fujitsu Yubans, which we are positioning as the most vital area for transformation of our business portfolio. In the bar graphs, deep blue shows the four vertical areas, which are cross-industry areas, and the light blue shows the revenues from three horizontal areas, which are technology platforms. Overall revenue for fiscal 24 was 482.8 billion yen, up 31% year-on-year, and we were able to exceed the revenue target of 450 billion yen. Demand remained stronger than expected in horizontal areas. The share of revenue from Fujitsu Yubans in service solutions increased from 17% in 23 to 21% in fiscal 24. With the vertical area, As the further expansion engine in fiscal 25, we have set ambitious targets for the current fiscal year with a revenue of 700 billion yen, and having Fujitsu Ubans represent 30% of our service solutions. Page 14 shows the modernization business. This business is also expanding strongly. Fiscal 24 revenue was 296.9 billion yen, 86% increase from the prior year. We were also able to significantly exceed our target of 268 billion. There is a clear demand for modernization in digital transformation and the shift away from legacy assets. In fiscal 25 as well, we will strengthen our ability to keep pace with the continued strong demand and we seek to achieve The revenue of 330 billion yen exceeding the revenue target in the mid-term management plan of 300 billion yen, excluding the areas of overlap with Fujitsu Yuban's services. A component of revenue increased by 70% over the prior year to 201 billion yen. Page 15 provides information about the status of our efforts to improve profitability. The increase in operating profit resulting from profitability improvement was 46.5 billion yen. Gross margin improved by 1.9 percentage point. In addition to greater use of Japan Global Gateway and the use of development work platforms, we are also working to expand the pricing strategy. And that is based upon the value delivered as a result of the past three years, gross margin have continuously improved. We will continue to promote cost efficiencies and high value added strategy with the aim of achieving further profitability improvement. The increase in expenses for growth investment was 42.1 billion yen. We expanded the investment and such as development of Fujitsu Yuban offerings, aggregating knowledge in the modernization knowledge center, and developing automation tools in the modernization business while enhancing security and expanding employee risk-killing. So that concludes my explanation about factors contributing to ups and downs in the vote of all chart on page 10. Next on page 16, I will touch upon the status of sub-segment. First of all, global solutions. Revenue was 511.2 billion yen, up 6.4% year-on-year. Adjusted operating profit, 5.6 billion yen, down 8 billion yen from a prior year. Although revenue increased, mainly from Fujitsu U-bands, The cost of development work investment for new offerings and the cost of sales support increased. In addition, there were large burdens of investment to expand the modernization knowledge center and the standardized and automated everybody. And these outpace the sub-segments higher profit regarding investment in growth areas such as the humans and modernization and in transforming our delivery capabilities, including investment in our business in regions. While we have no plan to rein in this investment, we will be selective, focusing upon development offerings for which there is a solid demand. And through these efforts, combined with higher sales, we will work to secure a healthy level of profit. Japan region revenue, 1 trillion 310.4 billion yen, up 3.8%. The adjusted operating profit, 260.3 billion yen, up 47.1 billion yen. Adjusted operating profit margin improved by 3%, up to 19.9%. For DX and modernization projects, in order to accelerate the transformation of our customers' business, we are working to shift systems to cloud and build data utilization platforms and transform work processes by promoting proposals directly to deliver value to the customers We have greatly improved our profitability In the international regions, revenue was 589.7 billion yen, down 2.4% from the previous year. The curve out of a private cloud business in Germany contributed to revenue decline. Adjusted operating profit, 23.9 billion yen, up 13.6 billion yen year on year. Because of the shift in our business portfolio, our operating profit margin was 4.1%. We are still on the midway toward achieving the objectives It is essential that we achieve further profitability improvement. Page 17, I will talk about the other segments other than service solutions. Hardware solutions revenue was 1 trillion 119.9 billion yen. up 1% from the previous year. