ITOCHU Corporation (8001) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

This is Hachimura, CFO. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us today. I'd like to give you the overview of our Q3 results and segment information will be provided by Yamaura, the General Manager of Accounting. Please refer to the PowerPoint presentation material. Starting with Page 3, summary of financial results. So our forecast for the full year is JPY 880 billion based on the assumption that we make a 10% growth. So we are aiming for the highest ever profit. In comparison, the net profit during the time was JPY 676.5 billion, up 11% year-on-year. The progress was 77%. 83% came from non-resource businesses, which are very strong. From Q2 to Q3, there were some declines of the earnings in the resources business, but we offset that with the revaluation gain of Descente TOB and realized this positive number. I would explain the investments later. Cash out of some investments will emerge in the next fiscal year, but we are on track in terms of making decisions about the investments. In Metals & Minerals, there were lower prices of the materials and the coking coal operation was sluggish and also extraordinary gain was booked in the previous year in Energy & Chemicals and also the worsening of the profitability of North American construction material in General Products & Realty. Textile, Machinery, Food, ICT, Financial and 8th and CITIC, CP were strong in non-resource businesses. And also, there was an extraordinary gain of the Descente and the profit increased by about JPY 64.8 billion year-on-year. Next page will be explained by Yamaura. Going to Page 5. This shows the core profit. As a whole, in comparison to the previous year, there was a worsening of JPY 2 billion. The worsening of the natural resources on the right-hand side shows that compared with JPY 139.5 billion, it came down to JPY 116 billion, down JPY 23.5 billion. In addition to lower prices in the natural resources, in Metals & Minerals, there were sluggish operation of the core business and also the upstream interest in Energy & Chemicals are also included. So those are the negative factors, but in non-resource businesses, core profit increased by about JPY 21 billion or 5% to JPY 464 billion. Excluding ForEx, on the right-hand side, you see the numbers. And the core profit, non-resource numbers are being pushed down with, for example, in Metals & Minerals, steel business and also the general products and the Realty, North American construction material and Metsä Fibre was sluggish. So those numbers were not very good. In food, Dole and other fresh food and also some provisions were worsening. To offset all these, CP, CITIC and CTC and ICT & Financial Business and 8th, FamilyMart and Textile were strong. If you look at the different segment, of course, those are included at the back. The strength was shown in the chemicals as well as food distribution. They recorded the highest ever core profit. And also ICT and Machinery also showed strength. As for the non-extraordinary items, Page 6, in Q3, the major one was the revaluation gain of the Descente, JPY 50 billion. And also in Q3, there are several. There is also an exclusion of the Orient Corporation from the equity method, that's JPY 2 billion. In total, during the 9 months, JPY 95 billion extraordinary gains were booked. Out of that, in Q3, it was JPY 52.5 billion. As for the quarterly information, this is shown on Page 27. On Page 27, at the top, consolidated total is shown, and this is after tax. You can see the steady growth every quarter. And Page 29 shows the quarterly core profit. From Q1, Q2, Q3, the numbers are slightly declining. This -- however, in the non-resources, we are seeing the steady increase. Also, Page 25 shows the group company performance. The total number of the group companies is 263, 229 are making profit and 34 are loss-making. The number of the loss-making company compared with last year was reduced by 8. So 8 companies less in loss-making. Among those, the major ones, including the start-ups, we are making some small investments. Fourteen is in ICT & Financial Business and 5 in machinery. But loss-making machinery company was reduced by 4. So we are making a good progress in reducing the loss-making companies and increasing the percentage of the profit-making companies. What is not shown here is that as of now, there are 3 listed subsidiaries and 11 affiliated companies in Japan. And out of them, we privatized the Descente and the C.I. TAKIRON. And also, there was an exit of Japan Foods. Based upon the capital policy, we are proactively replacing assets. About investments, Page 21. So here, not much details are shown. But if you look at '24, which is consolidated cash flow, which has more detailed information. On the right-hand side, for 9 months, the biggest factor was the conversion of Descente into the consolidated subsidiary. This was the investment of JPY 136.3 billion. And also another factor was the additional investment of CSN rather, JPY 119.2 billion. And in Q3, as you can see on the right-hand side, non-resources JPY 254 billion and in natural resources, JPY 137 billion. Including CapEx, it was JPY 391 billion after exit growth -- after exit, it was JPY 346 billion and the growth full year was JPY 628 billion. On Page 39, we are showing the profit contribution from growth investments. And as you can see, there are some investments that we already made the decisions for. However, the cash out of those investments might not be booked in Q4. So including the cash out of the ones that we already made a decision for amounts to JPY 950 billion. In November, we mentioned that we have already accumulated JPY 850 billion. And we mentioned at the beginning of the fiscal year that we will make the JPY 1 trillion level investments, and we are making a good progress toward that. So those will start to contribute in inorganic growth in the next fiscal year and onwards. As for the shareholder return, those are mentioned on Pages 9 and 22. We completed the share buyback on the 14th of January. And other than that, we are on track. So 50% total payout ratio is our target. And as for the -- about dividend, it's JPY 200 per share or payout ratio of 30%, whichever is higher. So based on the assumption of JPY 880 billion profit, the JPY 200 per share dividend would mean the payout ratio of 33%, and that is included in our plan. We are not changing any forecast numbers. As of now, Metals & Minerals and Energy & Chemicals, we do not expect that the major turnaround in Q4. So in addition to a steady increase in the non-resources, extraordinary gains and also the -- with the buffers that we have not yet used that we can increase the profit by 10% and aim for the JPY 880 billion. And we already mentioned JPY 880 billion that we mentioned in November, and this remains unchanged, but there are some differences of the progress depending on the segment and businesses. And finally, as for fiscal year ending 2026, as usual, we will have a management meeting in April, and we would disclose the plan in May, and we have already started our discussion internally. And based upon the long-term brand new deal, we have been engaged in various initiatives and some of the businesses are showing strong performance and others are not really showing a good performance. And there are some businesses which probably have already peaked out and need to be replaced. There are different results of the investments. So toward the next fiscal year, we will try to be proactive in replacing assets so that we can show you the sustainable growth going beyond JPY 880 billion. That concludes my part, and I would ask Yamaura to report on each segment.

