Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited (4005) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

It is time. So let us begin. I am Kobayashi from the Corporate Communications department and will be the moderator. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule today to attend our Investors Meeting for FY 2025, 2027 Corporate Business Plan. Today, President, Iwata, will give a presentation followed by a Q&A session. We planned it at 5. President, Iwata, the floor is yours.

Hello, everyone. I am Iwata, President of Sumitomo Chemical. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule today to attend our Corporate Business Plan presentation. Let me express my sincere appreciation to all the analysts for your continued understanding and support of our management. Thank you for your attendance. This is today's agenda. The content is wide ranging, but I will focus on the important points and leave as much time as possible for the Q&A session. First, let me explain today's main points. In FY 2024, we expect core operating income to improve significantly by approximately JPY 250 billion from the previous year, thanks to our immediate term concentrated business performance improvement measures and steady progress in fundamental structural reforms. Against such backdrop, we have set the slogan Leap Beyond for our corporate business plan starting in FY 2025. We aim to leap higher beyond today and return to solid growth trajectory. We will make FY 2025 a new start for reborn Sumitomo Chemical as we pursue further transformation. In this corporate business plan, management resources will be largely allocated to the 2 growth driver segments of Agro and ICT to further upgrade the business portfolio. The targets for FY 2027, the final year of the corporate business plan are JPY 200 billion in core operating income, 8% ROE and 6% ROIC. From 2030 onwards, we aim to achieve JPY 350 billion in core operating income and over 10% ROIC by 2035 with the addition of advanced medical and businesses that reduce environmental impact, where we are planting the seeds from a long-term perspective. Let me begin with the review of the plan. Please turn to Page 5. This is the trend of core operating income, which deteriorated sharply, especially from the second half of FY 2022, the first year of the current corporate business plan, significant margin deterioration in petrochemicals, particularly PetroRabigh, combined with the LATUDA patent cliff at Sumitomo Pharma led to a significant loss in FY 2023. However, this is the big crisis, but as a result of our immediate term concentrated business performance improvement measures and fundamental structural reforms, we have reached a point where we can almost certainly achieve a V-shaped recovery in FY 2024. The left side shows the reasons for business performance deterioration, which we also reviewed in our presentation last April. Right side shows the measures incorporated in the structural reforms currently underway or the new corporate business plan to address these factors. Needless to say, we believe it is important to carefully analyze the factors that led to the crisis and reflect them in the next set of measures. I will not explain them one by one here. These are the immediate term concentrated measures to improve business performance in order to generate JPY 700 billion on a cash basis, we are steadily managing progress in cash generation on the items shown here, starting with rebuild business. We started with an initial target of JPY 500 billion, which was already a large amount, but it amounted to JPY 700 billion, and I believe that we were able to show our company's underlying strength. These are balance sheet-related items. Left side is the estimate of how the JPY 700 billion, I just mentioned, is reflected on the balance sheet. Operating cash flow had deteriorated since FY 2022. And if the investment plan originally planned had been implemented as is, interest-bearing debt would have inflated to about JPY 2 trillion by the end of FY '24. In contrast, we expect to keep interest-bearing debt down to JPY 1.27 trillion at the end of this fiscal year by realizing JPY 700 billion in cash generation measures. On the right, total amount of invested capital is approximately JPY 600 billion or 20% less over the 2 years. As the mix of the invested capital has also improved significantly as Essentials and Pharmaceuticals declined and growth drivers such as Agro & ICTM now account for a greater proportion of the total. This slide is on fundamental structural reforms. Each of these is a major challenge. But the ones that we were able to set a direction on within the current corporate business plan period are in red. We are still in the process of implementing various other measures, but we'll work on them as tasks to be carried over to the next corporate business plan to have a good prospect in the next 3 years. Before going into the new corporate business plan, let me explain our long-term vision beyond that. As we have announced in the past, our long-term vision is to become an innovative solution provider. This reflects our strong desire as a company to provide solutions to the challenges facing society through our innovative products and technologies. The slide shows the 4 societal challenges we think we must address. From the next slide onward, for each of the 4 business units that are linked to the 4 challenges, we summarized the nature of the social issues, the direction of solutions, the types of solutions we can provide and our strength that we can underpin -- that can underpin these solutions in terms of both technology and business. First societal challenge is food. In the food sector, it is necessary to efficiently produce more food on the limited amount of land. There are also serious environmental issues such as GHG emissions and soil erosion from agricultural activities. Regenerative agriculture, which improves agricultural productivity while recovering natural capital, is the direction of solution to these challenges. To realize such regenerative agriculture, Agro & Life Solutions sector will provide the solutions shown on the slide on the strength of our technological assets, which is our technological base in organic chemistry and ability to develop new agrochemicals. And our business assets, which is our global footprint covering major agrochemical markets. Next is ICT. There are issues such as the development of next-generation technologies and reduction of energy consumption to realize a ultrasmart society where people lead fulfilling lives through cutting-edge technologies such as generative AI. The ICT and mobility solutions sector aims to provide the solutions shown in the slide in the semiconductor and display domain by leveraging our technological assets such as miniaturization and higher purities, and our business assets such as the global supply and development infrastructure built on upfront investments. Next, in health care sector, there are many social issues as shown in the slide. Resolving these issues require a response for diversification of medical needs and individualized medicine. In response to these challenges, the Advanced Medical Solutions sector will provide solutions shown in the slide based on our strength in advanced organic synthesis and bio-related technological assets and our business assets, including our comprehensive capabilities in development, production and regulatory affairs, which we have cultivated in our Life Science business. The fourth social issue is the environmental field. In addition to global warming, petrochemical products faced various challenges as shown on the slide. the direction for solutions is how to socially implement technologies to reduce environmental impact, such as various types of recycling and the use of biomass. Essential & Green Materials sector will provide solutions with innovative technologies to reduce environmental impact as described in the slide, based on our strength in GX-related technologies such as catalyst design and process development, our track record of building supply chains in the recycling business and our business assets, such as our capabilities running large-scale projects overseas. This slide shows an image of the