Sekisui Chemical Co

My name is Keita Akato, President and CEO. Thank you for taking the time out of a busy schedule to join us today. Page 1. I will cover the main points of today's IA presentation. Please refer to the table at the top of this page for the first half results and revised plans for the second half and FY2023. Please note that the record high numbers and expected record high figures are marked with a star. As for the first half results, the number of new houses sold declined due to deterioration in the housing market. In the medical business, new product approval was delayed. As a result, operating profit for the first half was 41.2 billion yen. Although this was slightly below the forecast of 42.2 billion yen announced in July, we achieved an increase of 0.8 billion yen from the previous year. Next, our revised plan for the second half and for the FY2023. Although we expect the housing market to remain challenging in the second half, this will be offset by other segments led by the high-performance plastic company HPP, and we will achieve record high operating profit of 100 billion yen for the fiscal year, as we announced in July. As we see the housing market deteriorating beyond our expectations, we have formulated measures to strengthen profitability in the housing business, and we have already started some of them. We will continue to promote these measures with a sense of urgency. Next, shareholder returns. As we plan to achieve a net profit of 75 billion yen for this fiscal year based on our shareholder return policy, we have raised our annual dividend by 5 yen from the amount announced in July to 71 yen per share, an increase of 12 yen per share. The interim dividend will be 35 yen per share, an increase of 6 yen, and the year-end dividend will be 36 yen per share, also an increase of 6 yen. Given our current cash position, we have set aside an additional 4 million shares for share buyback in the second half to improve capital efficiency and increase shareholder returns. Together with the 4 million shares already purchased in the first half, the share buyback for the fifth fiscal year will total 8 million shares and 4 million treasury shares will be cancelled in the second half. As a key topic, I'd like to mention Perovskite Solar Cells, which is one of the new businesses to accelerate growth. We have moved the project owner from the R&D center to a team reporting directly to the president to further accelerate commercialization. This fiscal year is the first year of a new mid-term plan announced in May. We will improve capital efficiency through business portfolio reform and shift our focus more toward growth in order to achieve our long-term vision. Thank you. My name is Futoshi Kamiwaki, head of the business strategy department. I'll explain the first half results and overall plan for the second half. First, let me discuss foreign exchange rates. As shown here, the first half results show that the yen has depreciated more than that of the last fiscal year and the assumption for this fiscal year. Page 3, overview of the first half FY2023 results. Net sales 611.3 billion yen, operating profit 41.2 billion yen, ordinary profit 51.5 billion yen, and profit attributable to owners of parent 44.5 billion yen. We achieved a net sales increase. Although operating profit was slightly below the July forecast, we achieved an OP increase. Ordinary profit exceeded the July forecast mainly due to foreign exchange gains. Net profit also increased due to the sale of cross-share holdings. The interim dividend will be raised by 6 yen to 35 yen per share, an increase of 2 yen from the July forecast. page four first half result by segment first although the market environment remained challenging for the hpp company operating profit increased over the july forecast due to secured margin fixed cost control and the effect of foreign exchange gains housing companies net sales increased due to a higher housing unit price and solid performance in the renovation business the However, the operating profit fell below the July forecast due to the significant impact of lower number of houses sold resulting from the sluggish new construction market. The UIEP urban infrastructure and environment product companies operating profit increased due to margin protection and fixed cost control despite sluggish conditions in the housing and non-housing market. In the medical business, new pharmaceutical ingredients performed well, but operating profit fell short of the July forecast due to the delays in new product approvals in the U.S. In other segments, we are progressing close to our original plan in preparations for new businesses, particularly in the storage battery business, biorefinery, and R&D. Page 5 segment results by Q1 and Q2. Groups Q2 operating profit was slightly lower than in the prior year, but HPP company and the medical business achieved increases in both net sales and operating profit. Page 6 first half result analysis. Net sales totaled 611.3 billion yen, an increase of 3.5 billion yen from the previous year. You can see operating profit analysis on the right side. Sales volume and product mix were much harsher than the July forecast of 7.3 billion yen, but the