Komatsu Ltd S/Adr

This is Horikoshi, the CFO. I will go through the overview of the business results for Q3 fiscal 24. On page 4 are highlights for Q3 on a three-month basis. Exchange rates were 148.8 yen to the dollar, 161.4 yen to the euro, and 99 yen to the Australian dollar. Year-on-year, the yen spent in against the dollar was but weakened against the Euro and Australian dollar. Net sales increased by 1.8% year-on-year to 989.2 billion yen, and operating income increased by 4% to 162.6 billion. The operating income ratio went up by 0.3 points to 16.4%. Net income increased by 9.7%, to 108.3 billion yen. Net sales and net income were third quarter record highs. Segment profit, operating income, and the operating income ratio were the highest ever for a quarter. On page five, I will go through segment sales and profits for Q3 on a three-month basis. Sales of construction, mining, and utility were 918.2 billion yen, broadly flat from the corresponding period a year ago. Segment profits decreased by 1.4% to 147 billion yen, and the segment profit ratio went down by 0.2 points to 16%. Retail finance sales increased by 11.1% year-on-year to 30.2 billion yen, and segment profits increased by 22.3% to 7 billion yen. Industrial machinery and others net sales increased by 7.5% year-on-year to 49.9 billion yen and segment profit increased by about 5.7 times year-on-year to 7.3 billion yen. I will explain the factors behind the changes in each segment later. Page six shows the sales by region in the construction, mining, and equipment segment For the three months of Q3, net sales in the construction mining equipment segment increased by 1.3% year-on-year to 916.1 billion yen. By region, sales increased in Oceania, where sales of mining equipment increased, and in Asia, where demand recovered in Indonesia, but decreased in the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and other regions. Page 7 shows the highlights for fiscal 2423 on a nine-month basis. The exchange rates were 152.2 yen to the dollar, 164.8 yen to the euro, and 100.8 yen to the Australian dollar. Year over year, the yen weakened against the U.S. dollar, euro, and Australian dollar. Net sales increased by 5.8% year on year. to 2,957.3 billion yen. And operating income increased by 2.8% to 466.1 billion yen. The operating income ratio decreased by 0.4 points to 15.8%. Net income increased by 1.9% to 310.1 billion yen. Net sales segment income, operating income, and net income were record highs for Q3 on a cumulative basis. And also for that noto reconstruction, we have been providing our equipment free of use. On a cumulative basis, the impact has been 1.2 billion yen as a result. On page 8, I will explain the net sales and income for each segment for Q3 on a nine-month basis. Sales of construction, mining, and utility equipment increased by 4.7% year-on-year to 2,748.4 billion yen, while segment profit decreased by 1.1% to 425 billion yen, and the segment profit ratio decreased by 0.9 points to 15.5%. Retail finance sales increased by 23.2% year-on-year to 92 billion yen and segment profit increased by 16.6% to 21.8 billion yen. Sales of industrial machinery and others increased by 11.6% year-on-year to 146.7 billion yen and segment profit increased by approximately 2.6 times year-on-year to 15.1 billion yen. I'll explain the factors behind the changes in each segment later.