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, the revenue is essentially unchanged. Adjusted operating profit, 61.3 billion yen, down 22.3 billion yen year-on-year. System product, in terms of the unit volume, there was an impact of the pullback from last year's demand to accommodate new currency bills and last year's high-profitability projects. And an increase in the unit volume of the general purpose products in Japan covered these unit volume declines. But these changes in the product mix caused profitability to decline. And the decline in profitability was exacerbated by the higher cost of imported components because of currency movement. In network products, there has been no significant change toward the recovery in demand. As a result, level of revenue continues to be very weak. On the other hand, we are continuing to invest in product development to achieve high speed, low latency, low power consumption, and the severe condition in terms of profit continued in fiscal 2024, though. Next is ubiquitous on the upper table. Revenue, 251.7 billion yen, down 7.9%. Adjusted operating profit, 31.3 billion yen, increase of 7.1 billion yen. Revenue outside of Japan fell because we exited from low-margin business in Europe in April 2024. On the other hand, by focusing upon comparatively profitable business in Japan, profitability improved, resulting in lower revenue and higher profit. Below that is inter-segment elimination and corporate. There was an operating loss of 75.3 billion yen with a decrease of expenses of 4.3 billion yen. We have continued to invest in mid to long-term business growth to enhance our management foundation, such as advanced research in AI and quantum computing and our OneFujitsu ERP program. At the same time, by working to advance the optimal allocation of resources in a human resources portfolio, we were able to improve productivity. That concludes the explanation about the segment results. I will now present an overview of our business growth investment and the transformation initiatives. Page 20. First, I will review the status of our business growth investment. Overall business growth investment in 2024 were 218.2 billion yen, up 16.1 billion yen year-on-year. So that's essentially in line with our plan. I have listed four representative investment areas. First of all, total investment of 41 billion yen to strengthen Fujitsu Yuban's modernization business and consulting, which are most immediately indirectly contributing to expansion of the business. There are mainly investment in development work, new offerings and knowledge aggregation, enhanced resources, including training. Acquisition-related activities such as making GKE software 100% subsidiary are also included. Against the backdrop of these investments, these businesses have expanded and profitability has improved. Next is a total investment of 58 billion yen in advanced R&D in five key technologies such as AI and quantum computing. This includes the development of Kozuchi AI platform, equity investment in Kohia Inc, and the Monaco next generation processor and development of quantum computers. We are also moving ahead with the internal implementation of a problem solving multi-AI agents. and our work on quantum computing was just touched upon by CEO Tokita in his presentation. To add further sophistication to our service solutions business, we think it is extremely important to pursue technologies related to AI and quantum computing. We also made an investment of 55 billion yen in strengthening our management foundation to advance data-driven management. Third quarter fiscal 24, we launched operations in Japan of our one ERP plus a global single instance program and about 70,000 employees are using it. And as a fourth area, we invested 40 billion yen in enhancing quality and security These efforts include initiatives to use AI to promote the predictive detection of problems, and also to enhance the security countermeasures to combat security incidents. These initiatives take a variety of forms, some for short-term impact, others are for mid- to long-term, and while it is the case that many of these initiatives are within each business segment, We want to position them as priority investment for Fujitsu Group as a whole, and we are monitoring the implementation of investment as well as their impact. Page 21, I will explain our portfolio transformation and asset recycling initiatives. First of all, carve out of non-core businesses. This took time, but we made great progress towards the objectives in fiscal 24. Shinko Electric TOB was completed in March 25. After the share consolidation, we expect the closing during the first half of fiscal 2025. The sale of all shares of Fujitsu Optical Component was completed in April 2025. In February 2025, agreement was concluded to sell FTK to Citytech Technology Corporation of PA Group and the sale was completed in March 2025. As a result, There will be curve outs of all the businesses that have been part of the device solution segment, and the entire segment is now treated as discontinued operations. And one more curve out is an equity method affiliate, Fujitsu General. An agreement to sell Fujitsu General was concluded in January 25, and after completing The required procedures closing is expected in first half of fiscal 2025. We also reduced the cross-tier holding. The balance of such holding at the end of 2024 was 56.3 billion yen, reduction of 65.8 billion yen compared to end of fiscal 22. So we would like to continue examining the rationale for these holdings and work together with the share issuers. And I will explain the adjusted items and two operating items on page 22. In fiscal 24, we made big advances in shifting the resources and we incurred about 40 billion yen of expenses related to this initiative.
This page is a breakdown of call-free cash flow and adjusted items. The business restructuring items include the inflows or outflows from the sale of businesses. But in fiscal 2024, there was an expansion in inflows because of the sale of cross-shareholdings. The structural reform The structural transformation of business items include a portion of business structural expenses from business structure improvements in Europe that were allocated in fiscal 2023 and the cash outflows for expenses related to resource shift that I explained earlier.
