Showa Denko KK

TSE:4004

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Hideki Somemiya, executive]

Hello, everyone. I am Hideki Somemiya, CFO of Showa Denko. Thank you very much for your interest in our company performance.

Now I'd like to explain the overview of fiscal 2022 first quarter financial results. So from this time, my presentation is based on new segments announced in February.

Please refer to Page 2. There are 3 points that I want to communicate to you. First, net sales decreased due mainly to business transfer. However, against the background of a strong demand for semiconductors, net sales earned by ongoing businesses, excluding the impact of the business transfer increased.

Second, operating income decreased year-on-year due to the business transfer, periodic shutdown maintenance at Oita Complex, a rise in raw material costs and others. Third, in order to reduce financial costs, we repaid LBO loan before maturity by refinancing.

Next is Page 3. This is a summary of consolidated results in comparison to Q1 of fiscal 2021. As you see on the left, in Q1, net sales were JPY 308 billion, down JPY 31.7 billion or 9.3% and Operating income was JPY 15.4 billion, down JPY 5.5 billion or 26.2%. Ordinary income was JPY 19.9 billion, down JPY 5.2 billion or 20.6%. Net income attributable to owners of the parent was JPY 8.4 billion, up JPY 3.2 billion or 62.5%.

Please refer to the table on the right. The numbers on the right are based on the ongoing businesses. Net sales increased by JPY 19.2 billion or 6.6%. Operating income decreased by JPY 1.2 billion or 7.2%. EBITDA was JPY 42.1 billion, down JPY 0.9 billion or 2%. EBITDA margin was 13.7%, down 1.2 points.

Next is Page 4. Operating income breakdown by factor comparing Q1 of fiscal 2021 and Q1 of fiscal 2022. Operating income of Q1 of fiscal '21 was JPY 20.8 billion. Excluding the impact of the business transfer, it was JPY 16.6 billion. Based on the ongoing businesses, as higher material prices were not fully reflected on selling prices, operating income was pushed down by JPY 2.4 billion despite positive volume factor. Overall, operating income decreased by JPY 1.2 billion.

Next is Page 5, the summary of consolidated sales and operating income by segment. In Semiconductor and Electronic materials segment, both sales and profit increased with continued tailwind in semiconductor industry. In Mobility segment, both sales and profit decreased because of reduced automobile production due to the supply shortage of semiconductors. In Innovation Enabling Materials and Chemicals, sales increased, but profit decreased due to the time lag between the soaring raw material prices and selling price revision. That's all the disclosure segments.

Others of fiscal 2021 included energy storage devices and systems, aluminum cans, rolled aluminum products and SHOKO Co. Ltd. which was sold in fiscal '21.

Pages 6 to 8 show the sales and operating income by segment. Please refer to the performance overview column for the details. I will just explain the highlights. Page 6, Semiconductor and Electronic Materials. As I said, with a strong demand, sales were up by 18%. Profit was up by 56%.

Page 7 is Mobility. Due to sluggish car production and higher raw material prices, which were not fully reflected on the selling prices, sales were down by 4%. Profit significant came down by 68%.

Page 8 is Innovation Enabling Materials. Sales were up by 13%, but the profit was down by 31% due to higher raw material prices. Also in the Innovation Enabling Materials, higher raw material prices were not fully reflected to selling prices, there was a time lag. In Chemicals, in petrochemical, there was a once-in-4-year shutdown maintenance and depreciation of raw material naphtha inventory.

Also at Oita Complex on the 21st of January, there was an earthquake, which led to 10-day suspension of the operation. As a result, the sales declined and operating loss was booked in Q1. This was not fully offset by much higher sales and profit of graphite electrode. In Chemicals segment, as a whole, sales increased by 10% but profit declined by 68%. Based on the current status of the earnings in segments other than semiconductor and electronic materials, we will make further efforts as a whole company to reflect the higher cost to the selling prices as soon as possible.

Next is Page 9. Nonoperating income expenses and ordinary profit and loss are shown, comparison between Q1 of fiscal '21 and Q1 of fiscal '22. Net nonoperating income and expenses improved by JPY 0.3 billion. Equity in earnings of affiliates decreased in Q1. But interest and dividend income and expenses improved with lower interest expenses. As you see at the bottom of this page, with lower expenses, net extraordinary profit and loss was JPY 9.4 billion, major improvement over Q1 of fiscal '21 when JPY 9 billion environmental expenses and JPY 2.7 billion business restructuring expenses were recorded.

Next is Page 10, consolidated balance sheet. At the end of this quarter 1, intangible fixed assets, including notes and accounts receivable, goodwill and others decreased. However, inventories were up due mainly to higher raw materials prices. Tangible fixed assets increased due to CapEx. Total net assets were JPY 2,147.6 billion, up JPY 5.2 billion from the end of fiscal 2021. As shown on the right, with lower notes and accounts payable and interest-bearing debt balance, total liabilities were JPY 1,312.7 billion, down JPY 11.2 billion from the end of fiscal 2021.

Total net assets increased by JPY 16.5 billion from the end of fiscal 2021 to JPY 834.9 billion, mainly due to higher foreign currency translation adjustment. As for the major indicators shown at the bottom, net D/E ratio improved 0.02 points to 1.14x. Equity ratio on the right improved 0.8 points to 24.8%.

Next is Page 11. Changes in interest-bearing debt balance. We made progress in interest-bearing debt reduction, especially last year. Compared to the end of 2020, interest-bearing debt balance at the end of 2021 was reduced by JPY 209.5 billion. Since last year, we have been repaying the LBO loan before maturity, and we completed the LBO loan repayment at the end of March. And we refinanced all LBO loan with bridge loans shown in light blue. And JPY 113 billion corporate bond was newly issued later in April, and used to repay part of JPY 200 billion bridge loans. With these measures to improve debt mix, interest expenses are improved by more than JPY 1 billion per year.

Page 12 shows changes in segmentation for disclosure and following pages are for your reference. Let me explain Page 13. When we announced the fiscal '21 full year results in February, the breakdown based on the new segments were not included. So on this page, fiscal '21 full year results by segment as far as fiscal '22 forecast are shown as reference.

Thank you for your attention. We have been receiving various feedbacks from investors and analysts. We believe the new segment disclosure shows the businesses that we're focused upon. And also, it matches the direction of our strategies. We will continue to have positive and active and easy-to-understand communication with you. I hope that you will continue to support us.

Thank you very much. That concludes my presentation.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]