long-term portfolio. Agro & Life, and ICT & Mobility will drive growth up to 2030 and beyond 2030, with the addition of solutions in the health care and environmental fields, we hope to establish ourselves as a company that provides many innovative solutions to the 4 social challenges. This is the main content of today's meeting. A description of the 3-year corporate business plan starting in 2025. First of all, our slogan is Leap Beyond. The word means to transcend the status quo and leap to higher ground. As the environment becomes increasingly uncertain, we believe that we can return to growth trajectory and achieve sustainable growth beyond that by continuing to innovate with new ideas. Leap Beyond was chosen as the slogan for the new corporate business plan with the hope that 2025 will be the starting point for a reborn Sumitomo Chemical. This is the overview of the new corporate business plan. I will skip this slide as each item will be explained later. This is management numerical targets for FY 2027. Core operating income of JPY 200 billion, net income of JPY 100 billion, 8% ROE and 6% ROIC. Although this is a significant improvement from FY 2024, we are halfway through toward our goal and are not satisfied with the level of performance. First, we will achieve this corporate business plan and then aim for even higher goals. This page describes the path toward JPY 200 billion. We aim to increase profit and loss year-on-year in 2025 and 2026 on an actual basis shown in red, excluding gains on sale of businesses and achieve JPY 200 billion in 2027. This is a breakdown of core operating income by segment. Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility generate JPY 80 billion each and these 2 sectors are the growth drivers for the company's performance. Essential & Green had the largest year-over-year improvement, and the reasons for change are explained on the next slide. This graph shows the comparison between FY 2024 and '27. On the left, core operating income for FY 2024 includes capital gains on business dispositions of about JPY 60 billion. So we start from JPY 40 billion, excluding that. First, lower right, JPY 40 billion from the change in Rabigh shareholding ratio. And JPY 80 billion, including profitability improvement of Rabigh and reorganization of Singapore, et cetera. In addition, we expect JPY 14 billion from restructuring of petrochemical business in Japan and expansion of licensing business. The other business segment is up to a total of JPY 66 billion in addition to business expansion in crop protection products, growth in semiconductor materials and portfolio upgrade in polarizer business will also contribute to profit growth. More details by sector will be explained in Section 4. In the new corporate business plan, we established the 5 basic directions shown here. I will explain them one by one starting from the next slide. The first policy is upgrade business portfolio with new growth strategy. This was introduced in the management priorities and business strategy briefing in October, and we have once again clarified the positioning of the 4 segments in the company's portfolio. The 2 on the left, Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility are the immediate growth drivers, and we will concentrate our management resources such as CapEx and R&D investments. On the other hand, Advanced Medical will be developed as new growth areas to become the third pillar in the future. As for Essential & Green, we are making a major shift from petrochemicals to businesses that reduce environmental impact. The 2 divisions on the right require time for market ramp-up and technological development and are positioned to be cultivated from a long-term perspective. We plan to invest JPY 450 billion over the 3-year period, which is within the scope of depreciation and amortization. Since about half of that is for maintenance CapEx, the amount of strategic investments is JPY 230 billion. There are 2 points I want to share here. The first is that we will allocate JPY 180 billion or about 80% of our investment to Agro & ICT, our growth drivers. The other is that technological development capabilities will be even more important in these 2 growth drivers compared to traditional types of commodity chemistry. The development of new agents in Agro solutions and next-generation grades in photoresist is a key factor for growth and profitability. So we need to look at R&D expenses along with CapEx when we allocate our management resources. Next slide is on R&D investments. R&D expenses for the 2 growth driver segments will increase year-by-year to over JPY 220 billion in 2027, which is about the same as our business investment and CapEx. We will work on the themes on the slide in Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility. The second basic direction is structural reforms pursued simultaneously with growth. The first is PetroRabigh. In August last year, we announced a rebuilding plan. First is a near-term measure. Both parent companies have agreed to forgive the debts and sell a portion of our shares to Aramco and recontribute the proceeds from the sale to Aramco. PetroRabigh expects interest burden to fall by about $200 million due to the reduction in debt. In order to strengthen profitability, as near-term measures, improving productivity through debottlenecking of existing facilities and other various rationalization measures are being implemented. Particularly of note is the second item in the middle row, change of crude oil type. Supplying low sulfur crude oil suitable for Rabigh is a measure only Aramco can take. As the most important mid- to long-term measures, Aramco will take the lead in accelerating the study of initiatives, including upgrading the refining facilities in close cooperation with PetroRabigh. This is Sumitomo Pharma's core operating profit trends. As you can see, the business was running deficits of about JPY 30 billion every quarter in fiscal 2023, but it quickly rose above water from the first quarter of fiscal 2024. This is due to sales expansion of 3 core products and cost reduction efforts, which exceeded the plan. In addition, a onetime factor, the lump sum recognition of deferred income due to the termination of MYFEMBREE joint venture agreement with Pfizer contributed to the significant increase in earnings in the third quarter. As a result, core operating income is expected to return to profitability in fiscal 2024. This is Sumitomo Pharma's plan under the new corporate business plan. Sales of the 3 core products are expected to increase from JPY 150 billion in fiscal '24 to the mid JPY 200 billion range in fiscal '27 or more than 1.5x the previous year's level. Interest-bearing debt, which totaled about JPY 420 billion at the end of fiscal '23 is expected to drop significantly to about JPY 300 billion in fiscal '24 due to the sale of Roivant shares among others and, thereafter, payment is expected to proceed due to the expansion of the 3 core products. Underneath that the positioning of Sumitomo Pharma small molecule drug discovery business is described again. In the area of drug discovery, our recognition that synergies between small molecule drugs and chemistry are limited has not changed. First, we'll do our utmost to support the reconstruction, which is just about to be completed. But at the same time, we are considering all options, including finding the best partner that can contribute to sustainable growth. On the other hand, we intend to develop the regenerative medicine and cell therapy business with a focus on iPS sales, which are the result of world-class research originating in Japan as a pillar for future -- our future by leveraging the strengths of both our company and Sumitomo Pharma. I would like to talk about the reorganization in Japan and Singapore. Essential & Green is undergoing various structural reforms, and now it's in the midst of a structural reform phase. We have already announced the optimization of Keiyo Ethylene and also accelerating the study of collaboration polyolefins. In Singapore, we have reduced the capacity of MMA and have achieved a certain level of rationalization. In the PCS business, we're studying the optimization makeup of the complex. We hope to have the end in