Hitachi Ltd Ord

It is now time to start the Hitachi Limited web conference on Q1 fiscal year 2024 earnings. Thank you very much for attending this conference despite your busy schedules. I would like to first of all inform you that explanation materials will be available on the Hitachi Limited IR site as well as the news release site. I will now introduce the speakers for today. Tomomi Kato, Senior Vice President and Executive Officer, CFO. Masao Yoshikawa, Corporate Officer, Executive General Manager, Investor Relations Division. Hiroaki Ono, Deputy General Manager of the Finance Division. Now, we will shorten the presentation time from this conference moment. There is no change in the Q&A period. Now, I would like to ask Mr. Kato to start the explanation. We will be switching over the screen. Mr. Kato, please. First of all, I would like to explain to you the contents for today's presentation, the key messages. And Q1 fiscal year 2024 results as well as the forecast and performance by business segment and appendix. Let me explain the key messages. For the first quarter, results of 2024, DX and GX market has been captured, driving the growth in revenues as well as profitability improvement. In three sectors, we have achieved increase in revenues as well as... profit. Cash flow management has led to the free cash flow improvement, so we are off to a very good start in terms of the fiscal year 2024. These are the five KPIs. For the three sectors, revenues increased by 21%, green energy mobility and digital system service grew, and excluding the foreign exchange impact, grew by 14%. Adjusted EBITDA grew in terms of green as well as digital, increased by 55% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11%, increased by 2.4 point year-on-year. Hitachi Consulted numbers are presented below. Net income tripled to Hitachi Limited stockholders, achieved 175.3 billion yen, increased by 100 billion yen year-on-year, for core free cash flow, increased by 40 billion at 70.9 billion yen. Next, I'd like to talk about the focus for fiscal year 2024. It is likely that we will achieve the target for 2024. DX, demand and generative AI. New business opportunities will be captured to increase revenues and profit for the three sectors. Corporate cash flow is likely to focus for 1.5 trillion yen. which is 300 billion yen greater than target next KPIs. Regarding gross revenues excluding forex, a 6% increase in adjusted EBITDA increased by 20%. Therefore, growth rate is similar to fiscal year 2023. Adjusted EBITDA margin improvement over the previous year, 11.5%. Hitachi Consolidated numbers presented below for net income increased by 600 billion yen. Core pre-cash flow of 480 billion is forecast. From the previous year, there is increase in capex, leading to decrease, but exceeding the mid-term management plan. And in terms of net income, we will aim for 80% as per mid-term management plan in terms of conversion rate. Roic and Justin EBITDA, improvement by 9.5% during the forecast. For fiscal year 2024, there is no change for what we have announced previously. The first quarter, the orders shown here, digital system service and DSS segment grew by 20%, especially in domestic energy and public area. A major project as well as storage, domestic as well as overseas, made a contribution for the GEM project. segment increased by 10% around the year. Railway systems and energy is subject to a reactionary decline. However, because of the nuclear power project as a segment increased And because of the foreign exchange impact as well, the first quarter major projects has been concluded for 4.5 billion yen European contract for HVDC converter status for a station for wind power generation. The gem sector railway system, the GTS of Thales has been acquired in May, and the first quarter remains very strong. Next, I'd like to talk about the connective industry, CI sector, smart life, eco-friendly system. Joint venture company Johnson Control Hitachi Air Conditioning's share transfer has been agreed to. The closing is expected for fiscal year 2025. Therefore, there is no impact for the forecast of this year. At the same time, we have acquired the commercial air conditioning business to expand offering to the data center market. Next, I would