Page 9 shows sales by region in the construction, mining, and utility equipment segment for the third quarter nine months year-to-date. Net sales of construction, mining, and utility equipment increased 5.1% year-on-year to 740.6 billion yen. By region, its sales increased North America, Latin America, and Oceania, while they did decrease in Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. Of the regions where sales increased, sales in North America, Latin America, CIS, and Africa decreased on a constant currency basis. Page then shared the factors behind an increase or decrease in net sales and segment income of the construction, mining, and utility equipment segment in the third quarter nine months here to date. Net sales increased by 122.6 billion yen from the same period of the previous year as a positive impact of weaker yen and improved selling prices outweighed a negative impact of decrease in volume. Segment income decreased by 4.9 billion yen from the same period of the previous year due to the negative impact of lower volume, higher cost of goods sold and fixed costs, and the negative impact of mix, despite the positive impact of weaker yen and sales price improvement. Segment profit margin declined 0.9 percentage points from the same period last year to 15.5%. Page 11 shows the status of retail finance for the third quarter nine months here today. Assets increased from the end of the previous fiscal year due to an increase in new contracts and the effect of weaker yen at the end of the period under review compared to the end of the previous fiscal year. New contracts increased year-on-year mainly due to the impact of yen depreciation. Net sales increased by 17.3 billion yen year-on-year to 92 billion yen mainly due to higher interest rate rates received, the positive impact of yen depreciation, and an increase in financing receivables. Segment income increased 3.1 billion yen to 21.8 billion yen. Page 12 shows sales and segment income of the industrial machinery and other segments for the third quarter nine months here today. Net sales increased 11.6% year-on-year to 146.7 billion yen. Segment income was 15.1 billion yen, up 2.6 times approximately from the same period last year, and segment profit margin rose 6 percentage points to 10.3%. In the automotive industry, sales of large presses and machine tools increased, and in semiconductor industry, maintenance sales of ex-sino lasers recovered, pushing up on its sales and profits. I'll explain now the consolidated balance sheet on page 13. Total assets for 5,919.2 billion yen, an increase of 282.6 billion yen from the end of the previous fiscal year, mainly due to an increase in working capital and an impact of yen depreciation at the end of the current period compared to the end of the previous fiscal year. Inventories increased by 126.9 billion yen from the end of the previous fiscal year, because the impact of weaker yen and increasing inventories for mining equipment. Shareholder's equity ratio decreased by 1 percentage point from the end of the previous fiscal year to 52.8%. The acquisition of treasury stock, which was resolved at the Board of Directors meeting held on April 26, 2024, was completed by August 8, 2024, amounting to 100 billion yen. In addition, the company completed the acquisition of 100 billion yen worth of its own shares by August 8, 2024. On October 30, 2024, we canceled 22,857,500 shares acquired this time. This is equivalent to 2.35% of the total number of shares issued and outstanding before the cancellation. Net DE ratio is 0.31. This concludes my part.

Next, Mr. Hishinuma will talk about the projections for fiscal 24. I am Hishinuma, General Manager of the Business Coordination Department. I will explain the projection for fiscal 24 and the conditions in major markets. Page 15 is an outline of a projection for fiscal 24. The projection for fiscal 24 has not changed from the October outlook. From page 16, I'll go through the demand trends and outlook for the seven major products. Demand trends for the seven major products, inclusive of line equipment, are shown here. Fiscal 24 Q3 numbers are preliminary estimates by our company. It appears that demand in Fiscal 24 Q3 decreased by 2% year-on-year. The demand forecast for Fiscal 24 is unchanged. from the October forecast with a decrease of 5% to 10% year-on-year. The subsequent pages explain the conditions in the major markets. Page 17 shows the demand trends and forecasts for the Japanese market. Demand in Fiscal 24 Q3 apparently decreased by 12% year-on-year, mainly due to decreased demand in rental Fiscal 24 foliar demand has been revised down from the October forecast to 0% to minus 5% year-on-year. Page 18 shows the demand trends outlook for the North American market. Demand for fiscal 24 Q3 apparently increased by 3% year-on-year. Although demand for rental energy decreased, Demand for infrastructure remains steady. The full-year demand forecast for fiscal 24 has been revised from the October forecast and is now expected to be minus 5 to minus 10% year-on-year. With the inauguration of the second Trump administration in January, we will continue to monitor impact on demand of future policies. Page 19 shows the trends and outlook for demand in Europe. Demand in Fiscal 24 Q3 appears to have decreased by 20% year-on-year. Demand for construction equipment decreased, mainly in major markets such as Germany, the UK, and France. The demand forecast for Fiscal 24 on a full-year basis is minus 10 to minus 15% year-on-year, with no change from the October outlook. In Europe, interest rates have been cut continuously since June last year, but there are no signs of a recovery in business confidence or demand. The political situation across countries are also in a turmoil, and we will continue to monitor future developments. Page 20 shows the demand trends and forecasts for the Chinese market. This page shows the trend demand for hydraulic excavators, excluding many excavators. For reference, the trend in demand inclusive of Chinese manufacturers are also presented here. The growth rate in demand shows the figures for foreign manufacturers. It appears that demand in the third quarter of fiscal 24 increased by 26% compared to the same period last year. In addition, it appears that total demand including Chinese manufacturers increased by 21% compared to the same period last year. The forecast for demand for the full year of fiscal 24 has been revised from the October forecast and is now expected to be plus 10 to plus 20% year-on-year. The forecast for total demand, including Chinese manufacturers, is also expected to be plus 10 to plus 20% year-on-year, and this has not changed from the October forecast. Although there has been a reversal in demand, There has been no change in the situation of stagnant economic activity due to factors such as a slump in the real estate market, and we'll continue to monitor the situation. Page 21 shows the demand trends and outlooks of the Southeast Asian market. Demand in the third quarter of fiscal 24 appears to have increased by 16% year-on-year. In Indonesia, the largest market, demand for general construction equipment has recovered since the second quarter and is currently exceeding the same during last year. In addition, coal prices in Indonesia have remained firm and the outlook for demand for mining equipment is expected to be the same as the previous year for the full year. The outlook for demand in fiscal 24 is unchanged from the forecast in October with a year-on-year change of 0% to 5%.