spread between selling prices and raw material prices was widened. In addition, fixed costs were lower than the July forecast, resulting in a profit increase of 0.8 billion yen, although this is slightly lower than the July forecast. Page 7. Rewind Second Half and Full Year Plans. Exchange rate assumptions are 145 yen for the dollar and 155 yen for the euro. Page 8, outlook for market conditions. First, global auto production, which exceeded our July forecast in Q2. We expect a rebound in China in second half, but global growth is expected to be slightly below our April assumption. Next, smartphone shipments. The market is gradually recovering after bottoming out in Q1. Although the Q2 results were below the July forecast, we expect a modest recovery starting in Q3. Next, housing visitors. In the first half, the recovery of exhibition visits was sluggish, and the total number of visitors fell below last year's level. We expect the second half visitor number to be similar to the previous year's level, which was weaker than usual. Next, new housing starts. We expect demand to be lower than expected and to remain sluggish. Finally, the domestic NAFSA price assumption. We expect it to remain almost in line with our assumptions. Page 9, revised second half plan by segment. Although the market conditions are expected to remain below our expectations, we forecast a significant increase in both net sales and operating profit at HPP. Sales and profit are expected to decrease at the housing company, while sales and profit are expected to increase at the UIEP company and the medical business. HPP sales are expected to increase due to partial market recovery. By maintaining margins and through foreign exchange gains, we expect operating profit to increase from our original plan in April. The housing companies suffered from continued order weakness, resulting in the decline in net sales and operating profit. We will focus on promoting measures to strengthen the profitability of the housing business and expanding the stock business. UIEP company expects a moderate market recovery. We'll continue to focus on securing margins in order to achieve an operating profit that exceeds the original plans. The medical business is expected to post a significant increase in operating profit, mainly due to successful efforts to capture diagnostic demand in Japan and overseas. Other R&D and new businesses are expected to be close to the April plan. Page 10, second half revised plan analysis. Net sales expected to reach 668.7 billion yen, an increase of 33.9 billion yen from the previous year. The analysis of operating profit is shown on the right. Plus, sales volume and product mix are expected to fall below the April plan, but partial market recovery is expected. In terms of selling prices and raw materials, we will continue to focus on securing margins. Fixed costs will increase mainly due to wage increases, R&D, and the acceleration of DX, but the effect of foreign exchange gains will contribute to an increase in operating profit of 7.5 billion yen year-on-year, exceeding the original plan. Page 11. Revise full-year plan by segment. Group net sales and operating profit are expected to increase. The impact of declining demand at the housing company will be offset mainly by HPP and other segments. We expect to be able to achieve an operating profit of 100 billion yen in line with the regional plan and the July forecast. Page 12, revised full-year plan and shareholder returns, net sales 1.28 trillion yen, operating profit 100 billion yen, ordinary profit 103 billion yen, net profit 75 billion yen. Although net sales will be revised slightly downward, operating profit and net profit will increase as forecast in July. Both are expected to reach record highs. Dividends will be increased by 5 yen from the July forecast to 12 yen per share, for an annual dividend of 71 yen per share. We have secured additional share buyback limit of 4 million shares in the second half, for a total of 8 million shares for this fiscal year. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much. I'm Ikusuke Shimizu, President of the High Performance Plastics Company. First, please see page 14. This shows our performance. In the first half of FY23, net sales were 200.3 billion yen and operating profit was 23 billion yen. Net sales were down slightly due to lower than expected demand for the construction and consumer products in Europe and Japan. Operating profit increased by 0.6 billion yen from the July forecast, mainly due to secured margins, fixed cost reductions, and the effect of foreign exchange gains. For the second half, we forecast net sales of 219.4 billion yen and operating profit of 28.5 billion yen. Net sales were forecast to increase as we expect a partial market recovery in the industrial and electronics fields, mainly in Europe, the U.S., and Japan. We are forecasting a significant operating profit increase exceeding the original April plan through maintained margins and foreign exchange gains. We are targeting record high operating profits in the second half and for the full year. Page 15. The bar graph on the left shows net sales of ¥200.3 billion for the first half, which is in line with the July