like to extend the highlight for the first quarter of 2024 in terms of revenues on a consultative basis. Because of the business reorganization of last year, there was a decrease, but the freight sector has increased by 21%, excluding the foreign-exchanging bank, the increase of 14%. DX demand was very strong. The demand of the business increased as well. And there were projects that had been templated in the first quarter, and a business relating to the new banknote in Japan also was significant. Additional EBITDA was impacted in terms of operating income because of the business reorganization. Three sectors increased. was also shown. In terms of net income, adjusted EBITDA increases as well as foreign exchange has led to increase. Free cash flow was because of DSS improvement as well as energy increase in revenues, improvement of working capital has led to increase. Next, I'd like to talk about the adjusted EBITDA. The waterfall chart will be explained. Upper is revenues, and I would like to explain from the left to right. Because of the stake has been sold, similar revenues decreased, but Thomas GTS business was acquired, and foreign exchange was In terms of foreign exchange, Weikian has little higher revenues. Organic growth was a change, especially in GX-related Hitachi Energy, as well as GX-related DSS from business and IT business groups. Lower part is adjusted EBITDA. Similar to revenues for others, there was increased by 70 billion yen. Organic revenue increase included scale increase as well as the selling price change. These are positive and they succeeded the negative impact of soaring procurement cost as well as increasing investment. Adjusted EBITDA increased. Next, I'd like to talk about the financial position as well as the cash flow. At the top is the asset as of the end of this quarter, 13 trillion 400 trillion yen. That is an increase of 1.1 trillion yen from the previous year, especially in terms of the Thales GTS acquisition as well as the weekend. interest-bearing debt increased. Because of the Thales GTS business increased by 400 billion yen, the ratio increased to 0.26 times. Cash flow has been explained. Cash flow from investing activities has increased because of GTS Thales acquisition. Next, I'd like to talk about the different regions. Starting with Japan, a 14% increase was achieved. We saw growth in DSS, where DX orders was very strong. Front business, such as finance, social, as well as public, increased. In terms of IT service, a 18% increase was achieved. For North America, three sectors, 34% increase was achieved. Hitachi Energy, the transformer, HVTC was very strong. Green energy mobility, or The part of GEM increased by 50% for DSS. Globologic grew. Hitachi Vantara storage business grew, increased by 19% was achieved. In terms of Europe, for three sectors, increased by 31%. Mainly, this is Hitachi Energy. HVDC orders received increased and germ increased by 45% as a result. Other regions, three sector growth was 50%. This is driven by germ, 57% increase. Hitachi Energy's Middle East project showed progress, and this is also reflecting foreign exchange impact. Overseas business accounted for 64%. Now, let me talk about the segment-based orders results. GEM, Hitachi Energy, and railway systems, as well as sea, water, and environment, looks lower in terms of growth because of the reactionary decline from the previous year. Focus for 2024. Let me give you the highlights. As explained at the outset, the KPI of the mid-term management plan has almost been achieved. I will give you more details later, but for DSS and GEM segment, in terms of the revenues as well as adjusted EBITDA were revised upward. For a static and solid basis, we have only finished the first quarter. Therefore, the focus has not changed. Furthermore, for adjusted EBITDA, additional improvement was incorporated as well. In terms of revenues, for fiscal 2023, ASTEMO has an impact leading to a minus 7% for three sectors, excluding foreign exchange with 6% growth adjusted EBITDA. Because ASTEMO became an equity method affiliate, nevertheless, we have been able to increase the revenues. This is despite the absence of 120 billion, a non-operating process of ASTEMO becoming an equity method affiliate in fiscal year 2023.