Page 22 highlights a trend and outlook of prices of major minerals related to demand for mining equipment. Although prices of major minerals have been fluctuating, they have remained at high levels over the long term. Page 23 shows the trending demand of mining equipment. The demand for mining equipment in Q3 OFI 2024 is estimated to have increased by 3% year-on-year. FY2024 annual demand forecast is unchanged from the October forecast, ranging from 0% to negative 5% year over year. Page 24 shows net sales for mining equipment. Net sales for the third quarter of FY2024 were 452.8 billion yen, up 4% over the same period last year. Stripping out the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuation, sales increased 4%. The sales forecast by FY24 is unchanged from the October forecast of the 1,845.7 billion yen, up 7% over the previous year. Page 25 shows the forecast of sales of equipment, parts, purchases, and etc. in a construction, mining, and utility equipment segment. Parts sales for third quarter FY2024 were 250.2 billion yen, up 5% from the same period of the previous year. The ratio of total aftermarket sales, including services, was 51%, and total aftermarket sales excluding effective exchange rate fluctuations were up 2% year-on-year. The annual parts sales forecast for FY2024 remained unchanged from the October forecast of 1 trillion yen, 24.1 billion yen, up 5% over the previous year. The ratio of aftermarket sales to total sales, including services, is expected to be 51%. Now we'll walk you through the topics for third quarter on page 37 and beyond. Page 37. Page 37. In page 38, PC200I-12 will be explained over the two pages. Komatsu has fully remodeled its main stage 20 ton class hydraulic X carburetor and launched a new generation model, PC200I-12 with 3D machine guidance as default standard equipment in Japan on December 1st. As 3D construction of construction sites continues to spread and expand The PC200i-12 equips 3D machine guidance as standard and helps operator navigate, utilizing 3D data. In addition, the 3D machine control function, which automatically controls construction equipment with 3D data, can be selected and put into practice according to the customer's preference. Stage 38. The most important feature of the PC200i-12 is that 3D machine control is an available option, allowing customers to choose a plan which best suits their needs. In addition, the PC200i-12 incorporates a variety of industry-first features related to operator workload reduction and safety, such as auto-sling, 3D boundary control, and collision detection braking system. One more highlight, the new four-cylinder engine delivers both increased engine power and significantly reduced fuel consumption. The payload function, which visualizes the amount, comes with the standard equipment, significantly improving work efficiency. We can cut maintenance costs by improving maintainability. In addition to Japan markets, a new system is expected to be available in North America, Europe, Australia, and other markets in FY2025. Komatsu will stand by 3D construction with a new model. Page 39 Komatsu exhibited for the first time at CES 2025, the world's largest technology trade show held in Las Vegas from January 7th to 10th. Komatsu introduced construction equipment that can be used in extreme environments such as on the moon's surface, underwater, as well as the technological innovation to become carbon neutral by 2050. The exhibition attracted a large number of visitors and attracted attention from various media both inside and outside of Japan, providing a good opportunity to communicate Komatsu's initiatives. We are looking forward to next Komatsu Exposition in Osaka Kansai World Expo, which will start on April 13th. We will jointly exhibit the Will Aoki Asanaru construction under the theme of underwater construction in the future and introduce the underwater construction robots. We are looking forward to seeing you. That's all from me.