forecast, but this indicates a slight decrease of ¥1.2 billion from the previous year. The chart on the right shows the analysis of operating profit. Operating profit which has exceeded the July forecast increased by 2.5 billion yen from the previous year. Although the industrial field struggled with the sales volume and product mix, the mobility field remained firm, and the electronics field recovered from the Q2. As shown in the table below, sales volume and product mix for the entire company recovered to the same level as the previous year in Q2, and operating profit is now back on the recovery trend due to improved margins and other factors. Next is the revised second half plan on page 16. The bar graph on the left shows a plan for net sales of 219.4 billion yen, an increase of 24.5 billion yen year-on-year, which is lower than the original April plan based on the assumption of a certain degree of recovery in demand for the construction, consumer goods in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and the electronics market. As for analysis of operating profit shown on the right, while there is an increase in fixed costs due to investment in growth and human capital, we plan a large profit increase of 8.9 billion yen due to an increase in sales volume and product mix in all three strategic fields, maintenance of margins and foreign exchange gains. As you can see, the actual portion of operating profit excluding foreign exchange gains is in line with the plan at the beginning of the period. After factoring in foreign exchange gains, we have raised the second half operating profit plan by 3 billion yen and we plan to achieve the highest profit in the second half and for the full year. Page 17, the last page of the HPP, which shows net sales trends and KPIs in three strategic fields. In the electronics field on the upper left, the smartphone and semiconductor markets are recovering more slowly than expected. But as recovery started gradually from Q2, we have factored in the partial market recovery in the second half sales plan. As shown in the graph on the lower left, sales bottomed out in Q4 2022 and started to gradually increase, mainly driven by non-LCD applications. Sales in Q2 grew almost at cruising speed, mainly due to new contributions from non-LCD applications. In the second half, we will strive to increase sales by expanding sales of high-performance products such as binder resins for MLCC and bio-based adhesive tapes. Although this is not shown here, the operating profit in the electronics field started to increase from 2.2. We forecast an increase in net sales and operating profit in the second half to the same level as in the second half of 2021. Next, the mobility field in the middle of this page. There was some adjustment in auto production in China in Q1, but sales have been firm since Q2, and we expect the sales to be generally in line with our expectations. Please see the line graph of high-performance interlayer film sales growth for the first half. Q1 growth was 98%, Q2 growth was 102%. The business was somewhat sluggish in Q1, but the growth in Q2 exceeded the previous year's level. In particular, sales volume of products for HUD, our focus product, increased more than 130%, and the product mix improved significantly. In addition, shipments of heat release materials from a new plant in North America have started In the second half, we will continue to achieve high growth in interlayer film for HUD and accelerate sales expansion of interlayer film with sophisticated design and heat insulation properties mainly for EVs. Setsu Aerospace is making steady progress in portfolio reform and profitability improvement, and aircraft production volume at Company B is recovering. To become profitable in FY 2024 on a consolidation basis, Aerospace aims to achieve profitability in Q4 2023. We have stated in this document that we plan to increase net sales and operating profit for the mobility field in the first half and the second half, and to increase company-wide full-year profit by 11.4 billion yen. The majority of this increase is expected to come from the mobility field. Finally, the industrial field on the top right. The first half net sales fell below the July forecast due to the market slump, and operating profit dropped and fell below the July forecast, which is not mentioned in the document. We plan to increase net sales in the second half based on our forecast of some market recovery in the second half, especially in Q4, and we plan to increase operating profit by ensuring margins and reducing fixed costs. As you can see in the graph below, we struggled with labor-saving and green products such as insulation materials, long craft tips for packaging machines, and blow-molded products due to the market weakness in the first half. But we will expand sales of these products in the second half, exceeding the previous year's level. In any case, we would like to leave the entire company as a highly profitable one with record high operating profit of 51.5 billion yen for the fiscal year. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. I am Toshiyuki Kamiyoshi, president of housing company. Let me begin. Page 19, first half result and revised second half plan. Net sales for the first half increased due to increase in unit prices and solid performance in the renovation, real estate, and town and community development businesses. But the impact of a lower number of houses sold was severe, causing operating profit to decline and fall below the July forecast. For the second half, the housing business is expected to post lower net sales and operating profit due to worse-than-expected market slump and a decline in orders, mainly in the first half and Q1. As the number of houses sold declined, the company's operating profit margin has declined. Under the assumption that the current order environment will continue for the time being, we will implement measures to improve the profitability of the housing business ahead of schedule, which were originally planned for the midterm, and we will focus on expanding the stock business, which is a growth area, in order to improve profitability as soon as possible. Next page 20, first half results analysis. The housing business posted lower operating profit due to a decline in the number of houses sold and the impact of soaring material prices. While the renovation and other businesses performed well and posted higher operating profit, overall net sales increased and operating profit decreased. the company has already implemented some of the profitability improvement measures in the first half ahead of the regional plan next analysis of operating profit on the right to respond to rising material prices and the weaker yen the housing business has implemented price revisions increased winning prices through higher value-added products and reduced costs which has produced tangible financial benefits However, orders were particularly difficult in Q1, resulting in a 2.7 billion yen decrease in operating profit due to a significant decrease in the number of houses sold by 430. The operating profit of the renovation and other businesses increased as planned, and operating profit for the entire company was 13 billion yen. Page 21, second half revised plan analysis. The housing business will strive to minimize the impact of the lower number of houses sold by implementing measures to improve profitability and controlling costs. At the same time, we will further focus on the solidly performing renovation business to continue to increase profit. Net sales by segment on the lower left show the whole company's net sales are projected to decrease by 3 billion yen to 274.2 billion yen due to a sharp decline in housing sales despite sales increases in renovation and other businesses. The analysis of operating profit on the right shows the company's plan to limit the decrease in housing operating profit to 2.1 billion yen by controlling costs, despite a large decrease in the number of houses sold by 450. On the other hand, the fixed cost in the renovation business will increase by 0.2 billion yen from the April plan due to the transfer of personnel from the housing business, but this will be offset by an increase in marginal profit resulting in a 0.2 billion yen operating profit increase. As a result, we have revised our operating profit forecast for the second half to 16.5 billion yen, down 1.6 billion yen from the previous year. The last slide on page 22, I'll cover KPIs by segment and measures to improve profitability. New housing orders for the first half was 85% of the previous year's level, and the ratio was 90% in terms of housing order value, as we were able to increase the new housing unit price through Smart House on the right, which offset the decline in the number of new houses orders to some extent. For the second half, we have revised our plan for the new housing orders to 101% year-on-year. Although the market condition remains sluggish, we are determined to achieve this target, as the new housing order for the second half of last year fell significantly to 88%. The number of orders by construction type in the middle of the top line shows an overall recovery from Q2, and we will continue to expand sales of ready-built houses and apartment buildings, which have been performing well. In the renovation business at the bottom left, orders are growing steadily as planned, and we will continue to increase and develop sales reps in the second half. Finally, on the bottom right, I'd like to explain measures to improve profitability for sustainable growth. As shown in the chart in the middle, we aim to increase profit by 10 billion yen in FY 2025 through these measures. On the fixed cost side, we will work to reform the cost structure to lower the break-even point, while on the marginal profit side, we will secure the total number of houses and increase unit prices by developing and strengthening area-specific product strategies. With regard to cost structure reform, we will balance the production of wooden frame products starting in Q4 as part of productivity improvement measures and adjust the capacity of each plant so as to optimize the entire production system in response to changes in demands. In addition, we will shift mainly indirect personnel to the stock business which is the growth area. Next, area-specific product strategies will use our strengths of nationwide coverage