In summary, three sectors are forecasting revenue and profit increase. Lastly, FX assumption from Q2 onward, initial rate of 140 yen to a dollar is kept unchanged. Next, factors affecting year-on-year changes in revenue and adjusted EBITDA for FY24. The upper half, revenue, decreased from divestiture of Hitachi Astemo, an increase from acquisition of Thales, DTS, and FX was a negative factor year-on-year. And in others, increase in Hitachi Energy, GX-related and DX-related service and platform, and in CI segment, Hitachi iTech, High-tech will increase the revenue and adjust the EBITDA on the lower half, similar trend as the revenue. The others will increase by 150 billion yen. Increase in the business scale and selling price change included in organic growth over our positive factors. This more than offset soaring procurement costs and increase in investment and resulting in higher adjusted EBITDA year-on-year on a consolidated basis. Next, performance by business segment. First is digital system and service. Revenue increased by 16% in Q4. and 11% increase excluding FX. Adjusted EBITDA margin is 12.4%, which is up in revenue and profit year on year. Revenue in front business and IT service increased, and service and platform also increased. Global logic grew by over double digits, and storage grew in Japan and abroad. I will explain this later. Backed by strong DX demand, Lumada business increased by 19%, drove overall growth. Next, right side, FY24. This time, we revised upward. In FY23, excluding FX, the revenue grew by 6%. But in FY24, we expect 8% revenue growth. Next, green energy and mobility, GEM. For GEM overall, revenue in Q1 increased by 41% and excluding FX, 28% growth. So sales, revenue and profit grew year on year. In revenue, Hitachi Energy and Railway Systems, BU, and all segments grew by double digits and achieved revenue and profit growth. In Hitachi Energy, in addition to equipment growth including transformers, HPVC, system integration, and maintenance managed service, all these Lumada business also grew. For FY24, we revised upward. For GEM, the revenue is 15% growth when we expect similar level growth as FY23. Next, Connective Industries, CEI. The revenue grew by 3% in Q1. Adjusted EBITDA margin is 11.1%. So both revenue and profit grew. Revenue, a smart life and eco-friendly system declined, but all other BU's increased, especially in water environment BU and industrial products. Next, FY24, for CI overall, revenue growth by 33%, including FX, 4% growth, which is up. from 1% in FY23. This time, smart life and eco-friendly systems, revenue and profit were revised downward and declined from sales of domestic home appliance business. On the other hand, we expect room for improvement in other BU's and kept full year forecast unchanged. Next, Lumada business. Left side, Q1 revenue will increase by 17% year-on-year. FY24 revenue grew by 14% and profit margin is 16%. So it will be up by 1% point year-on-year. This remains unchanged from last time. Now this time, quarterly revenue by sector is disclosed from this time. In DSS, DX-related system integration grew by and front business and IT service increased, and global logic digital engineering also grew, so total 19% growth. In GEM, Hitachi Energy managed service and system integration grew, and railway systems managed service also grew. So overall growth was 29%. Now, as topics, we signed strategic partnership with Microsoft and Google Cloud on generative AI, and we also jointly developed a generative AI solution called Hitachi IQ with NVIDIA and started the sales. This Lamada business growth and profitability improvement will contribute to higher revenue and profit of Hitachi overall. That concludes my explanation on first quarter results and FY24 forecasts.

We will now proceed to the Q&A session. Those of you with questions, please use the raise hand button on the web conference system. We will call your name and when your name is called, please unmute, state your name and affiliation and ask your question. If you no longer need to ask the question, please release the raise hand button. We will not show the video of the person asking questions. We will first take questions on the Japanese channel and then take questions from the English channel. So we will take questions all together for the media institutional investors as well as the financial analysts. We will now invite questions on the Japanese channel. Those of you with questions, please utilize the raise hand button. Yasui-san, please unmute and state your question. I have two questions. Regarding digital, in terms of orders, it is prevailing very high levels. And you see 42 have been very strong as well, but it seems that your orders are very strong. Is your share increasing? And what is your relative competitiveness, inclusive of IT companies? service market today. Power grid orders received was very strong. In terms of regions, it seems that the GEM is increasing, but in terms of power grid, Europe, US, as well as the Middle East. What is the market trend, as well as the orders environment? Answer. Thank you for your question. First of all, regarding DSS, in terms of orders received. In the presentation material, we have given you a breakdown by BU. As we have shown, in terms of DSS overall, an increase by 20% was achieved. For three business units, we have been able to grow across the board. Front business increased by 24%. IT, 19% increase. Service and platform increased by 16%. In terms of the front business, In particular, in