Now, we would like to take any questions that you may have. From UBS, Mr. Sasaki. Do you hear me? This is Sasaki from UBS Securities. Yes, we do. Please go ahead. I have two questions. The first one is about a review of about Q3. I do believe your results were pretty good, and you were able to see good progress against your company plan as well. So compared to your assumptions, I'm sure there's various factors like volume and effects. So can you talk about what was good, relatively better, or worse, and summarize overall? Thank you. This is Horikoshi speaking. Thank you for your question. Please wait a moment. So for Q3, regarding sales, it was $5.5 billion higher than planned. As you know, compared to the outlook as of October, we were estimated $140 to the dollar FX rate-wise. but it was 148.8 yen. Therefore, FX impact was 53.8 billion yen. And for volume, it was under short of plan by 47 billion. And for selling prices, there was a 1 billion shortage compared to plan. So that was for sales. As for profit, for volume, for FX first of all, the positive impact was 16 billion yen because of the difference between our assumption and actuals. And also, the volume of 47 billion, the impact of sales on sales for profit was 17 billion short of our plan from a profit point of view. And mixed-wise, the positive impact was 10 billion above expectations This is due to mining equipment and parts. High SBM ratio products sold well, and also the mix of parts was relatively higher. Also, KMC, the aftermarket ratio was relatively high as well. That is why there has been a difference in the mix side of things. And for selling prices, it was a negative factor of $1 billion. And for production costs and fixed costs, it was better than expectation by approximately $4 billion. So in total, we were greater than planned by approximately $12 billion. The $47 billion shortage in sales that I mentioned earlier, if you divide this into construction and mining equipment, For construction, it was $12 billion lower, and for mining, it was $35 billion lower than planned. The $12 billion for construction equipment, due to poor demand, the impact was about $3 billion, and $9 billion was pushed out into the second half. And for the sharp fall, Europe, was worse than planned. And for Japan, for broad-based rental and rental overall, the performance was worse than expected. Positives were North America, first of all. Demand was stronger than expected. On the other hand, distributor inventory reduction was steady as well. So on a net basis, it was minus 3. And for $9 billion, that's probably a push out into the fourth quarter, we presume. For mining equipment, there was a shortfall of $35 billion, out of which approximately due to demand decline or due to deals that were pushed out due to customer reasons, that was about $15 billion in impacts. And from Q4 onwards, there were some pushouts worth about $20 billion that has been pushed out into the fourth quarter and beyond. That was very clear. Thank you. Just an additional question. I always ask about the volume of product mix. On page 10, the breakdown, can you walk me through that as well? For volume, product mix, et cetera, out of the 58.7 billion, right? Yes. Period volume difference is 35 billion and regional mix and product mix impact was 16.2 billion negative. And for the rest, the minus impact was about 7.5 billion in the first half of the year. The mix in others was pretty substantial. And I was saying for the first half that the mix difference was 21.9 billion. And now it's 16.2 billion for Q3. So we're getting more positive impact. And for other losses, we didn't see that kind of loss be incurred in the third quarter. Got it. Thank you very much. My second question is about Hishinuma-san's part, the assumptions for construction equipment demand has been revised, especially for the U.S. and China, you have revised it upwards. Whilst you revised it downwards for Japan, for each region, what was different compared to your original assumptions? Can you give me a more detailed reason why you changed your outlook? That was my second question. This is Hishinuma speaking. First, for North America, For rental, it has started to go down since the second half of last year. And this kind of trend has not changed. And rental already has been falling since last year. So on an earlier basis, the drop-off is not as big as we saw in the first half. For the fourth quarter, likewise, the rental demand was already down last year. So even if we see a decline in the fourth quarter this year, the degree of decline is not going to be that substantial. And in Q2, we revised down our outlook to minus 5 to minus 10. We revised it down to minus 10 to minus 15 from minus 5 to minus 10. This was prior to the presidential elections. So that's why we are trumped for this. for rental demand as well, and revised it down to minus 10 to minus 15%. However, after finishing the third quarter, rental may be in line with assumptions, but for infrastructure