to further enhance our advantage over detached houses and apartments for urban and rural markets and aim to increase the number of buildings and unit prices over a wide area. In addition, we will further strengthen our cost reduction measures in purchasing by cooperating with the development department. We will not simply reduce fixed costs to shrink our business, but we will also allocate resources to product strategies to increase marginal profit. With these initiatives, we will aim to realize a 10 billion yen impact and also accelerate the growth of the stock business as well as town and community development business, which concludes my presentation of the housing company. I am Yoshiuki Hirai, president of the UIEP company. Let me begin my presentation now. Please refer to page 24. First, first half results and revised second half plan. In the first half, net sales were 109.7 billion yen, operating profit was 8.1 billion yen, and OP margin was 7.3%. Despite the slump in both the housing and non-housing markets, we were able to increase operating profit by securing margins and controlling fixed costs. For the second half, we are targeting net sales of 128.1 billion yen and operating profit of 15.1 billion yen, achieving increases in both sales and profit with a high OP margin of 11.8%. We expect the market to recover moderately, but as raw materials are currently rising, we will continue to protect margins. As a result, we will aim to achieve operating profit of 23.2 billion yen and OP margin of 9.8% in FY2023, and we will continue to renew our historic highs in both OP amount and OP margin this year, continuing from last year. Next on page 25, first half results analysis. The left side shows net sales of 109.7 billion yen compared to 110.4 billion yen in the previous year, a decrease of 0.7 billion yen. Overseas sales declined by 2.7 billion yen, which had a significant impact on the company's net sales. In terms of overseas business, growth-driving business such as piping materials for plants and pipeline renewal performed well. However, PVC resin exports declined due to deteriorating conditions in the Asian PVC market. Next, analysis of operating profit on the right. Sales of prioritized products progressed well, but the decrease in demand, especially for general-purpose products in the pipe system field, was significant, resulting in a negative sales volume and product mix of 0.9 billion yen. Fixed costs deteriorated by 1.2 billion yen due to higher wages and expenses related to new product development and DX initiatives. Secured margin offset these negative impacts, resulting in OP increase of 0.6 billion yen to 8.1 billion yen, a new record high. Next, page 26, revised second half plan analysis. Net sales on the left shows our plan of 128.1 billion yen up from 123.9 billion yen in the previous year, an increase of 4.2 billion yen. In contrast to the first half, the main sales driver for the second half is overseas business. In October this year, the European plant for FFU, a synthetic wood used for railroad sleepers, started operations and will increase orders in this area. We also aim to increase pipe renewal orders in North America, South America, India and other regions. In Japan, we will capture firm public sector demand and expand the sales of prioritized products to increase net sales as market conditions are on a gradual recovery trend. next analysis of operating profit on the right demanding the housing market is still weak but we plan to steadily increase sales volume especially for overseas business and prioritize the products certain prices and raw materials have changed since april due to the weak pvc market in asia but we see raw material prices rising and we will focus on securing margins We are targeting an operating profit of 15.1 billion yen, which is an increase of 1.4 billion yen while controlling fixed costs. Finally, we discussed the three strategic fields on page 27. First, five systems on the upper left posted net sales of 54.9 billion yen in the first half, down 0.6 billion yen from the previous year. This was mainly due to a decline in overseas export as a result of deteriorating PVC market conditions. Despite strong piping materials for plants in Japan, both housing and non-housing sales were sluggish. In the second half, we plan to increase net sales to 61.1 billion yen, an increase of 2.4 billion yen year-on-year, focusing on expanding sales of prioritized products. As recently announced in press release, we will acquire the pipe materials business of Shingetsu Polymer in November and will work to realize synergies as soon as possible. Next, building and infrastructure composite materials on the top right. In the first half, net sales were 38.4 billion yen, an increase of 0.2 billion yen. The effect of price region has finally taken hold and we were able to secure margins. For the second half, we planned net sales of 41.7 billion yen, an increase of 0.4 billion yen. We will focus on the stable operation of the FFU's European plant and expand overseas adoption along with expansion of new product sales in building materials and fire-resistant materials. Now, infrastructure renovation at the bottom left. Net sales for the first half