finance as well as social. In terms of finance, there was a major project last year, and there was a decline because of reactionary decline. But social is very strong. Public system, social system, there have been major orders received. For IT service, on the other hand, HiSol and HiSys, we have two companies. We have seen growth in both areas. For HiSol, There have been major domestic projects remaining very strong. We have seen an increase for high-systems. In the public area, there have been major projects won. Basically, the front office as well as the IT service characteristic is that our limited business Data utilization to create value has been very strong in terms of cloud, as well as generative AI have businesses that are increasing. A servicing platform is such that the global logic has been growing from the past. Now, storage has seen growth at the same time, domestic as well as overseas, especially with the foreign exchange impact. And cloud has been growing very significantly domestically. But the second question is about the energy. In this area, the trend has been maintained from the past. HPDC, Malaysia projects, orders have been captured and projects are underway in various regions, as I mentioned earlier, in terms of revenues in North America, as well as Europe and the Middle East. In these regions, sales have been achieved. Beyond H3DC, transformers as well as switchgear have been growing very strongly as well. In terms of transformers, there is projects relating to data centers. We are receiving inquiries in this area. In terms of the trend, the prevailing trend, there is no change. Globally, all over the world, HVDC, major systems, as well as transformers, as well as switchgear equipment are growing. A follow-up question. In terms of power grid, for Coeur d'Alene, revenues are $600 billion, very high. Is that after inventory has been released? So if we multiply this by four, can we get the number for the full year? And I would also like to ask you regarding relative competitiveness in the area of IT. Regarding power grid answer, revenues for the first quarter increased by 49%, inclusive of the foreign exchange. 31% increase has been achieved even on a dollar basis for fiscal year 2023. 22% increase excluding foreign exchange. So it seems that it is one level higher in terms of inventory. Last year, uh human resources as well as uh capacity was maximum uh in terms of manufacturing therefore we were not able to fully respond to the orders from our customers it isn't as if it has been a result but We have made capital expenditures. Therefore, there has been improvement recently. For the first quarter, revenue growth is driven by the relieving of the bottlenecks that existed in the previous year. On the other hand, 30% revenue increase for the quarter is very high. For the full year, 15% yen basis and excluding foreign exchange is 16%. we have to evaluate the forecast going forward. Now, in terms of IT, from the past, we have been making efforts in cloud business, especially for the use of generative AI, not just open, but also on-premise. Usage of the cloud is increasing in terms of demand. Hybrid cloud is what we are offering. The combination thereof is the service and response that we've been providing to our customers. This is our strength characteristics, especially in the area of security. There is a heightened need for better security. We are also making efforts in this area. Centering in this area for DX related demand is leading to increasing orders.

That's all. Thank you very much. Next. The name is not indicated. From NHK, please go ahead. Miyoshi. Can you hear me? Yes, thank you very much. Question. Today, BOJ decided on the rate hike. And you have your forecast. Your investment strategy or business will be impacted in any way from this BOJ policy change? And how do you see the impact on the Japanese economy overall? Thank you very much. Answer. Thank you for your question. So today, BOJ made an announcement Regarding the content, we had been anticipating a rate hike this year. And that was our understanding. So this was in line with our expectation. Basically, our performance this year, we were based on the assumption that the rate hike will take place this year. And so no impact there. But until now, the interest rate was negative for a long time. And this time it's being raised. So the interest cost will increase, which will change the WAC. And this may change the client's investment activity. So this may appear in the medium term. So we have to focus and watch that. But basically, we are now going to enter a world with positive interest rate, which is normal environment. So that is our interpretation. Thank you very much. Question. Regarding interest rate, FX, could you also touch on FX as well? Thank you very much. FX as shown in the slide the FX sensitivity on revenue and operating profit adjusted EBITDA with weaker yen the amount will increase and so this will push up our revenue and profit so revenue is like that but on the profit side there are also costs so profit will not increase like in the same proportion as revenue so operating profit margin may decline that's one impact with weaker yen the overseas m a will become more expensive so weekend is not 100 better for us but basically as we run our company we want the stable market stable market is very important for us. So basically, if Japanese economy becomes stronger and gradually turn to stronger yen, that is a favorable, desirable scenario. Thank you very much.

