JGC Holdings Corporation (1963) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

I am Shinichi Taguchi from Group Finance and Accounting Department. I will walk you through the outline of financial results for fiscal year 2021. I will begin with the highlights. In this fiscal year of 2021, EPC projects made steady progress both in Japan and overseas and large-scale projects were completed. The Functional Materials Manufacturing segment was also a strong performer. As a result, income surpassed earnings forecast at all stages. There are concerns that the conflict in Ukraine will affect the procurement activities, in particular for long-term large-scale projects. The impact on costs due to higher material and equipment prices ordered going forward is reflected in the profitability of projects on this fiscal year's balance sheet to the extent that we can predict these costs at this point. We expect higher sales and profit in fiscal 2022. We now move to the income statement. Net sales fell JPY 5.5 billion year-on-year to JPY 428.4 billion, undercutting the full year forecast by about JPY 40 billion. Gross profit rose JPY 1.5 billion to JPY 45.3 billion. We had anticipated the risk that the conflict in Ukraine would have an impact on project costs in the fourth quarter. But in addition to the impact of the weekend, we posted additional income due to the elimination of construction risks in several projects in their last stages of construction. And as a result, gross profit surpassed full year forecast by JPY 3.3 billion. Operating profit fell JPY 2.1 billion year-on-year to JPY 20.6 billion. SG&A expenses were up JPY 3.7 billion over the previous year, which lowered profit compared to the previous year. This increase in SG&A expenses can be attributed to the posting of JPY 3.3 billion in provision of allowance for doubtful accounts in the fourth quarter and other factors. Operating profit came in slightly above the full year forecast since the rise in gross profit absorbed the increase in SG&A expenses. Ordinary income rose JPY 4.5 billion year-on-year to JPY 30 billion. This was due to an increase in nonoperating foreign exchange gains, dividends received and the share of profit of entities accounted for using the equity method and was JPY 6 billion higher than the full year forecast. Net losses attributable to owners of the parent totaled JPY 35.5 billion. This was a JPY 6.5 billion improvement over the full year forecast. Next, I will discuss segment information. In the Total Engineering segment, sales and profits were down year-on-year. Net sales fell JPY 10.5 billion to JPY 377.9 billion. In Japan, several long-term large-scale projects started this fiscal year, and construction was in the early stages, so the posting of sales was limited. Overseas progress was made on large-scale projects, but fell short of initial expectations. Even though the impact of weekend and posting of additional profit led to an increase in gross profit, segment profit fell JPY 3.6 billion year-on-year to JPY 13.2 billion due to higher SG&A expenses. In the Functional Materials Manufacturing segment, sales and income were up over the previous fiscal year. Net sales increased JPY 3.5 billion to JPY 4.2 billion and segment profit rose JPY 1.4 billion to JPY 7.2 billion. Sales of petroleum refining catalysts recovered and the sale of surplus inventory of materials led to one-off income. In fine chemicals, demand was strong, particularly for abrasives, and some plants utilize their for manufacturing capacity. In fine ceramics, orders of semiconductor manufacturing equipment related parts increased. The results for others are as shown here. Next page shows the balance sheet. Total assets were JPY 694.2 billion, almost flat to the beginning of the fiscal year. Current liabilities increased JPY 56.7 billion to JPY 253.8 billion. The increase was due to the short-term transfer of corporate bonds and advanced payments on projects in Japan. Noncurrent liabilities decreased due to the transfer of corporate bonds. Total net assets decreased to JPY 387.6 billion as a result of posting a net loss. The shareholders' equity ratio was 55.8%. The balance of our share of cash in joint ventures, which is not posted on the balance sheet, was JPY 239.6 billion. This is primarily from the joint venture for the LNG project in Canada. Next page is about cash flows. Cash flows from operating activities were JPY 19.3 billion. They are positive despite the net loss recognized for the fiscal year under review. This is because the extraordinary loss that had caused the net loss did not result in cash outflows. Cash flows from investing activities were minus JPY 7.6 billion. The balance of cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fiscal year rose JPY 19.7 billion to JPY 288.0 billion, including a foreign exchange gain. Next is about outline of contracts. In FY 2021, we had JPY 145.0 billion in new contracts overseas and JPY 178.8 billion in Japan for a total of JPY 315.9 billion. We had expected acquiring major projects at the end of the fiscal year, but anticipated projects were put off due to the situation in Ukraine and other factors. And as a result, orders fell short of the JPY 500 billion target. Outstanding contracts were JPY 1,215.9 trillion. By business area, oil and gas was 42%; and LNG was 34%. By region, Middle