This is Yamaura speaking. So CFO has already given you the overview. I'd like to make some additional explanation. Please refer to Page 4. This is the net profit attributable to ITOCHU by segment. Let me start with Textile. In Textile, 9-month net profit was JPY 70.4 billion, up JPY 51.5 billion year-on-year, significant growth. Below JPY 51.5 billion, we are showing the number in smaller letters. Those represent extraordinary gains and losses. The Descente was converted into the consolidated subsidiary. The extraordinary gain was JPY 50 billion. Excluding the extraordinary items, core profit increased by JPY 1.5 billion. Especially in Sports, mainly Descente, the businesses in China and Hong Kong were strong. On the right-hand side, progress toward fiscal year ending '25, the forecast of JPY 73 billion, we reached 96%. In Machinery, net profit increased by JPY 7.3 billion to JPY 103.8 billion. In terms of core profit, it was up by JPY 3.3 billion. North American electric power-related business was strong in the previous year and the construction machinery-related business, such as Hitachi Construction Machinery, the demand was sluggish abroad and also the profits were lower as a result, but the aerospace and auto-related businesses were strong and Yanase profit increased with the strong new and preowned car sales. The progress toward the full year forecast of JPY 130 billion, the progress was 80%. In Metals & Minerals, net profit was down by JPY 31.3 billion year-on-year to JPY 133.1 billion. The impact of the lower iron ore and coal prices was big, and there was a sluggish coking coal operation in Australia and North America. And Marubeni-Itochu Steel, the steel materials and prices declined and profitability declined. As a result, the profit was much lower. And the progress was 67% vis-a-vis the full year forecast of JPY 200 billion. In Energy & Chemicals, net profit was JPY 50.6 billion. And in the previous year, there was an extraordinary gains of the lithium-ion battery business, 24M. And so the core profit declined by JPY 19.5 billion. Core profit base was down by JPY 1 billion as a result. And due to the lower market prices, energy and the power trading and also the CIECO Azer, Japan South Sakha Oil profits were lower. C.I. Takiron was privatized in this fiscal year and the business was strong, which drove the overall higher profit of the chemicals and partially offset the decline in this segment. Vis-a-vis the full year forecast of JPY 90 billion, the progress was 56% as we expect the dividends from the upstream interest as well as the extraordinary gains in Q4. In Food, net profit was JPY 60 billion, up JPY 5 billion year-on-year. Core profit was down by JPY 2 billion. Dole production volume declined and the North American grain-related business was strong in the previous year. Offsetting this was the turnaround of HyLife from the deficit of the previous year and NIPPON ACCESS, ITOCHU-SHOKUHIN were also strong. And the provisions related trading was also another driver. In comparison to the full year forecast of JPY 75 billion, the progress was 80%. In General Products & Realty, net profit was JPY 42.6 billion, down JPY 9.5 billion year-on-year. North American construction-related business, exterior building materials, Master-Halco, [ Alta, ] USPTM, the profitability worsened and ETEL in European tire business, the expenses increased and profitability worsened. And DAIKEN, which was made into the subsidiary in the previous year, the domestic business profitability improved and compared with the full year forecast of JPY 90 billion, the progress was 47%. And as we expect the extraordinary gains in Q4. ICT & Financial Business, net profit was JPY 58 billion, up JPY 3.8 billion year-on-year. Core profit-wise, it was up by JPY 6.3 billion. The previous year, the CTC was privatized and both order and order balance were record high, and it offset the decline of the mobile-related business and the financial retail business. And compared with the full year forecast of JPY 82 billion, the progress was 71%. This is a high number in terms because this company has a peak results in Q4. The 8th in Q2, we booked an extraordinary gain of JPY 29.5 billion on the group reorganization of the Chinese businesses. Net profit increased by JPY 27.2 billion to JPY 63.9 billion. In terms of core profit, various cost increase were offset by increase of the daily sales, customer traffic and spend per customer. The profit increased. In comparison to the full year forecast of JPY 65 billion, the progress was 98%. Finally, others. There was a CPP turnaround, which booked a loss in the previous year. And also in CITIC, comprehensive financial services were strong and extraordinary gain and weaker yen and lower interest expenses more than offset the stagnant iron steel and other steel-related businesses, which were sluggish. And profit as a whole segment increased by JPY 30.4 billion to JPY 94 billion. That concludes the segment explanation. Next page is about the core profit and extraordinary gains and losses are skipped. And please turn to Page 7, which shows the cash flow. Supported by the strong inflow of core profit of non-resources business, the core operating cash flow at the top and the core operating cash flow, excluding the changes in the working capital in the middle were JPY 706.2 billion and JPY 720 billion, respectively. As a result of accumulating the growth investments, net investment cash flow, which is shown in the middle was the record high. Net outflow of JPY 538 billion, as mentioned at the beginning. Finally, the financial position is shown on Page 8. Total assets increased by JPY 1.2 trillion or more from the end of the last fiscal year and reached JPY 15.7 trillion level due to the weaker yen and others. And the consolidated -- Descente was made into the consolidated subsidiary. The impact of that was JPY 290 billion, which is included. And the weaker yen impact is about JPY 220 billion on total asset and JPY 120 billion on shareholder equity on the positive side. The increase of the interest-bearing debt led to the net DER of 0.55x, but this is within the range of our expectations. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]