Next, there is no name indicated. investment management, please. Question. I hope you can hear me. I have three questions. Regarding Lumada business, the profitability thereof EBITDA 16% for the full year forecast is presented. This is only the first quarter, but is there an upside trend? Especially digital engineering that is accelerating. Do you think there will be an upside trend? Is it going to be a positive contribution in terms of mix? Thank you very much for your question. You're right. For the fiscal year, 16% is the forecast. There's no change. from the last time. For the first quarter, in terms of revenue, an overall increase of 17% was achieved, a 14% increase for the fiscal year. Therefore, the first quarter actual was very strong. However, in terms of profitability, as I mentioned previously, we had an overall increase in profitability. The profit margin has increased one year. So we are bullish, but regarding the 16%, compared to 23, that's a one point increase. It is a high profitability business. It's different to other businesses. Therefore, we believe that it is within the expected range. But for the first quarter, 70% increase in revenue is stronger than expected. So we have not changed the forecast for 2024. It has remained intact. But in the second quarter moment, if there is going to be a continuous trend, we may further revise. Regarding the question, global logic is increased by 12% on a dollar basis. You said that the investment is suppressed. But organic, do you think it is improving? It was a single digit previously. Are you seeing a recovery in this area? Please comment and answer regarding global logic. last year, as well as from previously, North America, as well as European customers. Investment in ID has been growing, but it has been slowing down compared to the past. Unfortunately, this trend is still continuing. Depending on the customers, we are seeing some growth, but overall, we have not uh recovered to the level of fiscal year 2022 in terms of momentum in the second half of this year or after in and after the second half we are expecting a recovery but given these circumstances it is still growing at double digit question Regarding Hitachi Energy, adjusted EBITDA, 11.4% is shown. This is upside to the fiscal term. Do you think this is sustainable? Or is it because of the mix of the major projects, there are one-off factors? Please comment. Regarding the first quarter, I think we did better than expected. Therefore, for the fiscal year, forecast has remained intact, no change. But currently, we are expecting the first full year to be this level, standalone basis 10%. In terms of revenues, the first quarter tends to be strong. Therefore, at the time of the second quarter results, we will revise. Thank you.

Next, ,, please unmute yourself and ask your question. Question. I have two questions. It may overlap with the previous question, but on Hitachi Energy, the profit margin is now improving significantly. And other companies are enjoying higher profitability as well. So the Hitachi energy's profitability from your orders that you have captured may be even higher. So current existing orders and the long-term lower profitability ones, what is the breakdown? And in two or three years' time, what will this look like? If you could enlighten us. Thank you. answer so this will just be an outline but of the backlog fy 24 the ones that will convert into revenue in fy 24 is around a little less than one-third the remainder are medium to long term now by business grid automation, software business, grid integration, high-voltage transformer, the ones that are short-term, relatively short-term, which we can realize revenue within fiscal year 24, and the grid integration, which is where we have to improve our profitability, are longer-term, medium to long-term. So this structure remains unchanged. But gradually... after the order quality after Hitachi acquired the business is improving and the margin profile is also improving. So this trajectory remains unchanged and the overall structure remains unchanged, but we are improving profitability gradually. Thank you. So this will continue. So question. My second question is digital. So you revised your plan, and so this now is different from your initial plan, but what is the biggest difference from the initial plan when you made the upward revision in digital revenue? And how do you see Q2 and onward? Will it decelerate or accelerate or at the same pace? What is your current forecast? Answer, thank you very much. Q1 was good. For example, revenue in public sector and energy grew, and project management was thoroughly implemented. And the service menu that we provide is more higher value, added value. And so we are getting the sales price accordingly. And inflation is passed on, passed through to the end price. So those were the good points. So in Q1, front was good. Likewise, service and platform storage was better than we thought. Since last year, we've changed our organization. And we are now enhancing our sales and marketing structure since last year. So in Q1, we got new customers in North America and also large projects in Europe. So we are seeing some fruit from these changes. So this strong Q1, and also backed by VFX, we made an upward revision. But Q1 revenue grew significantly And we are not sure if this momentum can be maintained for the whole year. There is resource constraints in Japan. So it's not going to be easy. And therefore, this time, excluding FX, Q1 grew by 11%. And upward revision will be 8% on a four-year basis. But Lumada-related customer inquiry is very strong. So towards Q2, we will try to ascertain the actual situation. Thank you very much.