and so forth, it's better than expected. It didn't dip as much as we thought it would. So we still believe demand is going to trend negatively, but rental is likely to not change that much for the fourth quarter, which means that For the full year, the minus 10 to minus 15% decline is going to be too harsh and severe. So we decided to revise it back up to minus 5 to minus 10. But the minus trend is unchanged. And for Japan, we also revised the outlook down. We used to say that demand is going to be flattish, but due to the sales analysis we presented, In Q3, the numbers were pretty bad. For Q4, when you think about whether we could recover back the business, we believe that the negative impact is going to remain and persist, and that is why we revised down the outlook. And for China, for the foreign companies, when you look at the material, for the foreign companies, Page-wise, that would be on page 20. When you look at the slide, bottom right, where fiscal 24 and the previous years are shown here, and you could see that trends have remained low. And when numbers change only by a bit, the numbers tend to change in a big way. So demand is in a recovering trend. However, the rebound has been slightly big, and that is why we decided to expect positive trends. But the broad trend itself has not really changed in an underlying basis. Thank you very much. I was able to understand it very well. Thank you.

I'll take next question. From the Merit Securities, my call is on Go Ahead. This is Micah from Numera Security. Thank you very much for your presentation. My first question is in Asia, mainly on Indonesia, perhaps. Demand itself started to see the change of the tide, and that's the comment you made before, and it started to pick up, as you stated. But Q3, your net sales perspective, it started to see those. So what are the contribution, the biggest one, and how should we see the demand as we go forward if the things are changing? For the next fiscal year 2025 and there is some potential for recovery or so, how do you see the Asia market? Could you please focus on the Asia market first? This is Hishinoma speaking. First of all, first is Asia, especially on Indonesia. in Q2 financial briefing as I stated versus what we had seen that more robust performance had been observed so same goes for Q3 too however the big projects and so forth are coming so that's how we're seeing it so slightly the project progress I would say or the shipment of net sales started to see a little embarrassed but Even with that environment we are under, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, we're not going to the downward trend. That's how we see it. So for Indonesian market, it's expected to be robust, as we have seen it, and that they are more likely to go for a more positive territory. Southeast Asia and other countries, after elections, Thailand and other regions and countries that see more positive trend, on a three-month trend year-over-year basis, we haven't observed any of the significant negatives. So as conventionally we have seen, negative 5% or plus 5%, that's the range we are assuming. For the next fiscal year, 25, we are currently vetting what could be the figures. We don't necessarily expect the significant changes coming. Okay, thank you. Significant change is not coming, meaning the recovery trend doesn't have significant impact. Is that what you're saying? Well, the demand units, its numbers, were not necessarily a huge volatility. That's what I'm saying. Okay, thank you. So next one, how we should look at the next fiscal year, 2025, and how we should understand North American market. More than we expected, the Q3 performance was much better. and you revised the performance and assumption upward. As for next fiscal year 2025, it's kind of difficult to ascertain the situations around you starting 2025 calendar year, but how should we look at the North American market? This is Horikoshi speaking. You asked a question on North American market. This time, negative range started to back up again, and as Hishinoma already explained, The October announcement was conservative a bit, so we just reversed it. Yes, to be sure, November, December performance order started to pick up again for like the ones in Asia. It started to slack again. That said, in the United States market, December, the tax saving scheme has been utilized to place an order and Europe, America in November, they are planning to increase prices. So there are last minute demand was observed. So after January and beyond, we have to ascertain the development, potential development. Otherwise, we can't really judge it. So for next fiscal year 2025, we can't really be conclusive of what it will look like. The total demand A new president took office and potential policy could have significant impact. So for time being, we have to test the water of how much range of negative, positive we might have to suffer from or enjoy from. Okay, thank you. Second question, pricing. Caterpillar, started