sight for these petrochemical rated structural reforms within the next corporate business plan period. At the same time, during the next 3 years, we believe it will be necessary to develop a vision for the future of Keiyo complex and conceptualize a new business model based on the premise of carbon neutrality. I would now like to explain basic direction 3: improvement of financial and capital efficiency. Since 1999, we have been a pioneer in ROIC-oriented management, and we'll thoroughly re-implement this commitment. We have set numerical targets that are not uniform across segments, but tailored to the business and expected growth of each segment. For fiscal 2027, the top 3 segments are expected to achieve ROIC above cost of capital. while Essential & Green Materials is expected to stay at lower ROIC of 4%. Excluding Rabigh, ROIC is 6%, but by 2035, when we were able to create value through technologies that reduce environmental impact, we aim to achieve a return on capital that is comparable to that of other sectors. Here is a breakdown of ROIC improvement from 2024 to '27. We project a 4 percentage point improvement from 1.5% in 2024 to 5.5% in 2027. The breakdown by factor is as follows: 2.3 points due to measures to strengthen earning power such as sales expansion and launch of blockbuster crop protection products and expansion of the semiconductor materials business through measures to optimize the invested capital, such as concentration of resources on growth drivers and structural reforms of petrochemicals. The improvement is expected to be 1.7 percentage points. At the same time, by establishing a new business portfolio review committee to discuss portfolio upgrading and revisiting the investment deliberation process to enhance risk assessment and monitoring functions, we will strengthen the management system to support ROIC-oriented management. The changes to the government -- governance institutional design will be explained later on a separate slide. This shows the transition of the invested capital and NOPAT since 2015. As explained earlier, we were able to significantly streamline this invested capital, which has increased by about JPY 1 trillion by 2022 over a 2-year period, and achieve a V-shaped recovery of the business performance in 2024. Here is a breakdown of invested capital and ROIC by sector for fiscal '24 and fiscal '27. Horizontal access is invested capital, vertical access ROIC. And NOPAT or earning power of each sector is shown as an area. As you can see, Agro & Life in green, and ICT & Mobility in orange, which are growth drivers will increase the invested capital and improve ROIC and will literally drive the company's performance. Unfortunately, the company-wide ROIC shown by the orange dotted line will not reach our target of 7% by 2027. However, ROIC for the 4 sectors, excluding Rabigh, shown by the light blue dotted line will improve to a level above 7% in fiscal '27. This is a 3-year cash allocation plan. JPY 1.13 trillion, the sum of operating cash flow and cash generation measures that will be explained later. We used to fund JPY 920 billion to be spent for capital expenditure, investments and loans and R&, D and JPY 70 billion for shareholder returns and JPY 140 billion for repayment of loans. Here's a concrete plan for generating JPY 200 billion in cash. In business rebuilding we will continue to sell noncore businesses from the point of the best owner to generate JPY 70 billion. Working capital is JPY 50 billion by further reducing inventories and strengthening management of assets and liabilities. And we expect to improve our cash base by JPY 40 billion over the 3-year period by continuing the improvement of asset sales and reforms. And this is the status of interest-bearing debt and debt-to-equity ratio. Interest-bearing debt and D/E ratio, which increased significantly in fiscal 2023 are expected to improve significantly in fiscal '24. We plan to further reduce interest-bearing debt and achieve a D/E ratio of 0.8x over the course of fiscal 2027. This is a shareholder return. As mentioned on the cash allocation slide, we will pay out JPY 70 billion in dividends over 3 years. Our dividend policy is to pay stable dividends and maintain a dividend payout ratio of about 70%, and we expect the same level or even higher in the next corporate business plan. As we have been saying, we will strive to improve our business performance so that we can pay an annual dividend of about JPY 24 per share at the earliest possible date. Next, I would like to discuss the fourth basic direction, the R&D strategy. We'll make full use of the assets we have accumulated to date and engaged in research and development centered on the 3 X's: green transformation, biotransformation and digital transformation. The areas where we expect future growth and focus on our efforts are in the overlapping areas of those 3 X's. From the next slide onward, I will introduce promising development themes. There are several themes that we are working on from a long-term perspective. From the top left, white bio. This refers to the conversion of conventional chemical manufacturing process into bioprocesses. We have the advantage that our multiple laboratories including bio-center research center can cover a wide range of processes from design of bacteria to scale up and production, and we aim to develop this into a JPY 50 billion business by 2030. In disease, risk testing kits are proprietary insect derived cell chips have made it possible to determine the risk of cancer and other diseases from human urine. We aim to enter the consumer testing business in 2027 and to grow this business to JPY 50 billion scale in the 2030s. In the area of regenerative medicine and cell therapy, we're preparing for the world's first iPS cell-derived product for the treatment of Parkinson's disease with a view to filing for a priority approval of SAKIGAKE filing in fiscal 2025. Hope to grow this business to JPY 350 billion in the 2030s. This is an ICT-rated theme. On the left is a photoresist organic molecule resist is being developed as a next-generation EUV resist. This is photoresist consisting of metal-free organic polymers of less than 1 nanometer in size. Customer evaluation has already begun. In addition to the cutting-edge fields where the market has already been established, we aim to increase the number of layers to be acquired in the next generation and to achieve a 20% volume share in ArF immersion and EUV markets. In compound semiconductors, we are steadily advancing development towards the 2030s when demand for power semiconductors will be in full swing. In the advanced back-end process of semiconductors, materials are required to meet sophisticated the complex needs and we'll accelerate development by combining our unique materials and technologies. Here is an introduction of research teams using the GI, Green Investment Fund. In chemical recycling, 3 themes are underway, and I will explain the third one from the top. While the existing technologies for the production of olefins from alcohols, such as ethanol require multiple reaction steps, the catalysts we have developed makes it possible to easily produce ethylene and propylene in a single reaction step. We have already achieved 80% yield on the bench scale and the pilot facility will be completed in the first half of 2025. All of the above themes are at the stage of construction, operation of the product facilities, and we'll aim to commercialize them in the first half of the 2030s. This slide shows the concept of our business model for how we intend to make money in the future from the environmental impact reduction technologies that we are focusing on. In our GX Solutions business, our priority is, based on licensing of competitive GX technology that we are developing, while using GI fund to build a value chain for resource circulation, as shown on the slide. Through these efforts, we aim to contribute 2.5 million tons of GHG reduction by 2035 and achieve core operating income of JPY 40 billion. We are considering a business model in which GHG reductions contributed by introduction of our technology will be converted into value and we will receive a fee for services. From here, I will explain about human resources from the