Next, Tsutsumi-san, please. Please unmute and ask your question. Question. I have two questions. First question is regarding the first quarter adjusted EBITDA, the increase and decrease. The waterfall chart was shown. You also mentioned the selling price change. What was the contribution to increase in profit? And also, please give the segment based breakdown. That's my first question. Second question. First quarter, in your main business, the performance is very good. But if you were to identify risk, what would that be? Has there been any downside in the recent past in terms of certain domain? Or what are the risks that you are considering going forward? Answer. Slide 7 is the first question. Adjusted EBITDA is shown here. And in others, 71.7 billion breakdown is shown here. Regarding the business scale, the 70 billion was the increase in profit. In terms of selling price change, that's about a 23 billion increase was shown. In terms of the selling price, they've been discounting as well, so it's a net change. And within this, by segment, DSS-related and PG-related have made a significant contribution in this area. The second question is regarding the first quarter risks. For the first quarter, Decrease in revenue as well as forecast decline was seen in CI in the area of smart life and eco-friendly systems or home appliances. Air conditioning has been very strong, but domestically the white goods demand is declining, revenue is declining. That is the result for the first quarter. We are hoping to make a recovery in the second half, but we believe in the first half it will continue. Therefore, we have changed the forecast for the full year. Now, there could be variation depending on how much recovery is achieved in the second half. For the CI sector, the measurement and analysis system is high-tech. overall revenue and profit increase. And the clinical chemistry, immunochemistry analyzer, new product that was introduced leading to increase in revenues. But in terms of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the investment on the part of customers is being delayed compared to what we have expected. Therefore, a decrease in revenues as well as profit. But we believe that this will recover in the second half. Orders are not declining. But depending on the changes made by the customers, it could be subject to variation. Not specifically for any sector, but especially for DSS as well as for GEM, major projects are being taken on. Project management is conducted in a steadfast manner, but major projects are subject to this. Therefore, we have to watch this area very carefully. Regarding DSS and PG, there have been significant changes in terms of selling price. Has this been expected from the beginning? Because of many inquiries, do you feel that selling price must be increased? Now, is it also included in the folio forecast? And so from about two years ago, inflation is having a significant impact. Therefore, we are reflecting that in the selling price. And in the same continuum, for the first quarter numbers are within our expectations. So that is our understanding. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Next, Umegaki-san, please ask your question. Question. First of all, page 16. Nuclear power business, large projects. Which regions are they? Is there any additional information you could give us? Second question. Is the corporate cost, headquarter cost, 20 billion yen? Is this a buffer for you? Or is there a specific reason that you have recorded this? If you have any more details, please. And lastly, air conditioning, the business, sales, the proceeds. How will you deal with the proceeds? I think the timing will be next fiscal year. If you could give us more information on your impact on your P&L. And how do you plan to use the proceeds? Maybe this will relate to your medium term plan. Thank you very much. Answer. Thank you for your question. First, nuclear power. We're not doing this overseas. It's only in Japan. So this is a domestic project. And this is front loaded than we originally planned. And so that is why we have this result in Q1. We do not disclose the details on the project. So I hope you could understand. Second question. So in corporate item, it is 20 billion negative. In the slide, I briefly touched on this in the past. The segment deterioration risk was included in the corporate item as a buffer, but this year we're not doing it. When we get the forecast in April, we thought that there will be more room for improvement on the segment side, and so we included additional improvement, this time in DSS and GEM. In Q1, we already had the upper revision, and so this portion was used. So for this year, the corporate item does not include the risk buffer and air conditioning. As you rightly said, this will be Q1 of FY25. That's the closing time. At that point, with our current calculation, 125 billion yen gain on sales and also 195 billion proceeds. And I touched on this in June investor day for the asset disposal. We are thinking of using it two ways. One is the growth investment like M&A, and the other is shareholder return buyback. So these two will first be the target, the main use of proceeds. And on the same return scale, we will compare and use it for the one that is better. That is our basic thinking. But it's one year from now. And so once we become closer, we will study further. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Now at this point in time, we would like to take questions on the English channel. Please use the raise hand button if you have any questions. Any questions on the English channel? There seem not. So we will refer back to the Japanese channel. Harada-san, please unmute and ask your question. Question. I have three questions. First question is regarding energy. Now, a question was raised regarding the price change, especially in terms of energy for transformers in particular. For the short term, overseas manufacturers as well as Hyundai, Korean makers are increasing their price significantly. But you also have short-term, you also have mid- to long-term projects as well. Therefore, it isn't as if you are falling suit. But in terms of price change, how much is impacted by the market conditions? Please elaborate. Answer. Thank you for your question. It isn't as if we can give a clear answer. As you rightly mentioned, for the power grid equipment depending on the product supply and demand is very tight and the market price is increasing for some equipment so depending on the market conditions we are proposing price so we have been benefiting from this but I cannot give you a specific answer in terms of scale for this fiscal year it is within our expectations question regarding the price increase is it higher than the original expectation answer For this fiscal year, compared to the original forecast, it is within expectations. Second question. Regarding the hybrid cloud that you mentioned, from June or July, Hitachi IQ has started service. Is this additional inquiries to be received in the second half? Is this going to push up the expectations or do you think that it is already incorporated into the original forecast? Answer? No. With NVIDIA, GPO has been incorporated into servers and related equipment as well as software, and our storage as well as affiliate related software have been combined into a solution. And if revenues go up, in terms of storage as well as software related to servers will increase in terms of revenue, so we have high expectations for Hitachi IQ. But in terms of storage, we believe there will be an increase. But we have to look at the orders to be received in the second quarter in order to have a better understanding of the full air. Question regarding air conditioning. With the commercial, air conditioning will be internalized. Is this only for the domestic market? Google, Amazon, and hyperscalers are making more investments in Japan in terms of data centers. Is this related to this area? Are you already receiving orders in this area? Do you think that more orders will be received in the second half and onward? Thank answer. Hitachi brand and commercial air conditioning have been provided to the domestic market. JC8 has been manufacturing, developing and also sold through the Hitachi GLS. And in terms of the sales and maintenance, inclusive of the development and manufacturing, Hitachi GLS will be in charge of all the business in Japan. But in terms of revenues that are being already posted, Therefore, there is no change. But with the integration poised for next year, we will have manufacturing as well as sales combined. Therefore, we can bring to bear our strength in this area. We hope that this will lead to increase in business. Now, regarding the commercial air conditioning reorganization, as you have rightly mentioned, the cooling mechanism is required in data centers as well as buildings. There is an increased demand in this area. Therefore, going forward, it is our intention to grow this business. But currently, we have not received any major inquiries yet. This is what we are going to promote going forward. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Time is coming up, but we want to take all the questions of those who are raising their hand. Hayakawa-san, Murase-san, Izawa-san, and Takahashi-san, in that order, we want to take the questions. So first, Hayakawa-san, please go ahead. Question. Thank you very much. So this may overlap with the previous question, but in the air conditioning business, you said you want to grow the data center field. Are you thinking of investment in Japan? Do you have that already in place? And overall, the net profit has grown quite significantly. Is there some one-off that pushed up your net profit? answer thank you for the question air conditioning the investment plan in Japan we will be closing this next year so we will prepare towards next year as of now we do not have a plan yet in Q1 net profit was good this was because in the non operating profit there were two main items three main items One is the business divestiture. Hitachi's Power Electronics, HPSD. This company was transferred to Minebeya Mitsumi, so that's 17 billion gain on sales. And others, foreign exchange gain, and UK horizon project, land was sold. So those three combined are all one-time, one-off impact. And this pushed up our net profit in Q1. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Please ask your question. Question. I have also a question regarding the air conditioning. What is your positioning going forward in terms of home appliances? Answer. Thank you for your question. Regarding air conditioning for the household, Hitachi brand air conditioning equipment will be provided by Hitachi Global Life Solutions. 100% sub. Therefore, there is no change from the perspective of our customers. We will continue this business. Question. Regarding the refrigerators as well as home appliances solutions. Answer. Regarding home appliances, Whitewoods, within Hitachi, we have a social infrastructure business and home appliances Appliance is an important touchpoint with the consumers. As we pursue social innovation business, it has an important positioning. There is no change.