East was 41%; Americas and others was 29%; and Japan was 21%. Major outstanding contracts are: the LNG project in Canada; the oil refinery modernization project in Iraq; the Biomass Power Generation project in Japan; and the Dew Point Control Unit project in Saudi Arabia. Lastly, I'll explain about forecast for fiscal year 2022. We estimate the forecast as follows. New contracts will be JPY 840 billion. Net sales are estimated to increase year-on-year to JPY 600 billion due to progress with large projects in Canada and Iraq and also with projects in Japan. Gross profit will be JPY 54 billion due to the elimination of nonoperating losses and contributions from new projects. Profit ratio will be 9.0% to reflect the impact of higher costs on project profitability caused by the situation in Ukraine and the negative impact of the sharp rise in raw materials and fuel prices on the Functional Materials Manufacturing business. Operating profit will be JPY 26 billion. Ordinary income will be JPY 30 billion, flat to the previous fiscal year. Profit or loss attributable to owners of parent will return to the black at JPY 20 billion. The dividend payout ratio will be 30%, and we expect to increase dividend to JPY 24 per share. The exchange rate assumption used for the forecast is JPY 123 to the dollar. This concludes the outline of financial results.

I am Masayuki Sato, Chairman of JGC Holdings Corporation. I would like to share with you our perception of the current market environment and the future direction of our group. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia since February has shaken the world significantly in all aspects, including politics, economy and industry. This is exactly an event which symbolizes the age of VUCA and makes us realize that as a company, we need to be prepared to be able to respond to any situations that may arise. As I mentioned in my presentation at the earnings briefing for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 held in November last year, the market environment surrounding our group began to change in the second half of last year. While energy demand recovered in anticipation of the subsidence of COVID-19, in Europe, the lackluster output of the wind power generation and other factors have caused natural gas prices to rise as it was used to compensate for the wind power. This has led to the reaffirmation of the importance of natural gas as a transition energy source that serves as a bridge to renewable energy. In addition, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has triggered Europe's policy of reducing its dependence on Russia for natural gas imports to 0. And with energy security issues looming large in the spotlight, there has been a market move to significantly increase LNG imports from countries other than Russia, leading to concerns about a global LNG supply shortage. Under these circumstances, all majors and state-owned oil companies in oil- and gas-producing countries, which are clients of our group's Total Engineering segment began to show signs of resuming capital investments that had been held back for the past several years. Thus, the oil and gas plant market bottomed out in fiscal 2021 and now got back on the recovery track. In FY 2021, the order target of JPY 500 billion was missed as it took time to close contracts for some of the projects, which we had expected to close because we carefully proceeded with negotiations considering the risk of sharply rising material and equipment costs as well as transportation costs due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and other factors. However, we could make progress to the point where we are close to achieving the target. In the Functional Materials Manufacturing segment, the recovery of the global economy and the brisk semiconductor-related market helped the company achieve results that exceeded initial forecasts. For FY 2022, in the Total Engineering segment, we will make an all-out effort to achieve our order targets in a plant market that has started to make a recovery as we continue careful consideration of risks in the selection of projects. At the same time, we will aggressively pursue pre-feed and feed projects in order to lead the LNG market, which is expected to resume full-scale investment mainly in North America from FY 2023 onwards. Of course, at the same time, we will continue to actively pursue infrastructure projects, mainly in Asia and the commercialization of sustainability-related technologies without losing our focus. Over the past year, we have worked on the key strategies of the medium-term business plan based on our purpose, enhancing planetary health creates a healthy future for humans and the Earth, and we believe that we have made steady progress. We have set forth the following social issues to be solved by the JGC Group: Pursuing both stable energy supply and decarbonization; reducing the environmental impact of resource consumption; and building and maintaining vital infrastructure and services. Even though politics, economy and industry in the world are being shaken to the core, these social issues will not change in the slightest. Rather, we should contribute to the resolution of these issues required by the world, and we will enhance the value of the corporate group further through the resolution. That is all from me. Thank you.