fifth basic direction: strengthening the management's base. Human resources are positioned as the most important of all management resources and we intend to hire and develop them and strengthen their engagement. Some of the main measures and the KPI targets are presented in figures. The left top is human resources systems and measures. We need to strengthen HR systems and measures and engagement, taking into account the recent difficult in securing talent in society with many working couples in the employee awareness survey. For example, we aim to achieve a 70% positive response rate to questions related to engagement, such as I would recommend working for the company to my friends and family. The right top strengthened our ability to attract talent, diversify recruitment sources and channels and raise the ratio of experienced hires to about 40%. Next, DX. After the current corporate business plan, as DX Strategy 1.0 to 3.0, we have been working on business efficiency improvement and new value creation. In the new plan, we will take the next step by combining the DX Strategy with AI as a new access. Specifically, as an AI-native company, we aim to achieve an AI active user ratio of 100%. In addition, we aim to achieve a significant increase in productivity, not only by utilizing AI alone, but also by combining AI with IT and robotics and to achieve a rationalization effect of JPY 10 billion, approximately over the next 3 years through DX. We'll also expand Biondo, our natural material matching business launched in the current corporate business plan period, and we have also set an aggressive goal of launching 5 more new digital products during the new corporate business plan period. This is regarding the change in the institutional design of the Board of Directors, which was announced in the press release yesterday, in order to further strengthen our corporate governance system, which is the foundation of our management, we will transition to a company with an Audit and Supervisory Committee, subject to approval at the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders to be held in June this year. By making Audit and Supervisory Committee members, the members of BoD, the supervisory function of the BoD will be further enhanced. And by further concentrating the discussion of management strategy at the BoD meetings, we will further accelerate management decision-making. I would like to touch briefly on the strategies by each sector. First, the business strategy of Agro & Life Solutions. In a nutshell, our priority in the new plan is to reap the benefits of the upfront investments and development efforts we have made over the past 10 years. We'll focus on launching and expanding sale of new blockbusters, expanding the business of biorational and botanical and developing pipeline for the next generation at the same time. Specifically, in the biorational business, we aim to double the current business scale by fiscal 2030. We will expand the product portfolio of INDIFLIN including the development of mixtures in order to double the sales by 2030. Rapidicil is currently sold only in Argentina now, but we expect to obtain registrations in the U.S. and Brazil by the end of the new plan with the sale of several tens of billions of yen by 2030. With these 2 strategic products as the core, we aim to achieve sales at JPY 150 billion level by 2030. And this is an analysis of changes in the core operating income from fiscal 2024 to '27. Although we have factored in, the decline in selling prices of existing products due to intensifying competition, we aim to achieve core operating income JPY 80 billion in 2027, by expanding sales of blockbuster products such as INDIFLIN and Rapidicil as well as biorational and botanical business. Next slide, ICT & Mobility. The semiconductor market is expected to double in size towards 2030. In Semiconductor Materials, we aim to maximize returns from prior large-scale investments as well as deepen our proprietary technologies. In Display Materials, we'll focus on this field in response to the ongoing shift to OLEDs, mainly for mobile and automotive applications. I will now discuss our 3 main businesses. In cutting-edge photoresist, we'll continue to invest in cutting-edge areas such as ArF immersion and EUV. As recently announced, we have decided to add capacity for ArF immersion lithography tools in Osaka with the aim of further increasing our leading market share. In the Semiconductor Chemical fields, we will continue to expand our business areas and develop high-quality products for cutting-edge fields, starting with prototype production in a new plant in Texas. In the Display Materials business on the right, we have made steady progress in shifting our focus to high performance areas over the past few years with the sale of our large polarizer business in China and the conversion of our manufacturing lines in South Korea. We intend to achieve both business scale expansion and profit margin improvement in the OLED and automotive fields through the differentiation by ultrathin films and high resolution. As we look toward fiscal 2027, sales expansion of core products such as photo-resistant semiconductor chemicals for which we have already made upfront investments to increase capacity will make a significant contribution and structural reforms, and shift to high-performance display materials will also bode well for us. Next is the Advanced Medical Solutions sector. This sector is still in the process of development from the perspective of the period to 2027, so it is small in scale, but we expect steady growth. Advanced small molecule drugs will continue to dominate the modality. We'll strive to expand sales to our main target customers, which are the semi major and midsized pharmaceutical companies in Japan that require our comprehensive capabilities in the CDMO business. Next is Essential & Green Materials sector. As for the medium-term business environment, we do not expect a significant recovery in the petrochemical products market. We aim to complete business rebuilding in Japan and Singapore during the corporate business plan period and we'll continue to build a foundation for providing solutions to reduce environmental impact. Analysis of Essential & Green Materials profit and loss, the target is to return to profitability of JPY 25 billion from a loss of JPY 64 billion in fiscal '24, an improvement will amount to about JPY 90 billion. Although we are unable to provide specific numbers because PetroRabigh is a listed company, we expect a significant improvement due to a decrease in our equity share of Rabigh, which is as shown in the graph and the improvement in performance due to a reduction in the interest burden resulting from financial restructuring. The expected benefit of the petrochemicals and petroleum refining margins, which are linked to market conditions such as recovery is not incorporated in such large numbers, given our 15% equity stake. In addition, a shift to higher-margin products in Singapore and the improvements in the mix of derivatives will contribute to a total improvements of JPY 80 billion. In addition, expansion of the licensing business and effects of domestic corporate tie-ups will support the improvement towards fiscal '27. As a result, in the breakdown by business in the core operating income for fiscal '27, nearly half is expected to be represented by licensing and catalysts and the portfolio is to be significantly upgraded, as shown in the pie chart. This is my last slide. As for the long-term portfolio, as I explained, Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility will lead the growth until 2030. And after 2030, we'll add solutions in the health care and environmental fields following the 2-phase trajectory and aiming to become a new specialty chemical company with a global presence. Our numerical targets for 2035 are core operating income was JPY 350 billion, ROE of 12% and ROIC of 10% or higher. Core operating income is JPY 250 billion for Agro and ICT combined, and another JPY 100 billion for Advanced Medical and Essential & Greens combined. We would like to achieve the ambitious target of JPY 350 billion with these 4 engines. That concludes my presentation. Thank you for your attention.

