Sojitz Corporation (2768) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Let me explain the second year results of medium-term management plan, or MTP 2023 and future initiatives including the financial results of FY 2022 and forecast for FY '23. Later, Makoto Shibuya, who took office as CFO in April, will explain the details of business results and business plan. FY '22 profit was JPY 111.2 billion updating the record high number and exceeding JPY 100 billion for the first time. Core operating cash flow was up JPY 16.5 billion year-on-year and reached JPY 145.2 billion. We steadily generated profit with cash and ROE was 14.2%. All the KPI targets set when MTP 2023 was formulated or achieved earlier, except for PBR of more than 1. Profit of FY '23, which is the final year of MTP is expected to be JPY 95 billion. And this will be explained to you later. FY 2022 annual dividend is JPY 130 per share, same as what we announced in November. Consolidated payout ratio is 27%. FY '23 annual dividend is expected to be JPY 130 per share. Based on the solid and strong cash flow level, we would execute share buybacks up to 10 million shares or JPY 30 billion as announced the other day. All of about 15.3 million treasury shares were canceled as of April 7. In 2018, I said that we wanted to realize more than JPY 100 billion profit during MTP 2023. To realize this, we focused on speed and created a massive revenue taking advantage of our strength and uniqueness. I view profound emotion to have reached this far in 5 years and thank shareholders and partners for their warm support and Sojitz's Group executives and employees for their daily efforts and contributions. Next slide shows FY 2023 financial targets and targets by business divisions. Details will be given by our CFO. This slide shows the earnings change from JPY 111.2 billion in FY '22 to JPY 95 billion forecast for FY '23. With the impact of FY '22 onetime gain and loss, earnings would reach JPY 134 billion. Our earnings structure has changed, and now it is possible to secure JPY 100 billion level of profit even after deducting the market impact. This fiscal year, we will continue to establish a solid business base and implement agile business portfolio transformation. Although some of the profit will be reduced through the investment replacements such as thermal coal and REIT. We will make sure to harvest revenue from projects executed for the future growth and make further efforts to build assets that lead to the next MTP. This shows the profit that we have accumulated until now and revenue from non-resource business. External environment is quite uncertain, including heightened geopolitical risks, accelerating inflation, volatility in commodity prices and recession and others. With stable revenue base of non-resource business, we are confident to say that our earnings power is steadily improving. As I said earlier, this fiscal year is the final year of the current MTP. We will make sure to close it steadily and shift gears for further growth in the next MTP starting with the profit of above JPY 100 billion. This is the overall picture of our portfolio transformation. Current initiatives include continuously make new investments, mainly in focus areas, creation of new values such as digital technology to raise overall value, earnings power enhancement and steady business growth and asset replacement through portfolio transformation. Our corporate culture is openness. We utilize our scale, and we are focused on speed that I think is the strength of Sojitz by capturing trends and changes in the global society, and we deliver necessary goods and services to where they are needed in regions and sectors where we can utilize our strengths. Based on phases of each business, we link each business segment organically with the knowledge of our talent and continue to transform our business portfolio with digital technologies in order to accelerate the value creation. This is the list of the major projects expected to be executed in this fiscal year to enhance and accelerate solid revenue base through portfolio transformation. In infrastructure and healthcare, from power generation, such as renewable energy in upstream to energy saving, service business and retail business of electricity and gas in downstream in addition to generating power we need, we are expanding into the sales and effective utilization. In market-oriented initiative, we have acquired full ownership of Marine Foods Corporation, Marine Food Processing Company and recently that of TRY Inc., the major processor and seller of frozen tuna. We have had a long-term collaboration with TRY Inc. and by incorporating the new functions to our group marine value chain, we want to deliver high-quality and price-competitive processed marine food not only to Japan, but to the customers abroad. In Vietnam, where we are strong, together with the VinaMilk Group, which is one of the largest dairy manufacturer, we will contribute to the -- to enrich the food in Vietnam. Combining the strength of the content and functions with our global network, we will develop our business in overseas growth markets. In materials and circular economy, we invested in fluorine compound manufacturing business in Japan and recycling business of home appliances and electronic devices in Canada. We also made additional investment in Lynas in Australia to secure rare earth supply to Japan. By building upon the achievements and knowledge so far, we have expanded to the areas that we can invest in. Therefore, we are increasing the planned investment to about JPY 500 billion from JPY 300 billion that we expected at the beginning of MTP. As we shift gears towards the next growth stage, we are determined to so sow seeds for businesses that will contribute to the revenue in the future, while carefully discerning risks. This slide shows returns from new investments since MTP 2017 and progress against the initial plan. Both for MTP 2017 and 2020, initial plan of returns made at the time of MTP announcement will be exceeded, respectively. On the other hand, under MTP 2023, execution and earnings contributions of some investments are delayed due to