I am Tadashi Ishizuka, President and CEO of JGC Holdings Corporation. I will give you the overview of the business. Please go to the next page, Page 2. I will follow this table of contents as they go along. Please see Page 3. As usual, I will first discuss Total Engineering segment's orders received. The orders received totaled JPY 316 billion, of which JPY 146 billion for overseas projects and JPY 170 billion for domestic projects were posted. We had a target of fiscal year 2021 of JPY 500 billion and had anticipated all along that large-scale projects would be skewed to the second half of the fiscal year, especially for the large gas and oil separation plant project in the Middle East for which we had expected to sign a contract in the fourth quarter. We acquired the final negotiation right in mid-February, and we were on the verge of concluding the contract when on February 24, Russia invaded the Ukraine. Since then, we have been asking the client and currently are still negotiating with the client to deflect the current situation of rising costs of materials and equipment as well as of transportation in the contract. As a result, unfortunately, we fell short of meeting our target. The target could have been achieved if the contract for these large-scale projects had been finalized by the end of March, but this was unavoidable as it was the result of taking into account the project execution risk. As will be explained later, we are working hard with the aim of signing a contract for this project in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Among other projects in energy solutions, Dew Point Control Unit was awarded to one of our subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia. In facility infrastructure solutions, major new contracts include: an LNG terminal construction project in Taiwan; a mega solar construction project in the Philippines; and a contact lens manufacturing plant construction project in Malaysia. The seeds that have been sown so far have fully begun to sprout in the form of these orders. In Japan, orders received reached JPY 170 billion against a target of JPY 160 billion. Major orders received include a project to construct a new manufacturing building for active pharmaceutical ingredients of small and midsized molecular drugs for Chugai Pharmaceutical Company and polyethylene manufacturing facilities expansion project. Please turn to Page 4. The target for orders in fiscal 2022 is JPY 670 billion for overseas and JPY 170 billion for Japan, for a total of JPY 840 billion. Major projects expected in overseas energy solutions include the gas/oil separation plant in the Middle East, which I mentioned earlier; and gas chemicals project in North America and the Middle East or ethylene projects, more specifically; as well as an LNG project in North America. In facility infrastructure solutions, we are seeking to win projects such as the construction of storage tanks and solar power and power storage system, both in Asia. In Japan, following the result in fiscal 2021, we expect to receive orders for several vaccine related and other large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, hospital expansion, a blue hydrogen demonstration and demonstration projects for sustainable aviation fuel or SAF. Please go to Page 5. Earlier, I talked about target orders received, but now let me discuss the market and order environment. First, in the overseas market, as Sato explained earlier, the recovery of energy demand from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the global energy security policy have resulted in heightened importance of natural gas and LNG. And this has led to an increase in the number of inquiries and orders for FS and FEED for LNG projects. Given these factors, EPC orders for large LNG projects are also expected to start gaining momentum in the second half of fiscal year 2022 and early 2023. During this long consecutive holidays of Golden Week in Japan, I traveled to Europe and U.S. for the first time in 2 years to meet with various customers and partners face-to-face. Let me share some of the topics discussed in those meetings. In Europe, while the path towards decarbonization remains unchanged, most of the conversations were focused on energy security prompted by the issue of Ukraine. Many of the inquiries I got were based on the need to give priorities and schedule of the projects, such as the possibility of reducing the construction period of liquefaction facility in LNG project to 30 months instead of the usual required time of 5 years. In the U.S., planned LNG projects, which have been stuck because no [ offtaker ] was found, have now their offtakers being identified. With the support from the government, there seemed to be an expectation to facilitate the start of the projects. In facility infrastructure solutions, demand for energy and infrastructure, particularly renewable energy, is expected to continue to grow against the backdrop of population growth and economic growth, particularly in Asia and the need for decarbonization. And capital investments by customers are expected to be steadily implemented. In Japan, customers will continue to invest aggressively in life science, health care and maintenance sectors as in the previous fiscal year. In life science, in particular, with support from the government, large-scale investments will continue in biopharmaceutical and vaccine production. In the last fiscal year, we acquired a pharmaceutical plant EPC business