We will now start the Q&A session. So first, Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, Watabe-san.

Morgan Stanley. Watabe is my name. Thank you for the explanation. First of all, President change has been announced. So thank you very much for a very hard work for 6 years. It must have been a lot of work and especially the past 1 year. Now this corporate business plan. The short-term profitability, on Page 25 chart, if you could elaborate on how we can take a look at this. So excluding the sale on business sales, JPY 40 billion is the starting point. FY '25 next year. The color is a bit fade, but there's still some gain on sales on assets. So JPY 150 billion, JPY 160 billion can be aimed. Could you elaborate that?

Thank you for the question. Yes, this is where we use some creativity to show the graph. First, 2024, originally, it was -- aim was JPY 100 billion, including the gain on sales, but we can enjoy an upside. The size of the upside will be announced once it becomes clear at the right timing. In FY '25, excluding the gain on sales, JPY 100 billion was the initial target. Now FY '24, starting point was a bit high, and the actual performance was high. So excluding the gain on sales, we think we can enjoy an upside. And in FY '24, there were things we were to complete in FY '25, but the closing was delayed. Due to various reasons our decision-making was delayed. And so some are now, how should I say, will be carried over or will come into FY '25. So JPY 200 billion cash generation plan was presented on top of JPY 700 billion. And the rebuild business will also be a part of this FY '25. So FY '25 is a number that we are fairly confident.

Thank you very much. And so this upside -- aside from Pharma, what are the upsides?

In core operating income, the currency FX in U.S. is still uncertain. But ICT due to FX is now strong.

Understood. My second question is on Page 26. Essential profit is increasing Rabigh and Singapore, JPY 80 billion, of which JPY 40 billion is from the shareholding ratio and the other JPY 40 billion, it's sizable. On Page 32, numbers are fine, but you mentioned Rabigh, the short-term profitability improvement measures. Is that a big factor or Singapore will be streamlined quite significantly? So on Page 26, the pharma -- Sumitomo Pharma and others, I talked -- asked the question on pharma, but there's no breakdown. So if you could elaborate on that point, I'd appreciate it.

So both Rabigh and pharma are listed companies and so I can only say so much. What I can share with you is limited. Now in Essential, as you rightly said, in Essential & Green Materials towards FY '27, improvement by JPY 94 billion. Overseas, Rabigh Singapore, JPY 80 billion. And Singapore is -- you can see how much Rabigh is if you calculate, but a sizable portion is Rabigh. Singapore was not a big loss. And as I mentioned, the market recovery is not part of the assumption for the corporate business plan. So the base is higher. And so the Singapore profitability improvement is not included. And so this number is not that large. Now what about Rabigh? There was a change in the shareholding ratio. In addition, the interest rate decline is for sure. And due to lower rate, this impacts the shareholding ratio and the continuous streamlining efforts. In addition, for Rabigh, now the petro refinery margin is extraordinary. This is not sustainable, so that factor is also incorporated. So that is 15%. 15% equivalent will become -- come to Sumitomo Chemical. So of the JPY 80 billion, a sizable portion can be achieved. In other words, Rabigh is now 15%. And so the downside impact on the headquarter will be quite limited. Now you can calculate the numbers. But for example, I can use any number. Let's say, downside is JPY 500 million. It's 15%. So that's JPY 75 million. So at JPY 150, it is JPY 10 billion. So Rabigh's variation fluctuation. The impact on Sumitomo Chemical from FY '25 will be considerably limited. In Page 26, I'm sorry, it is not clear, but Sumitomo Pharma, including FY '27, the profitability plan is now being considered. We have not announced that yet. So I am sorry, we cannot be clear on this one. So Sumitomo Pharma and others FY '24 was large and a big drop in FY '27. In FY '24, total JPY 43 billion. This has the gain on sales, one-off gain on sales accounts for a big portion. In others, -- the base is lost. This is the company-wide R&D expenses. So the base is lost here. In FY '24, with the gain on sales of business, there was an upside. So compared to that, FY '27 looks like this. But excluding this one-off gain on sales of business, Sumitomo Pharma is not declining or is on the downside.

Yes, I think I understand that. Orgovyx's second milestone is not included in the numbers.

I do not have the information at hand, but it does not include large numbers. I see there is a quite good improvement. But -- from the best owner perspective, pharma will not be U, right? That stance remains unchanged. But compared to the past, we now have a little leeway in terms of time line to select the best owner. In FY '23, we were trying to find a best owner as soon as possible. But thanks to pharma's hard efforts, we will not have a loss on a single year basis going forward. So we want to look for a good partner or a good collaboration partner.

Thank you very much, Mr. Watabe. Now next question from Mizuho Securities, Mr. Yamada, please. Yamada from Mizuho Securities. Can you hear me?

I congratulate on this V-shaped recovery. And I also thank you for your efforts. There are 2 questions. First one, the growth driver resource concentration on Page 30, strategic investment, JPY 230 billion of that, JPY 180 billion will be Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility will receive that. And so in terms of ratio, this makes sense. However, in the past 3 years or 6 years, large-scale investments have been done one after another. Compared to those, is this enough? That's what I wonder. But the past investments will be now being harvested, so for the next 3 years, you are reaping the benefits of the investments on an organizational basis. So you don't spend too much money, but you have to take measures for the future, so this is the level that you're going to spend. Is that what you think? Or it is not? And those are the projects that are being written, but can you give us more colors or prioritization, where you are focusing on? And crop protection production, distribution channel is the one that you're focusing on or API that you're still focused on? So can you share with us how you spend your money?

Thank you for your question. First of all, as you said, Mr. Yamada, the new -- in the new corporate business plan period, more or less, we are reaping the benefits. And those 2 sectors have received a large-scale upfront investments. So you have to harvest the benefits within the depreciation cost, so that matches the overall framework. So this is in line with that overall strategy. And that's how we are going to proceed. And as I said in the presentation, in those 2 sectors, at the time of CapEx, there's already a winner that has been determined. You have the good material, and you have to invest money in production facility for that good material. And so CapEx will directly lead to profitability in that case. And if you say that you don't have any budget to frame -- earmarked for that, you don't make any investments. That shouldn't be the case. So for the next few years, we will focus on the R&D efforts in that respect.