to see negatives from pricing, FY 2025, there is no significant drop in pricing. That's how I see it. On your part, the selling prices started to contribute positively, but progress started to get slower. So, improvement of selling prices in January, as you said, but how would you like to take up policies or measures for selling prices, including parts? And as far as you can disclose it, could you please make a comment on that? Thank you. This is Harikoshi speaking. When we announced it in October, selling prices amount decreased. As I said, the reason was asked. And I said that in the United States, the construction equipment is a part of the reason. Yes, to be sure, in North American market, the competition is very firm for selling prices. And, for example, for Caterpillar, In this quarter, selling prices, a hike was negative on the part of Komatsu. It started to come down. In the case of Tata Biller, 2022, 2023, they jacked up the prices by 10 or some percent, but on the part of Komatsu, just 4 or some percent, being a moderate. They jacked up prices and bring it down again. But for our cases, moderately, Bring it up and moderate cases will continue, moderate trends will continue. That's where we are today. So for this fiscal year, looking at the total performance, the selling prices, the range can be secure for this fiscal year, as I stated in the October announcement. Now, FY2025, as Caterpillar said, selling prices hike, started to be very tight. That will be part of the reality we have to face with. But as for a competitor, there are some gaps of the selling prices still. So in that sense, there is a potential to improve or increase the selling prices, however. Thank you very much. On the pricing, some of the things will remain. And would it be applied to original equipment or spare parts? Or whether would it be for construction equipment or mining equipment? Well, for this fiscal year, the biggest chunk is for spare parts. and spare parts is a larger portion than the original equipment. And mining equipment has much a larger portion than construction equipment. And construction equipment, original equipment, is the smallest portion. For next fiscal year 2025, however, it's more of like a similar trend. But at this point in time, as we are creating, working on the business plan, there was no specific comment that we can make today. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Morgan Stanley, MUFG, the 30s. Mr. Ibarra. Hello. This is Ibarra from Morgan Stanley. Can you hear me? Yes. My first question is about for the construction mining utility equipment segment, how do you multiply this when you compare Q3 and Q4? Sales went down slightly and profits increased. And I think it goes back to the mixed answer. Do you want to? I think I recall that you walked us through the details in Q3. So if you can do that again, that would be great. And as we head towards the fourth quarter, can you also share with us your view? Earlier you were talking about some push-outs. for both construction and mining. So if that all comes through in Q4, when you do the math, the numbers for Q4 look a little low. So can you share your views on this? So can you walk us through the Q1, Q2 trends from Q2 going into Q3 and then Q3 going into Q4? This is Hori Koshi speaking. Exactly to your point, Talking about cumulative results up until Q2, the mixed impact was quite substantial. And I talked about this in answering Sasaki-san's question. 21.9 billion was the mixed impact. And other than that, it was 6.7 negative, which was a total of negative 28 billion. And up for cumulative Q3, $16.2 billion and $7.5 billion it contracted. So for Q3, because Southeast Asia performed well, or Indonesia, the gains increased from that factor. For the fourth quarter, what we currently assume is to be in line with, broadly in line with October outlook. It's just that FX impacts that will add on to profits. Up until the third quarter, there was a sales shortfall by approximately 47 billion. At the end of the full year, we expect about 46 billion yen of a shortfall compared to expectations. However, I talked about earlier the pushouts we saw in Q3. For mining, especially, we're expecting realization of the pushouts. So even with a shortfall of $46 billion for construction equipment, it should deteriorate more. But for mining, we should see performance better. So around $11 billion would be the net number between construction and mining. So that impact on this apart from effects, should be a positive factor. Thank you very much. One more question is about where we show the BD ratio. That's on page 35. For Komatsu America, it seems that, well, it's the book-to-bill ratio. So, of course, it's in relationship to shipments. Three months ago, Horikoshi-san, you were saying that if orders aren't that great, it will affect shipments for next fiscal year, but overall, for capex of customers who buy dump trucks, goes back to Ogawa-san's remark, but does this happen to be the case