Optimization of a portfolio will also be pursued as well. And as for the adjusted item of the There is also one-time gain of the sale of Fujitsu communication services, structural transformation and acquisition related expenses. Last year, we recorded 116 billion yen in business structural transformation expenses, mainly for Europe. So there was an improvement of 73.8 billion yen compared to the previous year. As a result, operating profit before adjustment was 265 billion yen, up 115.7 billion yen from previous year. Page 23. I will now review the status of the cash flow and balance sheet. Page 24. Excluding one-time cash inflow and outflow, core cash flow was 233.6 billion yen, increasing inflows over 36.3 billion yen. Progress has been made in reducing inventory and improving working capital. And towards the bottom of the table in the third column, free cash flow, 214.7 billion yen, an increase in inflows of 62.7 billion yen. In cash flow from operating activities, while progress has been made on improving working capital, there was an increase of one-time cash outflows. and the cash flow from investing activities increased by 68 billion yen from the previous year. This was due to increase in inflows from the sale of cross-shareholding and decrease in outflows from the previous year's acquisition of GKE software. Cash flow from financing activities negative 240.4 billion yen, we implemented increase in share buyback of 180 billion yen.
This page, page 25, is a breakdown of core free cash flow and adjusted items. The business restructuring items include the inflows or outflows from the sale of businesses. But in fiscal 2024, there was an expansion in inflows because of the sale of gross shareholdings. The structural transformation of business items include a portion of business structural expenses from business structural improvements in Europe that were allocated in fiscal 2023 and the cash outflows for expenses related to the resource shift that I explained earlier. Page 26 shows the status of assets, liabilities, and equity. I will omit an explanation for this page. This concludes the financial results for fiscal 24. I will now explain our earnings forecast for fiscal 25, page 28. For earnings forecast for fiscal 2025, I will first start with service solutions. We forecast a continued steady increase in revenue and operating profit from fiscal 24. Revenue is projected to be 1.2.33 trillion yen, an increase of approximately 4% from the prior year. In Japan, revenue is projected to increase 9%, primarily from digital transformation and modernization business. On the other hand, outside of Japan, we forecast that there will be negative impacts from foreign exchange movements and a decline in revenue in Europe. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 360 billion yen, an increase of approximately 70 billion yen, or 24% from the prior year. The operating profit margin is projected to be 15.5%, an improvement of 2.6% points for both the absolute profit and profit margin. We are focused in the record highs. Page 29, next consolidated total earnings forecast. Revenue is projected to be 3.45 trillion, down 2.8% from the prior year. Although revenue is projected to increase in service solutions, revenue is projected to decline in hardware solutions and ubiquitous solutions. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 360 billion yen, up 52.7 billion, or 17% from the prior year. The operating profit margin is projected to be 10.4%, an improvement of 1.7 percentage point. Adjusted profit for the year is projected to be 250 billion. Our plan calls for record high profits for both adjusted operating profit and profit for the year, Page 3 is information that I just explained, I will omit. Page 31 shows the trending consolidated total adjusted operating income from fiscal 29 onwards. The bar graph shows the consolidated total operating profit. Of this, the blue portion is service solutions. We plan to advance our efforts in transforming our business portfolio and steadily increase the ratio of operating profit from service solutions as we increase the consolidated total absolute profit amount. Page 39, I will briefly touch on adjusted items and gains or losses prior to adjustment. Operating profit for fiscal 25 is projected to be 360 billion both before and after adjustments. A one-time profit of 140 billion is projected in operating profit for the year. this is primarily from the projected profit from the sales shares in shinko electric from discontinued operations in profit for the year and projected gain for the sale from the sale of shares in fujitsu's general inequity earnings of affiliated companies profit for the year before adjustments is projected to be 390 billion yen for fiscal 25 we plan to achieve a record high amount of operating profit before and after adjustments operating profit and profit for the year page 33 this page shows A graph broken down by business segment. I will explain the composition of these segments individually, starting from the next page, page 34. Starting with service solutions, revenue is projected to be 2.33 trillion yen, up 84 billion from the prior year. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 360 billion, up 70 billion from the prior year. An increase of 24. Adjusted operating profit margin for segment is projected to be 15.5%, improvement of 2.6%. I will briefly add additional explanation for each sub-segment. Global solutions revenue is projected to be 530 billion, up 3.7 from the prior year, primarily from an increase in revenue in Fujitsu U-Vans. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 27 billion yen, up 21.3 billion from the previous year. We anticipate that we will continue our efforts with growth investments, but the effects of higher revenue will continue to build and profitability will improve. Adjusted operating profit margin is projected to be 5.1%, leading to further improvement. Regions Japan revenue is projected to be 1.43 trillion, up 9%. We anticipate strong growth against the backdrop of demand for digital transformation and modernization. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 306 billion of 45.6 billion. The adjusted operating profit margin is projected to be 21.4% improvement of 1.5 percentage points. We will continue our efforts to improve productivity through initiatives, including development work standardization and pricing strategies. In addition, by focusing our efforts on expanding automation through AI, we anticipate development speed and quality will only continue to improve, which will link to sustainable improvement in our profit margin regions. International revenue is projected to be 530 billion yen, a decline of 10% from the prior year due to the negative impact of foreign exchange movements and lower demand in Europe. On the other hand, adjusted operating profit is projected to be 27 billion yen of 3 billion yen from the prior year. We anticipate making progress to steadily improve profit structure from the effects of our business portfolio transformation and plan for an operating profit margin of 5%. Page 35, a chart to break down the progress of service solutions toward our medium-term management plan. On the far left of chart is fiscal 22, the year prior to the start of the current MTMP. Operating profit was 162.9 billion yen. The operating profit margin was 8.2. Orange bars show an increase in revenue. Yellow bars show an improvement in profitability. Green bar, an increase in investment, which is projected to lead to an increase in profit of $200 billion. We plan for operating profit for fiscal 25 to be $360 billion, 2.2 times the actual operating profit for fiscal 22. The progress towards MTMP and the increase and decreases in fiscal 23 and 24 overlap with the explanation of the financial results. But within the plan to increase operating profit by 200 billion yen over a three-year period, it increased by 75 billion yen in fiscal 23 and by 55 billion in fiscal 24. Actual results for this two-year period achieved a total increase in operating profit of 130 billion yen. For fiscal 25 final year of MTMP, we anticipate an increase in revenue of 45 billion. Revenue in Japan will be driven by Fujitsu Yuva's modernization and consulting and is projected to be up 9%. On the other hand, outside of Japan, our plan shows 10% decline in revenue due to factors such as negative impacts from foreign exchange movement. In total, we anticipate revenue will grow by 4%. Next in profitability improvement, located in the middle, we anticipate an increase in $40 billion. We will continue the efforts we have advanced up until now in delivery transformations, including development work, standardization, and pricing strategies. In addition, by increasing development, automation, and improving quality through the use of generative AI, we aim to increase the gross profit margin by 2%, continuing the 2% increase in both fiscal 23, fiscal 24. The effects of human resource portfolio optimization implemented in fiscal 24 are also included. Lastly, in the bottom column, we anticipate investments for growth will increase by 15 billion yen. We plan to further increase investments in the area of Fujitsu U-VAN's modernization area consulting business. Combined, these three figures will total an increase of 70 billion. As a result, this will lead to achieving adjusted operating profit of 360 billion in fiscal 25. Page 36, Progress in Transformation of Portfolio. On the upper half of the page, there is a bar graph that shows increasing revenue. On the lower half, there is a pie chart that shows the ratio of revenue from each of the business compared to total revenue. is green, modernization is blue, gray is conventional business, particularly systems integration in fiscal 25. We anticipate revenue for U-Vans will be 700 billion yen in line with our plans and revenue for modernization will be 330 billion yen surpassing our initial plan. Modernization revenue is projected to be 231 billion yen with parts that overlap with U-Vans being excluded in the chart. Composition of revenue for service as a whole for fiscal 22 was 14% from a combination of U-Vans and modernization, but in fiscal 24, this became a combined 30%. We plan to increase it until it captures combined 40% in fiscal 25. By further increasing added value and transforming our portfolio to meet market demand, we aim to achieve both growth in overall scale and improve the profitability. Page 37 shows the trend for the financial results of service solutions. The background represents adjusted operating profit and the red dotted line shows the operating profit margin. Operating profit