from IHI Plant Services and have increased their workforce, and we will further strengthen our operations to firmly follow up on our customers' aggressive investments. Also in Japan, various corporate initiatives are expected to progress in the areas of decarbonization and resource recycling such as demonstration of blue hydrogen production and SAF production. Especially in SAF production, our group is working with Cosmo Oil and Revo International to establish a supply chain for SAF and will begin construction of a commercial demonstration plant in Osaka. As Mr. Sato mentioned earlier, while the market environment is in the process of recovery, we are closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and other issues. We will continue to closely monitor the impact of rising prices of materials and equipment and transportation costs. For new orders, we will minimize risks as much as possible by discussing contract terms in depth with clients. Please turn to Page 6. Now I'd like to show you some of the major projects we are currently undertaking. First one is the LNG Canada project. This picture shows modules for Canada under construction in a module yard in China. This large module yard is filled with over 20 of our modules. It is a spectacular view. Please turn to the next page. The shipment of these modules started this year, and the first one was shipped in January, followed by a series of shipments. And all the shipments will be completed by the end of this fiscal year, and it is proceeding as scheduled. The photo shows a special ship for transportation has arrived at the dock in Kitimat, Canada. Next page, please. This slide shows the installation of the module at the construction site after transportation. Please turn to the next page. Another large project is the Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project. The construction has finally started, and we have begun groundwork, temporary facilities construction and permanent facilities construction. The ordering and production of materials and equipment are well underway. Please turn to Page 10. These are the actual sales results in FY 2021 and target for FY 2022 for the Functional Materials Manufacturing business. As explained by Mr. Taguchi, in FY 2021 in the catalysts and fine chemicals area, demand started to recover in FCC catalysts and fine chemicals such as silica sol for hard disk polishing. This is due to the global economic recovery as well as a recovery in the utilization rate of oil refineries in Japan and overseas with the increased fuel demand. In the fine ceramics area, demand for ceramics products generally increased, backed by the brisk global semiconductor-related markets. In FY 2022, we expect the market environment for the Functional Materials Manufacturing business will continue to be favorable. As a policy for FY 2022 for catalysts, in addition to acquiring new projects in the chemical field, we aim to develop materials for clean energy and enter into new fields. For fine chemicals, we will expand applications of existing products. For fine ceramics, we will further improve the quality of product for semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and high thermal conductivity silicon nitride substrates for power semiconductors used in electric vehicles as well as increased human resources and capital investment. Please turn to Page 11. Page 11 describes a summary of the progress of the midterm business plan started in the previous fiscal year. As a summary of the first year, we made a good start in accordance with the 3 key strategies of our medium-term business plan, transformation of EPC operation, expansion of manufacturing business for high-performance functional materials and establishment of future engines of growth. I will not go into detail on this page, but I'd like you to refer to appendix later for details. Please turn to Page 12. This is my last slide. This is about the alliance agreement for fuel ammonia plants with TOYO announced on April 27. As you know, fuel ammonia is expected to be a decarbonized fuel to be used not only for power generation, but also for ship, and to play an important role in realizing the 2050 carbon-neutral declaration set forth by the Japanese government in October 2020. The Japanese government has set a goal to achieve 3 million tons per year by 2030 and increasing it to 30 million tons by 2050. Given these circumstances, it is assumed that Japanese companies supported by the Japanese government will form a consortium of Japanese companies to promote the project, utilizing financing by Japanese financial institutions. In this context, for the development of the fuel ammonia business in Japan, we, as a contractor, should establish a leading position in the EPC field by working with partners to utilize and complement each other's strengths. We believe that we'll be able to demonstrate a higher level of proposal capability and competitiveness by supporting fuel ammonia companies consistently from the conceptual stage to the EPC stage. We have signed a license agreement with KBR, the largest player in ammonia manufacturing process licensing. This is related to the alliance agreement with TOYO. With the license agreement with KBR, which has a strong track record and reliability in ammonia manufacturing process, we intend to enhance our technical expertise to be competitive and lead the industry in the fuel ammonia field. That is all for me. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]