And so Agro & Life and ICT & Mobility, in which specific areas are we going to make investments more? So you see major projects here, but actually, in our corporate business plan, for the next few years, which subsector will receive how much?

There is a rough allocation made, but we're not screening individual projects one by one to decide whether to go forward or not at this moment. So going forward, as I have been saying, in Agro, geographically, next area is Europe. and the sector is biosimilars. And those are the things that we had in mind. And what are the partners? That's what we have yet to decide. And for each of the projects, we have to decide based on the budget allocated for that and earmarked for that. So that's how we're going to proceed in crop protection. Europe, biostimulant and then -- and diagnostics. And also existing large-scale production facilities will have to be in place and up and running. And the supply chain is also just as important. In Europe and U.S. or there's a division between U.S. and China rather. And crop production in China is the over reliance for all manufacturers. But Sumitomo Chemical has production locations in Japan, so compared to multinational giant players we are in a better position, but still, we still have a higher degree of dependency in China. So we have to make investments in crop protection in that regard. And in semiconductors, for the next 3 years, whether this is going to be a steady plant or not, but there will be a plant to be set up in the U.S., but there will be other geographical deployment. But we don't know whether there will be such ones emerging for the next few years, we don't know. It may take time.

The next question, capital allocation, resource allocation. Page 40, R&D expenses of JPY 470 billion. And this is not -- this has not been suppressed too much, it appears. And in the case of Sumitomo Pharma, Phase III licensing out is being done, so they are now asset wide. So Sumitomo Pharma's R&D costs probably will be declined. But still, you have R&D expenses at the level comparable to the past. So crop protection, ICT and life solutions like CDMO will receive R&D expenses in the large amount so that you can plant the seeds for the future. Is that the correct understanding? Or is there any spend in Sumitomo Pharma. Maybe you make it -- you find it difficult to talk about Sumitomo Pharma, but can you give us more details about where you're going to spend this R&D budget. And Advanced Life Medical Solutions, it is going to be profitable, but regenerative medicine and cell therapy, if you are going to do the clinical studies, then there will be tens of billions of yen in cost. So are you going to absorb that? Is that correct understanding? So we're talking about R&D?

Well, let me just take up the second question first. As you said, JPY 8 billion to JPY 10 billion in our development cost is something that we need to pay for. So we have to hold on and stay there strong until 2030 for regenerative medicine. And Advanced Medical, of course, you cannot afford on their own. So as a group worldwide, we have to have upfront investments in development. So this is recorded in headquarters and others. So what Watabe-san asked about this. But basically, we said that we're in the negative territory in the headquarters and others. And that is partly because of this. And '24 and '27, in '24, that sort of expenses are not included. In the first quarter, well, maybe 3 months' worth may be reflected, but not fully. But in the '27, you have the full year reflection of the expenses, so Sumitomo Pharma and headquarters, the sum of those 2 are reflected in the '27. So that is block for or the barrier for comparison. For R&D, in 2 growth areas, JPY 220 billion. And then for pharma, according to the original plan, JPY 90 billion to JPY 100 billion. R&D is going to be reduced to JPY 50 billion. That is the target of the cost reduction. And in 2024, their R&D costs had already been reduced to JPY 50 billion level. So I think that level will be maintained for the time being. But there are change factors like there is a promising 2 cancer -- anticancer agents. And at what speed the clinical studies will go forward. And how much more spend is required. That is not certain, but this -- that's not included in this R&D total expenses. So probably '25 or '24 level will be continued. That's what we expect. So JPY 220 billion for these 2. And Pharma JPY 50 billion, so that means JPY 150 billion. And then the group-wide research and development teams are there. So including those, this is the number that we have come up with this.

What about ICT and Agro, JPY 220 billion to JPY 230 billion and JPY 150 billion for Pharma and Advanced Medical like JPY 30 billion in the conservative side, then there is still JPY 70 billion to go. So are you going to spend that much in green-related matters?

You can't say that. Well, for the group-wide corporate research teams, there are some, as I said, white bio or insect, the receptor for the smell and also battery materials. So those are group-wide research themes that are part of this R&D expenses. So in gut feeling, it does make sense, and I don't think this is so unreasonable. But if there is any change in the number, then I'll let you know.

Thank you. In any case, we're expecting to hear the results of these investments.

Next, SMBC Nikko Securities, Miyamoto-san, please.

I'm Miyamoto from SMBC Nikko. Petrochem, essential and green structural reform, the rebuilding of the business is my question. So with this restructuring, you will have a profitability structure that is resilient to market changes. PetroRabigh, so the stake will be down to 15%. But will there be another reduction or take it out of the equity method affiliate? Do you have such plan? And in Singapore, around JPY 5 billion profit is being pursued. TPC, PCS rather than changing the stake, the higher added value is your aim. And the productivity capacity reduction with olefin and polyolefin, is there a reduction -- room for reduction in the capacity? In Japan, polyolefin business combination is taking a bit more time, this may be difficult to explain, but why is it taking time? What is the bottleneck? What is the direction if as much as you can explain?

Thank you for the question. So first, PetroRabigh. In April, 15%. The new structure, at 15%, will start, and the administrative work is now ongoing. During this corporate business plan period, we have no plan of reducing this from 15% to a lower number. Now will this be out of the equity method? That is related to another technical consideration. So we can examine, but not incorporate it in the current corporate business plan period. In Singapore, until now, Singapore had been a cash cow and naphtha-based complex, extremely competitive. So FY '23, '24 Asia petrochem, difficult days was whether it's structural for our Singapore petrochem or whether it's cyclical, we need to ascertain further. And by understanding that, PCS, there are 2 lines. So perhaps we can reduce 1 line and the equity stake can be done differently, can be changed. But before that, we want to ascertain the positioning of Singapore. So first of all, in the first year of the new corporate business plan, we will focus on that point. Of course, at the same time, we will study what steps we can take in parallel. But first, we will think of the positioning of Singapore and the GX technology will be implemented socially. And Singapore, will be the first candidate outside of Japan, needless to say. And maybe they will be -- will implement the technology before Japan. So we have to examine that in parallel and revisit the positioning of Singapore. Now in Japan, polyolefin collaboration. Polyolefin in Japan, I was hoping for a faster speed, but there are customers, clients and the grade consolidation. So we, the stakeholders, need to understand the future to move forward. So we cannot help it but spend this much time. It's not that we are in conflict. We are spending time to understand each other's business strategy.