COVID and others, but we will continue our efforts for improvement in a field to make sure to reap returns. Next, our DX strategy. Through this opportunity, we will digitalize all the elements and transform our business model fundamentally to realize new growth. On the other hand, we expect it will be more likely new competing business models will cause digital disruption, disruption of existing businesses. In such a situation, we need to accelerate and sophisticate our DX strategy more. This year, we strengthened the structure by appointing CDO Arakawa, also as CIO for implementing DX. I will continue to lead DX promotion. With this change, we will bring together digital and IT-related functions and personnel to further enhance speed and quality. Next, cash flow management. When we announced MTP 2023, we planned 3-year aggregate new investment of JPY 330 billion, including nonfinancial investment. During the 2 years under MTP, we invested about JPY 240 billion. As I explained earlier, for further growth, we want to invest about JPY 500 billion. We continue to manage a positive 6-year aggregate core cash flow as originally planned. As for shareholder returns, there is no change to the policy of paying stable and continuous dividends. In the current MTP period, we continue to aim at payout ratio of about 30% and annual dividend per share for FY 2023 will be JPY 130. As we promised last year, we announced share buybacks and treasury stock cancellations in FY 2023 earlier. To continue to meet expectations of market participants, we'll try hard to enhance competitiveness of Sojitz and shareholder value. This slide shows results in reductions of coal, oil and gas assets. For thermal coal interest, the target is reduction to half or less by 2025 and zero by 2030. As shown in the graph, 70% reduction from FY 2018 was already achieved ahead of schedule. We will make ongoing efforts to realize reduction of thermal coal interest to zero ahead of schedule. For us, the largest assets are human resources. We are working on human capital management to enhance the capital strength and promoting the creation of a system in which employee growth reach to Sojitz's growth. We established dynamic KPIs for human capital measures and are monitoring the progress as we already achieved 40% of the initial target of ratio of female career track employees with domestic or overseas working experience, we raised the target to 50%. Beside childcare leave taken by both men and women reached to 100%. In particular, the average leave taken by male employees increased from 4 days in FY 2018 to 39 days, about 10x in the last fiscal year. It is important to achieve the set targets under the theme of transforming diversity into competitiveness in a great work environment for each employee, we will further promote the creation of a system in which individual growth leads to organizational growth and enhancement of corporate body of the entire company. Again, this slide shares results. CFO Shibuya will explain details of cash ROIC by segment and others later. We received various evaluations from people outside the company for the efforts we explained so far. Aiming higher, our entire group, we continue to make efforts with originality and ingenuity. Lastly, transition of our stock price, PBR and credit ratings. As I said in the beginning, we haven't achieved PBR onetime or above. Our target of the current MTP, it is 0.8x now. Our entire company aims to achieve the target by the final year of MTP. In 2017, when I became President, I said it is my mission to make sure to evolve growth stage of Sojitz without stopping the steady growth trajectory maintained so far. For that, I have been prioritizing creation of a mass of earnings and building a stable earnings base, not impacted by market conditions, which is an issue of trading companies with a sense of speed. Uncertain business environments in which speed of change is accelerating, will become more commonplace. Meanwhile, many opportunities such as realization of decarbonized society and digital transformation are arising to build business model for creating new value. We want to take advantage of the new business opportunities for growth and development of society and our company. Sojitz will anticipate the next new stage and make consistent efforts. Based on strong partnership with our customers, we continue to face all the stakeholders sincerely, emphasize direct interaction and meet your expectations. That concludes my presentation.

I am Shibuya, CFO of Sojitz. Let me explain the financial results for FY '22 and the forecast for FY '23. I'll be using the highlights of consolidated financial results and supplementary materials 1 and 2. First, in the center of the highlight page, please find the consolidated statements of profit or loss. As our President said, profit attributable to owners of the company was JPY 111.2 billion, the highest ever since the start of Sojitz Corporation. Revenue and gross profit mostly increased in each segment. In Metals, Mineral Resources and Recycling division, coal prices went up. In Retail and Consumer Services division, we acquired full ownership of Marine Foods Corporation, the Marine Food Processing Company. In Chemicals, market prices of methanol, plastic resin, rare earth and others were higher. Revenue rose JPY 379 billion year-on-year to JPY 2,479.8 trillion. Gross profit rose JPY 66.3 billion year-on-year to JPY 337.6 billion. In SG&A, personnel expenses such as bonus increased. Yen equivalent amount of expenses at overseas subsidiaries and affiliates increased due to the yen's depreciation and with higher SG&A of new consolidated subsidiaries. Total SG&A were up JPY 42.8 billion year-on-year and ended at JPY 222.8 billion. Other income and expenses include the nonrecurring items, revenues through portfolio replacement such as sale of domestic solar project and REIT asset management company were booked as well as the impairment loss of system-related assets and loss on sale of copper mine. As for financial income and costs, average balance of investment bearing debt increased and we are starting to see the impact from higher interest rate in dollars with