where the ratio is not that great Or are these trends likely to affect next year's shipments? To your point, for the super large EVPs, electric dump trucks, the order backlog this fiscal year is gradually falling. So when you just look at this part for next fiscal year, there is a question mark around how things are going to be. However, overall, on a macro basis, as we always say, for the mining majors, their CapEx continues to, they're saying that they're going to continue to increase CapEx steadily, so that is not a concern. So basically, because it's a large-sized product, but order timing comes in bulks. So I guess there are no major changes in trends. Correct. Earlier it was explained, but for large-sized equipment, customers changing specs or the assemblies take place locally before shipments, and there are some delays that occur. And that impact is quite substantial. So we're not expecting a huge decline due to sudden changes. Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'll take another question. You can use paper. Kudo-san, go ahead. Thank you. This is from . Do you hear me speak? Yes, please, go ahead. Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. I have two questions. Number one, semiconductor-related demand industrial machinery and others that are pushing up in their process, and could you please explain the reasons and what would it look like for the future? That's my first question. Thank you. Sorry, could you please repeat the questions again? I couldn't really pick that up. Well, industrial machinery and other segments. Yep. This is fun. For automotive and semiconductor, both segments. increase, could you please train behind it and what would it look like in the future? Yes, as for automotive segment, Komatsu NTC, Komatsu Industry, and we have two companies related to that. This year, 2023, in the first place, automotive investment faced a plateau. And as we went into 2024, that started to That's one thing. And out of two companies, the one company called NTC, they are producing engines and so forth. Some automotive battery on EVs, and it's a production equipment. It's one of the areas they focus, and they've been successful for transforming its business So this is a company for automotive segment, and they are growing with those reasons. Now, for semiconductor sector, DIGA Forum is another company, and we have in Komatsu Group to deal with that semiconductor. XML Laser Source was created and produced in this company. The semiconductor sector is so global and doing very well. especially for our first sales, which are growing very much. So on the part of Gita Fulton, as we go forward, net sales are expected to grow further. And actually, in terms of investment, we made an investment, and production capacity increased by 2.5 times so that we can be ready and embrace ourselves for the future growth. Okay, thank you. On beta photon, you increased it by 2.5 times of the production capacity. By one, would you like to increase in itself of how much? Could you please disclose the information? Sorry, I don't necessarily have that figures. And my fingertips, by 2030, 100 billion yen and market share of 60% and OP 25% margin. That's the target. Okay, thank you. Great. My second question. This one, construction equipment, mining equipment, and utility and production costs are all increased. And could you please talk about the factors behind it? Well, I just see the page 10. The production costs increased by 12, 16.2 billion yen because of the steel prices, which decided to increase. Because by Q2, it went up a lot. And rubber used in tire decided to increase too. And partner companies' labor costs started to increase, and we need to reflect that into planning of the costs, so the costs significantly increased. But the steel price, tire, beam, rubber, those commodity prices started to edge down a little bit in Q3. So for that, as we look at the Q3 standalone basis, then this production cost started to be positively contributing to our performance. However, as for fixed costs, starting 2017 to 2021, fixed costs had been flourished regardless of its net sales. But starting FY 2022, deliberately, we increased the fixed costs because of two reasons. Number one, each country's inflation rate has been significant and the electrification and automation of the future are something we need to be ready. So R&D in midterm is a source of investment so that we can be ready for the potential future. So that's why that's all pushed up six costs. Thank you. Sorry if you disclose it, but industrial machinery and others, automotive and semiconductor, do you have a breakdown on next? of net sales basis, if you have it. Well, if you look at the page 12, Commerce Industries, Commerce NTC, you see the net sales. Oh, sorry, apology. This is especially for automotive and semiconductor. And Gigaphoton is especially for semiconductor. And there is a calc, the company, that 13 billion yen of the sales. Okay, thank you. Great, thank you very much.