Understood. And my second question is the growth driver, Agro and Life Solutions. On Page 55, bridge chart, waterfall chart, First, Rapidicil. Brazil and U.S. launch time will be the key. So when do you think that will be? And Europe M&A, so this is not incorporated at this point. And for the intensifying competition, which material are you looking at [indiscernible] or -- so those 3 points. Thank you very much.

So first, Rapidicil registration timing. Brazil and U.S., we've already filed. So when we can get the registration is, Brazil 2025 and U.S. 2026. So that is the assumption we have. Just because we get the registration does not mean that the sales will skyrocket right away. But 2026, if I'm wrong, if my memory is wrong, I will correct later.

And Europe M&A, is it included or not?

It is not included in the performance because we have the counterpart. And it depends on the counterpart -- other parties move. So it's not included in the financials. And the competitiveness, it's not so much the agent. Sumitomo Chemical has our own agent and also sell the ones that -- where the patent is expired and our agent may follow -- fall accordingly. So using our experience, we incorporated the number that we think is the best estimate.

Next question, BofA Securities, Mr. Enomoto.

I am Enomoto from BofA Securities. There are 2 questions. The first one is about dividends. On Page 43, in corporate business plan final year, net income will be JPY 100 billion. So in terms of EPS, JPY 60 around about and 30% of payout ratio would represent JPY 18 per share. So if you look at Page 43, JPY 24 per share or more is targeted. So there is a gap. So what I would like to ask about is that during the corporate business plan, are you going to aim for JPY 24 per share or payout ratio 30% will be way exceeded. Is that correct? Or based on payout ratio there will be a return to be made. Is that what we are supposed to expect? That's the first question.

Well, sorry, this was difficult to understand. So JPY 24 per share, that is the target. But ideally, by -- within '27, we would like to realize that, but the profitability level that we have right now, it will be impossible. So JPY 70 billion. Well, the absolute amount of dividend is not displayed in corporate business plan, that is not our practice. But this time, we are talking about this, and there is 1.6 billion shares. And if you divide JPY 70 billion with 1.6 billion, then that will be JPY 44. So JPY 44 for 3 years. So if you divide that by 3, then simply, you have JPY 15. So that is the 3-year dividend basic policy. So if you understand that, that will be appreciated.

The second question is on ICT & Mobility forecast for increased profit on Page 27. So there are 2 questions. The new display, JPY 7 billion. What is -- what are you talking about, the new display material, which one is going to contribute? And also polarizers, CoE or color-filter on encapsulation, I think there is some substitution risk for polarizers. So how are you looking at those fluctuation risks?

Well, as for polarizers, technological innovation is really intensifying that's the environment we're in. So from LCD to OLED, there is a complete shift already happened. And from OLED, from a small-size panel -- from panel -- from -- to tablet and larger size PC, there will be expansion. And how are we going to respond to those to meet the demand is a key question. And at least in 3 years' time, in 2027, to some extent, display technological innovation. They are fast and yet there's already something specific that we are seeing already in what is going to happen in 2027. So profitability level in 2027 is not going to fluctuate that much. For those new displays, so every year, if you look at displays, the composition changes and now the thinner the better. 43-micron is the current level, but this could be reduced down to 8 microns. So we're just competing in thinness. So the new type of display, those are what we are referring to as new displays here. So we have to take shares in those markets so that we can improve our profitability. That's what we're talking about on this slide. What was the other question?

CoE.

Well, for the future technological innovations, there are cases where you are not going to use polarizers in specification. And actually, this has been already commercialized in some cases. And we are aware of that. But not everything will be changed that way. And there are cases where polarizers are more necessary in some markets. So those markets could expand, so we're hitting the right balance. So we are strong in OLED. So in that sense, what has not been done with OLED in the past, like the PC size display could be produced by OLED. In Generation 8.6, Samsung has been the first comer, but Chinese BOE has come up with large-scale OLED for PC for 8.6 generation. So there is OLED market that has been going to expand, so this is an opportunity. So there are applications that will disappear, but there are others that will emerge. So how we can maintain our competitiveness in this market is a key question in our ICT market.

So next, JPMorgan Securities, Nakada-san, please.

JPMorgan, Nakada is my name. I have 2 questions. First, Page 25. In your first question with Watabe-san, this is detail on that. So ICT and Agro, the growth business will grow in profit towards the second half of our trajectory towards FY '27. '25, the arrow is growing linearly. So where is the gap from the first year, Rabigh will have an impact, so this will be like -- will be the case. But if you could buy business, give us more color on what will ramp up towards the second half of this period?

So we call this medium-term plan, corporate business plan, but it's not that we have the forecast by business for '26 and '27. So we cannot give you exact numbers, but you are right. Rabigh shareholding ratio change will have an impact on FY '25. So in terms of business, Agro, Rapidicil growth will be bigger in the second half. So crop protection will have a bigger jump in profit in 2026 and '27. On the other hand, ICT, as of now, it's reached a high level. So ICT will grow in a linear fashion. So you're right.

So the linear profit recovery and recovery in net income. So according to [ Nomoto-san ], the payout ratio is 30%. So the payout ratio will also come back in the linear fashion?

Well, we will look at the net income and decide on the actual amount of dividend. But normally, 3-year average is JPY 15 so this will gradually increase. That is our projection.

My other question is, it's not about the medium-term plan, the corporate business plan, but this may be the last opportunity to ask you President, Iwata. So for the first time in 80 years, it will be Mr. Mito since 1980, the technology top becomes the President. And crop protection will lead the business. So I think the person was selected in accordance with the rebalancing of the business. So encouraging words and what you expect of the leader going forward, if you could share that message with us, investors and analysts.