Does this answer your question? Thank you. Thank you. Next, Takahashi-san, please ask your question. Question, thank you very much. I have two questions. One is, now we are entering the world with positive interest rate. And so you said this is within your expectation, but are you financing beforehand in terms of the financial policy strategy? Answer, of our borrowing, Long term accounts for more than 50%. About 70% are long term in nature. So that part is not impacted by the interest rate. And the remainder are short term, so that will be impacted. But as I mentioned at the outset, this fiscal year, we expected that the interest rate will rise and planned accordingly. So no impact there. Question. My second question. is as been mentioned so the home use air conditioning a similar kind of selection and concentration prioritization will continue going forward and one is affinity with Lumada I think so if you could elaborate on that point answer thank you for that question so no change from what we've been saying in the past We think of core business as Lumada, the high growth and high added value business under Lumada. So what we can expect value under Lumada and where we have certain level of presence in the domain that we are active in. So that is our judgment criteria and no change there. Now for the business portfolio rebalancing, we will continue doing what we've done. In other words, how can we maximize the corporate value and business value? So no change there. But we're not targeting any particular business. This is the business for Hitachi overall. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We will now take the last question. Please unmute and ask your question. Question. I just have one major question regarding balance sheet and the debt borrowing that you have with the rate increase. This is not related to what happened today, but the securities report was presented in the third quarter and fourth quarter. The interest paid has increased significantly on the profit and loss statement. It seems that the borrowing rate is becoming higher. Can you elaborate on this? Why is this the case? And for this fiscal year and onward, The rate in terms of borrowing, is it going to be 6% or 7% at high levels? Please give us your take on this. As well as global logics, as well as energy and talents, the assets overseas is increasing significantly. And you have many non-Japanese employees globally. Therefore, in terms of borrowing, how you borrow is going to be of utmost importance in terms of group financial management. So please elaborate on this matter. Thank you for your question. Regarding the previous fiscal year, I don't have the materials with me, so we will get back to you. But as I mentioned earlier, For this fiscal year, for Japan, the rate increase has been expected for overseas market in the US, Europe. We believe there's going to be a rate cut, but it's not going to be sudden. And we don't see that Japan's rate is going to increase significantly suddenly. So in terms of interest rate payment, the borrowing rate burden is likely not to increase significantly. As I mentioned in the investor day, we will make investment for growth going forward. For leverage, the day ratio has gone down to 0.2. With Talos GTS acquisition, there has been an increase, but we are still below 0.3. Therefore, we are considering further leverage going forward. There is no change in this outlook. As we mentioned, the interest rate outlook, but there is going to be more borrowings. There will be new borrowings as well. So we will manage this very carefully. Furthermore, in terms of the debt borrowing policy, the lowest interest rate will be prioritized. In Japan, the interest rate was overwhelmingly low, so there was more debt in Japan. But going forward with the narrowing of the interest rate gap, we may consider otherwise but it is not going to change suddenly so the foreign exchange as well as interest rate trends will be taken into consideration to get favorable conditions within the group we are conducting cash polling as well within the cash companies we are utilizing this process for overseas acquired entities as well so borrowing cost will be decreased by utilizing this process. With that, we would like to bring the Taji Limited Web Conference on Q1 Fiscal Year 2024 earnings to a close. Thank you very much for your attendance despite your busy schedules.