margin for fiscal 19 was 5%. Essentially in fiscal 22, it exceeded 8% of three percentage point over the three-year period of our previous MTMP. In the three-year period of our current MTMP, we aim for further improvement of 7% points for an operating profit margin of 15.5% in fiscal 25. As you can see on the graph, in service solutions, our core business, through advancing our business portfolio transformation and human resource portfolio transformation, we have steadily increased its revenue base as well as strongly improved its business efficiency and productivity. Business strategies we have worked up on until this point have certainly started to show results. We will thoroughly implement each measure in line with the medium-term management plan in fiscal 25 as well. We will achieve our targets without fail, and above all, we will work on sustainable improvement in corporate value beyond that. Page 38, I will briefly comment on our earnings outlook for the other segments besides service solutions, hardware solutions. Revenue anticipated to be 965 billion yen down 13.8%. Adjusted operating profit is projected to be 55 billion yen, decline in profit of 6.3 billion yen. accompanied by a decline in revenue. For systems products, we anticipate declining revenue due to negative impacts of exchange movements and decreasing the sales of externally sourced products, including licensing revenue. For network products, we project an expansion in business from the next demand cycle that will only start from fiscal 26 and beyond, so we must anticipate an increasingly difficult situation, particularly in Japan. As a result, Although we are making strong progress on improving business efficiency, we project that the segment's operating profit will fall below its sluggish figure for fiscal 24. As we announced today, we will establish a new company for network business, Onefinity. On July 1, we will concentrate all of our network-related business in Onefinity. By concentrating the R&D of hardware and software, production, sales, implementation, support, and maintenance related to networks, we will offer high-quality and competitive network solutions globally. By clarifying management responsibilities as an independent company and accelerating management decision-making while also quickly providing products that maximize the use of cutting edge technologies and shifting to software technologies, Fujitsu aims to quickly respond to the rapidly changing business environment and generate new innovation through expanding to new markets, including the AI data center market. Ubiquitous solutions revenue projected to be 225 billion yen, down 10.6% from the previous year due to such factors as a decline from the pullback of last year's large-scale deals. Adjusted operating profit, 20 billion yen projection, deterioration of 11.3 billion yen. interest segment elimination and corporate we project an adjusted operating loss of 75 billion we plan to proactively invest at the same time as the pri at the same level as the prior year particularly in cutting edge research for ai and quantum computing i will now explain the changes from the mtmp consolidated revenue is projectedly down 340 billion yen from the mtmp and adjusted operating profit projected to be down 60 billion yen primarily due to hardware solutions Service solutions are driving force due to negative impacts of exchange movements. Revenue is expected to decline primarily in regions international. On the other hand, against the backdrop of the steady progress we have made up until now in profitability improvements, the decline in revenue is expected to be offset by higher profits, so we will be on track with the plan. hardware solutions. We anticipate that we will fall very short of our plan due to the protracted delay in the recovery of demand for next network products. In our plan, we envision the scenario in which demand would fall sharply for periods starting from fiscal 22 and start to recover from the second half of fiscal 24 with recovering to roughly the same level in fiscal 25. But we anticipate that this scheme will be significantly off the mark and are currently anticipating the required recovery to start from fiscal 26. In ubiquitous solutions, profit is projected to increase despite a decline in revenue due to the scaling down of low-profit business in intersegment elimination and corporate. We have incorporated investment in cutting-edge research that will lead to growth such as AI and quantum computing. Cash flows. Page 41. Core free cash flow is projected to be 235 billion. Although we anticipate an increase in cash outflows from corporate taxes, we project core free cash flow to be at the same level as previous year in major business areas. Free cash flow is projected to be 380 billion yen, up 165.2 billion yen. We anticipate a one-time cash inflow of approximately 300 billion yen from the sale of non-core businesses and a one-time cash outflow of approximately 150 billion yen from expenses related to investment in business structure transformation and acquisition related investments. Page 43 shows the status of base cash flows. I will now explain capital allocation and shareholder return. The association of each cash flow is briefly shown at the top half of the page. On the right side of the page, base cash flow takes into account free cash flow prior to growth investments. So it is the source of capital allocation. To rephrase