So yes, you're right. I don't know how the past presidents were chosen. But Mr. Mito was selected as the new President because the personality, the capability and the track record was suitable for the President. But in addition, Sumitomo Chemical challenges, we thought of the most suitable person can resolve the challenges that Sumitomo Chemical is faced with. So FY '25 is the start. So vision will be built and realized. We need the person of that caliber. And we have global business. So we need a person with capability to pursue global business. And the technology, it did not have to be a person from the technology side, but the person had to have the insight on technology. So taking all these factors into account, from a comprehensive viewpoint, we thought Mr. Mito was the most appropriate person, not just me, but the Nomination Committee members unanimously selected Mr. Mito. It just so happens that he's from the engineering side, but 80 years ago was the right after World War II, so as a formal President, he is the first President after World War II to come from the technology engineering side. But technology or non-technology, it does not have much meaning. The more important factor is whether the person is suitable in resolving the company's challenges.

I have high expectations.

Now next question from Daiwa Securities. Umebayashi-san, please?

Umebayashi from Daiwa Securities. I have more detailed specific questions. Methionine is what I'd like to ask about, your thoughts. So today, there's not much discussion on methionine, but the other day, ITOCHU Corporation, comprehensive agreement for joint sales that was announced. And ITOCHU's logistics and commercial flow and their capability is the benefit. That's what you explained. But in this corporate business plan period, market prices and also supply and demand, how are you looking at this? And of course, we have been mindful of those. But with this collaboration or alliance that fluctuation in the market prices could be absorbed by ITOCHU to some extent so that you can have a stable profits. And now because of this collaboration, is that what we are supposed to think?

Well, this time, as for the methionine business development, we have made a very major decision. And as you said, the ITOCHU's global logistics network, and their capability to sell the products to customers will be much higher than we are acting alone. That's why we have reached this comprehensive sales agreement. And for this, because of this, of course, methionine is a commodity product. So you can't sell with the technological differentiation. Well, in terms of differentiation, rather than Sumitomo Chemical selling the products, probably there's much more differentiation when ITOCHU is selling the product. And working together, the breakeven point for Sumitomo Chemical for methionine can be reduced by streamlining sales costs and others. So therefore, in the commodity products, competitiveness isn't about cost. Cost of that is what matters, and how to reduce cost and how to maintain cost competitiveness is the biggest challenge for us. In terms of business performance, there's not much profit or loss that is being counted. That is the level that we have reflected methionine in the corporate business plan this time. And in the methionine business, what has been the weakness or headache is that we are selling this as a single product. So annual nutrition or we're talking about this feed. Nutrition, we're selling just a single product, but it's not just poultry, but the pork or the swine and [indiscernible] acid is a new major additive and this can be started to be sold in 2016 in U.S. and Europe. So during the corporate business plan period, there will be new material that we can sell, that will be very good. So animal nutrition or feed additives, the business format could be changed for us because of this.

Just for confirmation, to the market condition, there's not much change that is discounted in this corporate business plan. But working together, you can expect to reduce your cost. That is the biggest benefit that you can expect from this agreement. Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct.

The second question is also about market prices. In the outset at your presentation for the next 3 years, there's not much recovery in the market prices that is included in the business plan. That's what you said. But there could be deterioration in the markets and that risk should be also included to some extent, in my view. So if there is a downside risk from your base plan. Of course, you have the base plan, but are there any optional initiatives that you have in mind or not? So if the market conditions get better, then what will be the background that you consider? Can you explain more about that?

Well, the petrochemical market, further deterioration is not something that we would like to even consider. But in the case of polyolefin, there are a lot of different developments but in Asia, in particular, plants themselves were suspended. And even in China, the production capacity increase has been slowing down. That's the trend that we're seeing as a fact. So there's -- the prices are already in the marginal cost on par. And so in terms of economic logic, it is impossible to consider even further deterioration. We talked about Singapore, but further deterioration is not something that we are considering, but this bad situation could be continued, and there should be some options to address that. And we are quite at the bottom in our view. But even if we are just hovering at the bottom level, then we have to take quite an action. And in Singapore, we are taking some initiatives to address that in parallel.

We are coming close to the ending time. So the next question will be the last one. And if you could limit your question to 1 question, we'd appreciate it. So Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities. Watabe-san?

I'm sorry, my second time. So President is changing in 6 years now. So what is the background? And if you look back on the past 6 years, what were the good things? And you said that the new President is the most suitable in resolving the challenges. Could we talk about the remaining challenges. And today, a new President is not with us. Am I right?

Yes. So to answer your last question, he is not here today, unfortunately. There are many ways of thinking about that. Executing the corporate business plan is done by the new President. And so some may think new President should explain this. But I was the one who developed the plan. So I think this is still my responsibility. So the -- it was 1 month before my case that the new President was announced. So his involvement in the corporate business plan was very short. So the new President, Mito, will be involved earlier, earlier than I did. And so we are working together in developing this new corporate business plan. So I think he will smoothly execute the plan. There were ups and downs in the past 6 years. When I became the President in 2019, as you know, Roivant M&A occurred, Nufarm Latin America M&A happened. That happened right after I became the President. Before my presidency, we did not even have signs. It just happened suddenly. And within 6 months, both came to a close. So it was a volatile period. That was the start. And so that was in '19. And then 2 years of COVID in 2020 and '21, we had to operate under COVID pandemic. Initially, I thought maybe company will go under in such a difficult time. So that was where we were. And then that settled and during COVID, Rabigh, second phase construction, the construction guarantee was another handicap or difficulty we had to handle. And then the rebuilding of the business, 2023 was a big loss. But in 2022, we already knew that '23 will be a big loss. So we started taking steps early on. So 2020, '21, were COVID and then the business restructuring, rebuilding of the business and '22, '23, we started. There was point of no going back. And so we were dedicated to our business. So it was like up and down and down and down, but that was the 6-year quick recap. There's still many challenges, as I mentioned today. So the remaining challenges cannot be resolved alone. We need partners. We need business clients and partners. We have to work together to resolve those challenges. So we did not just move in our speed or the way we want, but I will work with the new President and, of course, do what I can do to the best of my ability. In petrochemicals, as I mentioned today, in the next 3 years, we will try to have a good prospect, make progress and have a good prospect.

It is time. So we will now close today's corporate business plan briefing. Thank you very much for your attendance. Now the video of today's corporate business plan briefing, including the Q&A session, will be posted on our website from tomorrow onwards. So please take a look. Thank you very much again for your attendance today. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]