Thank you. We are running out of time. There are two people with their hands up, so can you keep your questions to one each? Thank you. Next person is Mr. McDonald from Citigroup Securities. Can you hear me? Yes. Please go ahead. So I'll ask one question. For Asia, Originally for this fiscal year, $484.5 billion was a sales expectation that you projected several months ago. But according to what you said, Indonesia and other regions may exceed expectations. If that's the case, up until now, you will be reaching levels that are unprecedented. It might be record highs. From an economic cycle point of view, I believe that Asia is going to be good for a while. However, the Chinese manufacturers, there are some concerns that they will continue to be a threat. But for sales in Asia, for both construction and mining equipment combined, are you concerned that there may be a slowdown? Because I think that risk conditions may last, but what is your view? That is a difficult question. Like I mentioned earlier, the impact from Mr. Trump will probably materialize, and for this fiscal year, Q3 was really good for Indonesia, as we said. The reason is because of coal or mining equipment the demand for coal in the country was good, and China's imports were high as well. So coal production reached record highs, and that is why Indonesia was good. On the other hand, for agriculture and food estate, politics have been delayed, leading to lower demand. And for forestry, The Sumatra Island, the reconstruction efforts, the forests did not develop and grow as much, which led to demand. So for Indonesia, right now it's just mining that's performing well. As for Thailand, the budget execution up until October was a question mark, but now we've been seeing more progress. So compared to the plan, it's been performing better. And for Malaysia, we were thinking that the projects will not develop, but actually conditions improved. So that is why compared to the October plan, we are seeing some bright signs. However, whether this is going to last forever is a question mark. And also the advancement of Chinese manufacturers, as you always ask, the Chinese market itself has been weak, and that is why the OEMs have been proactive. From an Indonesian point of view, their market share has already saturated somewhat, meaning the Chinese OEMs. So there's a question mark around what's going to happen in the future. So a sudden increase in market share is not expected like what happened in the past. We believe even if it happens, it's going to be moderate. So, in other words, non-mining in Indonesia for construction equipment and foreign industry, if it's weak right now, is it going to improve? And for Malaysia, where there's momentum, it might go up even forward. And I do believe you can expect more from India. So, if Chinese competition is not going to change in their behavior, I expect that Southeast Asia is going to continue to be strong, and that will lead to higher margins, won't it? Well, the growth rates of Southeast Asia on a global basis relative to other regions is extremely high, and infrastructure development will probably progress as well. So compared to other parts of the world, we do expect higher growth rates. So we view Asia as a strategic region. We have been doing so in the past. And also, We also expect Africa to grow as well. Therefore, we are focusing on the region. So for Southeast Asia, we believe the overall contribution is likely to increase. Thank you.

Thank you. I would like to take up the final question. From Goldman Sachs, I would like to take a question from Adachi-san. Thank you. This is Adachi from Goldman Sachs Securities. Did you hear me speak? Yes, please go ahead. Just a final question. In North American markets, mining equipment on estimated basis in North American markets, that positive growth on year-on-year basis, that's very likely to be. And obviously, yes, that's been contributed by FX, but still in North American markets versus a major contributor, a major competitor, it looks good. So maybe there's some barriers to the clients and some efforts that you're making have been contributing. Maybe the service and spare parts are contributing a lot. Could you please give us a breakdown of these details? Thank you. Yes. Especially in comparison versus Caterpillar, I guess. We are directly selling to sales. And they have a distributor for mining. And North American sales and in the first place, half of which is coming from America. So that dropped significantly. The reason, again, that $130 million, $1,300,000,000 of inventory from distributors, that was done. So we don't necessarily have that in the middle ones, so the end users, has and will be significant in contributing to our performance in our case, and there's a significant gap between those two in that sense. Now, looking at the fiscal year 24, as I touched a bit, according to projects, there was some volatility, but in North America, original equipment has great Contribution for fiscal year 24, Q3, nine months you are to date. Thank you. Q2 to Q3, it seems like there is an improvement by notch. Why is it? Can you justify it because of the change of the administration with President Trump or new projects are coming in because of that? Or are you talking about actual performance? Yes, from Q2 to Q3. Yes, that such a deal were executed. Well, because of the President Trump taking office? Well, that has nothing to do with the new administration led by President Trump. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll extend the briefing, and we will also have a Q&A session. We look forward to your attendance. That concludes Kumatsu's Fiscal 24 Q3 results briefing. Thank you for joining.