for clarity, the base cash flow on the far right represents the primary source of capital allocation. From this, growth investments are cashed out, and what remains is the free cash flow. After removing runtime cash inflows and outflows from the free cash flow, we arrive at the core free cash flow. The bottom half of the page shows each year's progress in cash flow. Looking at fiscal 24, which is in the middle, core free cash flow was 233.6 billion yen. Free cash flow, including one-time cash inflows and outflows, was 214.7 billion yen. And base cash flow prior to growth investments was 386.6 billion yen. This is a large increase compared to the prior year fiscal 23, but as I explained in the financial results portion, the main reason for this is progress made on improvements in working capital in addition to sales of core shareholding. similarly looking at fiscal 25 at the bottom core fee cash flow is projected to have 235 billion yen and in addition to one-time cash inflows and outflows of 145 billion yen free cash flow is projected to be 380 billion yen with base cash flow before growth investments projected to be 610 billion yen the anticipated one-time cash inflows and outflows here are the total from a cash inflow of approximately 300 billion yen from the sale of non-core businesses and expenses related to business structural transformation and acquisition related investments of about 150 billion yen as a result as shown on the right side the total base cash flow for the three-year period of the current mtmp is anticipated to be 1.3 trillion in line with the plan. Page 44 is the projection of overall capital allocation source from this base cash flow. First, the image on the left-hand side of the page is the base cash flow I just explained. In fiscal 25, anticipated cash inflow from the sale of non-core businesses will be added to the base cash flow, and there will be no change to our projection of achieving a base cash flow of $1.3 trillion. in this three-year period. On the right side is the essentially distribution of this cash total sum allocated over this three-year period is 700 billion yen projection in growth investments and 600 billion in shareholder return, also in line with MTMP. Looking at base cash flow by year, in the actual results for fiscal 24, the base cash flow on the left side, the source of the capital allocation was 386 billion from this capital, On the right-hand side, 218.2 billion yen was allocated in business growth investment and 230.5 billion yen was allocated to shareholder returns. total of these two allocation is 448.7 billion so by fiscal year base cash flow in other words money above the cash we earned was allocated like the prior temporarily insufficient capital was appropriated through borrowing in this way in capital allocation having anticipated the total amount of cash earned over this three-year period we plan to allocate capital according to demand for it even in the event that there is a significant change in the cash info for fiscal year due to factors such as the sale of non-core businesses like this year we plan to implement capital allocation and stable shareholder return that anticipate the change in fiscal 25 we project 280 billion yen will be allocated to business growth investments and 220 billion to shareholder return i will explain the breakdown of shareholder return on the following page page 45 dividends we plan to implement the stable and steady increase in dividends independent of business performance volatility. In fiscal 25, dividends are projected to increase by 2 yen for interim dividend, which will lead to 10 continuous years of increased dividends. Page 46, shareholder returns. In fiscal 25, we plan to implement a share buyback of $170 billion. As a result, combined with the projected dividends for fiscal 25, the total amount of returns will be $222.4 billion. Total capital allocation over the three-year period is projected to be $600 billion, with a total return ratio of 70%. After completing the share buybacks in fiscal 25, we plan to cancel all such shares. Page 47, changes in primary financial indicators. Each item is calculated using a base excluding one-time losses or gains. On the left side of the page is adjusted EPS. In addition to upgrading profit from our core business, we are making progress in optimizing capital through stock buybacks and EPS is steadily growing. In the very middle is ROE, the return on equity from fiscal 2023. Shareholder returns have expanded with higher cash inflow, essentially by proceeding with a contraction in capital. It appears to be slightly down on the right half of the graph, but that is in line with our expectations. On the right is adjusted ROIC, which is projected to be 12.1% from a strong increase in operating profit. Slide 48 shows market evaluation in the form of the share price, the price-to-earnings ratio, and the price-to-book ratio. Each graph shows five years of trends up to fiscal 24. Compared to the end of fiscal 2019, which marked the starting point for our previous MTMP, our share price has tripled, and both the PE ratio and price-to-book ratio have roughly doubled. We recognize that clearly achieving our fiscal 25 targets and demonstrating the ability to continually grow even further is extremely important to the continued growth of our corporate value. We will work to continue the same trend lines exhibited in these graphs. This concludes my presentation.