higher interest earned, JPY 5.7 billion expenses were booked with dividends received, total net financial income and cost was JPY 0.2 billion. As for shares of profit of investments accounted for using equity method, profit of Metal One, steel processing -- steel product company increased and the profit of LNG Japan increased due to higher market prices. But with impairment loss of offshore wind power generation business in Taiwan, the number decreased by JPY 10.7 billion year-on-year to JPY 27.3 billion. The profit before tax rose JPY 37.7 billion year-on-year to JPY 155 billion. After income tax expenses and noncontrolling interest, profit attributable owners of the company increased JPY 28.9 billion year-on-year to JPY 111.2 billion, almost the same as our full year forecast. Please find the balance sheet on the right. At the end of March 2023, total assets were JPY 2,660.8 trillion. Operating assets increased with net new investments, higher commodity prices and exchange rate impact. With collection of aircraft-related assets and using cash and deposits to pay for the interest-bearing debt, total assets ended at about the same level as at the end of the year before. As for liabilities, although operating liabilities increased, part of higher cash flow was used to repay the interest-bearing debt. And as a result, total liabilities decreased JPY 113.3 billion to reach the JPY 1,784.2 trillion. The total equity capital attributable to our shareholders increased JPY 109.7 billion from the end of the year before to JPY 837.7 billion. Dividends are paid from earlier explained FY '22 results and with the transfer from the other components of equity or OCI through the sale of cross-held shares. Higher retained earnings contribute directly to increased total equity. Below the balance sheet, 6 major financial indicators are shown. In FY '22, we made progress in repaying interest-bearing debt. As a result, the net debt and equity ratio was 0.75x, down about 0.3 points from the end of the year before, although we mentioned the ratio to be about 1 in MTP but we expect to manage it at about 0.75x in FY '23. The cash flow at the bottom right, cash flow from operating activities with the solid growth in business results, the core operating cash flow went up to JPY 145.2 billion, recording the inflow of JPY 171.6 billion. Cash flow from investing activities was a net cash inflow of JPY 29.2 billion as a result of sale of Coshare Holding, sale of investment through asset replacement and aircraft-related transactions despite new investment. Core operating cash flow plus port adjustment, net cash from investing activities minus shareholders' return came to significant core cash flow of JPY 135.6 billion. I will skip dividends shown on the left highlights as President already explained it. Please look at supplementary materials on -- in the middle, profit for the year by segment is strong. Profit in automotive was down and profit in all other segments were up or flat year-on-year. In automotive, profit from dealer business in Russia decreased. In Southeast Asia, profit decreased mainly due to depreciation of local currencies and foreign currency regulation. Results of infrastructure and healthcare are as shown here. As a result of earnings contribution from domestic and overseas power generation at Energy and new investment businesses and gain on sale from asset replacement despite impairment loss of offshore wind power generation business in Taiwan. Profit of metals, mineral resources and recycling increased significantly by JPY 28.6 billion year-on-year, mainly due to higher selling prices in coal business and profit increases at Metal One, a steel trading company. Profit of chemicals increased due to higher prices of various chemical products and improved profitability. In retail and consumer service, there were earnings contributions from newly acquired Marine Foods. On the bottom right, you see transition on ROA and ROE targets of MTP 2023. ROE of 10% or above and ROA of 3% or above were both cleared. Supplementary materials too shows plan for FY 2023. Please look at operating results on the left. Gross profit and profit for the year attributable to owners of the company will decrease year-on-year. Gross profit will be JPY 320 billion and profit attributable to owners of the company will be JPY 95 billion. We incorporated recent external environments, market assumptions and rising interest costs in the plan. As President mentioned in his presentation, we were able to make a plan with confidence in our capability to generate almost JPY 100 billion. By segment, impact of JPY 30 billion decrease of profit in metals, mineral resources and recycling due to coal prices is significant. In others, excluding onetime loss in infrastructure and healthcare, accumulation of earnings contribution from investment projects can be expected. In retail and consumer service, we expect accumulated earnings contribution from new investment projects and earnings improvement in retail business in ASEAN and domestic retail business as a result of the cavity in flow of people. Cash flow will be as President explained earlier. The graph on the bottom right shows progress of CROIC, cash-based ROIC. CROIC of many segments is exceeding value creation guideline figures of MTP 2023. MTP 2023 average will be 7.5% or around 8% compared to company-wide criteria of about 5%. Infrastructure and healthcare and retail and consumer service are currently below value creation guideline figures. In these 2 segments, amount of new investments are significant in MTP 2023. It is mainly because compared to the progress of investment there is a delay in timing of earnings and delay in dividends from equity investment caused by COVID and others. In both segments, by working on initiatives to maximize cash return we will build portfolio to reach or get closer to value creation guide 9 figures. Lastly, commodity prices and exchange rates assumptions for the plan. As shown in the bottom center, we assume annual average per tonne of $230 for coking coal and $160 for thermal coal. For exchange rate, we assume JPY 125 to the dollar for PL. That concludes my presentation.