ENEOS Holdings, Inc. (5020) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. I am Tanaka. To our shareholders and investors, we sincerely appreciate your continued support and advice for business activities of the ENEOS Group. I will now explain the financial results for the third quarter of FY 2024 based on the briefing material. Please turn to Page 3 for the highlights of financial results. Operating profit for the 9 months ended Q3 of FY 2024 was JPY 302.5 billion, down JPY 83.8 billion year-on-year, mainly due to deterioration of inventory valuation caused by decreased oil prices. Operating profit, excluding the inventory valuation, was up JPY 51.7 billion year-on-year, mainly due to improved margins in petroleum products, higher sales volume in the metals business, such as semiconductor materials and improved profits in the electricity business due to the start of operations of Goi Thermal Power Plant. Please refer to the bottom section. Although results through the third quarter have exceeded the forecast, we have decided to keep our forecast announced in November unchanged, considering uncertainties such as the risks of resource prices and exchange rate fluctuations and the impact of listing of JX Advanced Metals. Please turn to Page 5. First, I will explain the listing of JX Advanced Metals Corporation or JXAM. Today, the Tokyo Stock Exchange approved the initial listing of JXAM. With that, we will offer a majority of shares owned by us for sale, and JXAM will transition from a consolidated subsidiary to an equity method affiliate. In May this year, we plan to announce our next medium-term management plan based on this measure. With this listing, JXAM's high growth potential will be properly reflected in the stock market as we rapidly and steadily execute strategic investment necessary for business portfolio reform and shareholder returns with agility and certainty. The bottom section describes our balance sheet management initiatives. During the third quarter under review, we have steadily proceeded with the sale of strategic shareholdings and share buybacks. On Page 18, we have summarized the main measures in this fiscal year, including the additional sale of shares of the operating company of Caserones Copper Mine and partial sale of the Marine Logistics business, which were executed in the first half for your later reference. Please turn to Page 6. First, I will explain UCL or a ratio of unplanned capacity loss of refineries in the petroleum products business. The cumulative UCL performance through the third quarter of this fiscal year was 4%, improved 4 percentage points year-on-year. Please refer to the graph on the upper left. In the previous fiscal year, troubles caused by nonroutine work during the planned restart after turnaround became apparent, but such troubles significantly decreased this fiscal year, partly due to improvement in construction, quality and operations. We will continue to steadily implement measures to prevent problems in order to achieve our target UCL of 4% for this fiscal year. Please refer to the bottom section. In the oil and natural gas E&P business, we are making steady progress on initiatives to maximize value of this business, such as additional development in Malaysia and expansion development of the Tangguh LNG Project in Indonesia. As a low-carbon solution, LNG is an essential fossil fuel to support the transition to a decarbonized society, and we intend to continue focusing on it. Please turn to Page 8. The Dubai crude oil price indicated by the red line started at $88 at the beginning of this fiscal year and fell to $76 at the end of the fiscal year due to concerns about the economic slowdown in the U.S. and China. The average price for the 9-month period was $79, down $4 year-on-year. The LME copper price in yellow started at JPY 4.05 per pound at the beginning of the fiscal year and rose to an all-time high of JPY 4.92 in May following the report of an agreement on production cuts among Chinese smelters and increased supply risks with Russian metal trading regulations, but the price trended lower towards the end of Q3 and the average price for the 9 months was JPY 4.25 per pound, up JPY 0.47 year-on-year. The yen continued to weaken against the backdrop of a widening interest rate gap between Japan and the U.S. and the average exchange rate for the period was JPY 153, down JPY 10 year-on-year. Next, please turn to Page 9. Petroleum products margin index has continued to remain firm and was slightly above the level of the previous fiscal year. The paraxylene margin index has deteriorated year-on-year, mainly due to oversupply with declined gasoline demand. Page 11 and 12 provide an overview of financial results and operating profit by segment, and I will explain details with waterfall charts from Page 13. Please turn to Page 13. Operating profit, excluding inventory valuation of petroleum products was JPY 158.2 billion, on par with the previous year despite the positive factors such as sales volume increase of JPY 22 billion, mainly due to UCL improvement and margin expenses, et cetera, of JPY 68.1 billion. They were offset by negative factors such as negative time lag of minus JPY 53.8 billion due to the decline in oil prices and the absence of onetime profit on sale of assets in the previous year of minus JPY 35.5 billion. The main components of JPY 68.1 billion increase in margin, expenses, et cetera, are JPY 57 billion increase in petroleum products and export margins in real terms, excluding the time lag and a JPY 15 billion increase in chemicals margins. Operating profit of high performance materials increased by JPY 8.5 billion year-on-year to JPY 13.8 billion, mainly due to increased sales volume of various elastomers and functional materials products, improved margins due to the weaker yen and higher butadiene prices. Please turn to Page 14. Operating profit of electricity was JPY 20.6 billion, up JPY 18.5 billion year-on-year. This is due to the start of operation of Goi Thermal Power Plant, sales margin improvement, entry into the VPP supply-demand balancing market and onetime profit from the revised timing of sales recognition due to the business separation. Operating profit in renewable energy increased JPY 5.2 billion year-on-year to JPY [ 400 million ] due to the reversal of an impairment loss recorded in FY '23 and the review of the service life of power plants despite decreased sunlight, plant issues and higher SG&A expenses. Please turn to Page 15. Operating profit in oil and natural gas E&P decreased by JPY 4.8 billion year-on-year to JPY 72.7 billion. Despite the sales volume increase by the start of operation of the Tangguh Expansion Project in Indonesia, increased expenses were recognized for operating costs of this project, ensuring labor costs and materials and equipment costs and the absence of onetime profit recorded in FY '23 for the acquisition of JDC led to this result. Operating profit in metals was up JPY 6.8 billion to JPY 87.1 billion, although semiconductor materials recorded an impairment loss in its tantalum and niobium business in this third quarter under review, its profit increased year-on-year, mainly due to increased sales volume of thin-film materials backed by growing demand for data centers. ICT materials recorded a year-on-year increase, mainly due to increased sales volume following inventory normalization on the supply chain, while metals and recycling recorded a year-on-year decrease, mainly due to the reversal of a onetime profit recorded in FY '23. Page 16 shows balance sheet and cash flows. First, the cash flow on the right. Please refer to the figures excluding the impact of lease accounting circled by a dotted line. Cash flows from operating activities for the cumulative 9 months through the third quarter was a cash inflow of JPY 185.4 billion, mainly due to operating profit, excluding inventory valuation of JPY 387.3 billion and depreciation and amortization of JPY 211.4 billion. Others include an increase in working capital, mainly due to seasonal kerosene inventory pile up. Cash flows from investing activities recorded a cash outflow of JPY 222.3 billion, while there was JPY 290 billion in capital expenditures. As part of balance sheet management, the company promoted asset sales such as partial interest in Caserones Copper Mine and strategic shareholdings. As a result, free cash flows reported a cash outflow of JPY 36.9 billion. And net cash flows, including dividend payments and share buybacks, recorded a cash outflow of JPY 360.4 billion. Reflecting these cash flows as shown in the balance sheet on the left, net interest-bearing debt, excluding cash and cash equivalents, was JPY 2,346.1 billion, up JPY 346.1 billion from the end of the previous fiscal year and net D/E ratio was 0.56x. That is all for my presentation. Page 17 and beyond are for your later reference on the status of balance sheet management initiatives, assumptions and sensitivity analysis. Thank you.