were 12.5 billion yen, an increase of 0.6 billion yen. Demand for pipeline renewal recovered both in Japan and overseas, increasing adoption of SPR method. In the water treatment field, we received large orders for plant facilities, which will contribute to sales in the second half and beyond. For the second half, we planned net sales of 21.4 billion yen, an increase of 2.7 billion yen. Demand for pipeline renewal remains strong, and we aim to increase orders together with new partners in the Americas and India. Finally, I will cover the growth areas on the lower right. First, as shown in the chart, we are steadily expanding sales of prioritized products In the second half, we plan to expand sales to 27.1 billion yen in products that contribute to solving social issues such as rainwater prevention products and plastic piping for building facilities that contribute to labor saving. Overseas sales by region and growth-driving business are listed here. That concludes my remarks. Thank you. I am Eiji Takahashi, president of CTC Medical. I'd like to give you an update on our medical business. Page 29, first half results analysis. The medical business experienced a temporary drop in performance due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 in the first half of FY 2020. Since then, the business has steadily increased its earnings, and in the last fiscal year, the business achieved an OPE of 12.5 billion yen, which was a target in the previous mid-term plan. For the current fiscal year, we plan to achieve an OP of 13.5 billion yen, exceeding the previous year's OP. Net sales for the first half reached record high of 43.7 billion yen, driven by contract manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the medical business. However, due to upfront investments in R&D, operating profit was 5.1 billion yen down from the previous year. Due to the delay in FDA approval, the launch of the COVID-19 test kits in the OTC market was delayed, resulting in lower operating profit than the July forecast. As for the revised second half plan, we are forecasting net sales of 52.3 billion yen and operating profit of 8.4 billion yen, the highest ever for a half year. By steadily capturing domestic and overseas diagnostics demand, and we are aiming for 4-year operating profit of 13.5 billion yen as originally planned. Phase 30, first half results analysis. Net sales were 43.7 billion yen, up 0.8 billion yen from the first half of previous fiscal year, while operating profit was 5.1 billion yen, down 0.4 billion yen. Despite growth in sales of blood coagulation reagents in China in the diagnostics business and contract manufacturing of new pharmaceutical ingredients in the pharmaceutical sciences business, the delayed approval of COVID-19 diagnostic kits in the US and higher fixed costs due to upfront investments in new product development resulted in higher net sales and lower operating profit year-on-year. We also fell short of the July forecast in both net sales and operating profit. Next, page 31, second half revised plan analysis. Net sales for 52.3 billion yen up 5.5 billion yen year-on-year, and operating profit was 8.4 billion yen up 1.3 billion yen year-on-year. In the second half, we expect to expand sales of COVID-19 test kits in the U.S., which significantly depressed operating profit in the first half, and to steadily capture diagnostics demand in Japan and overseas, along with favorable exchange rates. We also plan to achieve a record high operating profit on a full-year basis. Phase 32 Business Overview First, Diagnostics in Japan Diagnostics demand was solid in the first half led by POC demand. In the second half, we continue to capture POC demand and to focus on expanding sales of blood coagulation devices and reagents so as to further strengthen our core business. Next, overseas diagnostics business on the top right. In the first half, the delay in launching COVID-19 test kits in the US had a significant impact on our results. With kit shipments starting in August, we entered the OTC market for the first time in our corporate history. We also launched e-commerce sales, and we'll make up for the delay in the first half by utilizing new sales channels in the second half. In China, we will continue to focus on expanding sales of blood coagulation testing devices and reagents. In addition, we will promote the establishment of local device production and supply chains in China in response to the Chinese government's preferential policies for domestically produced medical devices. In the rest of Asia, we'll continue to expand sales of diagnostics reagents to Southeast Asia, using Veritas Laboratories in Singapore as a base. Finally, pharmaceutical sciences on the bottom left. The core of this business is contract manufacturing of new pharmaceutical ingredients at the Iwate Plant, which was recently certified as a nature symbiosis site by the Ministry of the Environment. Sales of pharmaceutical ingredients performed well in the first half. The new building completed at the end of the previous fiscal year is now operating at a higher capacity and will continue to focus on obtaining new orders in the second half, which concludes my presentation of the medical business.