Fujitsu Ltd

TSE:6702

Earnings Call Analysis

Fujitsu Reports Revenue Growth and Improved Profitability Amid Strategic Changes

Fujitsu's first-half revenue reached JPY 1,696.6 billion, up 0.9% year-over-year, driven by strong demand in Japan, particularly in digital transformation services, which rose 7%. Adjusted operating profit surged 56.6% to JPY 79.5 billion. However, revenue in international markets fell 4.4% due to the exit from lower-profit segments. The company's forecast for FY 2024 remains steady, expecting total revenue of JPY 3,760 billion and adjusted operating profit of JPY 330 billion. Notably, the Uvance segment is poised for significant growth, targeting a 22% increase in revenue to JPY 450 billion this year【4:1†source】【4:4†source】.

Strong Performance in Service Solutions

In the first half of fiscal 2024, Fujitsu reported impressive results in its Service Solutions segment, with revenue reaching JPY 1,017.5 billion, marking a 3.4% increase from the previous year. Notably, revenue growth in Japan was robust at 7%, driven by high demand for digital transformation and modernization services. Adjusted operating profit for this segment surged by JPY 25.2 billion to JPY 88.7 billion, resulting in an improved profit margin of 8.7%, up by 2.3 percentage points. This segment not only serves as a growth driver but also demonstrates Fujitsu's solid strategy in responding to market demands.

Challenges in Hardware Solutions

Conversely, the Hardware Solutions segment faced difficulties, with revenue declining by 4.4% to JPY 456.6 billion. The decline was largely attributed to a pullback from significant deals secured in the previous fiscal year and challenges posed by the weak yen affecting component procurement costs. The adjusted operating profit for this segment fell sharply, reflecting a JPY 14.3 billion decrease, highlighting the need for Fujitsu to navigate these headwinds effectively.

Device Solutions Continues to Grow

On a more positive note, the Device Solutions segment reported a 3.3% increase in revenue to JPY 147.4 billion, benefiting from favorable foreign exchange rates. Adjusted operating profit also grew by JPY 4.1 billion, signaling a steady performance in this area. However, it is essential to note that recovery in demand for electric components has been slower than anticipated.

Revenue Forecasts and Guidance

Looking ahead, Fujitsu has maintained its revenue forecast for fiscal 2024 at JPY 3,760 billion with an expected adjusted operating profit of JPY 330 billion. The company anticipates that Service Solutions will continue its growth trajectory, projecting a further JPY 17.5 billion increase in adjusted operating income in the second half, amounting to JPY 191.2 billion. This guidance reflects consistent growth expectations that investors should monitor closely.

Cost Control and Profitability Improvement

Fujitsu is actively implementing measures to improve profitability, reporting an increase in gross margin to 35.1%, a rise of 2.6 percentage points from the prior year. The focus on standardization, automation, and effective pricing strategies has contributed to this positive trend. Notably, the company implemented expenses related to restructuring its human resources portfolio, reflecting proactive management of costs.

Strategic Focus on Fujitsu Uvance

The expansion of Fujitsu Uvance, a key area for growth, shows promising results. In the first half, Uvance revenue grew by 31% year-on-year, amounting to JPY 200.7 billion. Thus far, Uvance has increased its share of overall Service Solutions revenue from 16% to 20%. The company aims to achieve a revenue target of JPY 450 billion in fiscal 2024, representing a 22% increase, with aspirations for Uvance to account for 30% of Service Solutions revenue by 2025.

Cash Flow and Investments

Fujitsu's cash flow for the first half of fiscal 2024 showed stability and improvement. Core free cash flow reached JPY 93.7 billion, reflecting a JPY 2.6 billion increase compared to the previous year. The company is focused on maintaining its capital investments while managing working capital effectively. Furthermore, plans for the implementation of a global ERP system are underway, which is expected to optimize operations and support future growth.

Outlook and Investor Implications

Overall, despite challenges in specific segments, Fujitsu's strategic focus on improving profitability and expanding growth areas like Service Solutions and Uvance portrays a resilient business model. Investors should remain attentive to the execution of the midterm management plan, especially the anticipated growth in earnings and the significant strategic investments. The outlook for the second half of fiscal 2024 appears promising, although monitoring the evolving market conditions will be vital.

Earnings Call Transcript 2025-Q2

[Takeshi Isobe, executive]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Isobe, CFO. I'd like to give you the outline of the financial results for second quarter. Please go to Page 3. I will start by presenting our financial highlights for the first half of fiscal '24.

Most important segment is Service Solutions, which continued to post steady improvements and the higher revenue and operating profit. Revenue for the first half was JPY 1,017.5 billion, an increase of 3.4% over the last year's first half. For business in Japan, demand continued to be strong. All digital transformation, modernization services and revenue in Japan rose 7%.

Outside of Japan, however, because of the carve-out of low profitability business, revenue declined by 4%. Excluding the carve-outs, revenue was essentially unchanged. Adjusted operating profit for Service Solutions was JPY 88.7 billion, increase of JPY 25.2 billion compared to the first half of fiscal '23.

In addition to the impact of higher revenue, there has been steady progress of profitability improvement adjustment. Adjusted operating profit margin improved by 2.3% up to 8.7%. In terms of first half results, in both cases, there were record results for Fujitsu. Total consolidated revenue was 1696.6 billion, 0.9% higher than previous year. And the revenue decline in Hardware Solutions and Ubiquitous Solutions.

Adjusted operating profit was JPY 79.5 billion, JPY 28.7 billion up from the previous year. Adjusted operating profit margin was 4.7%, up 1.7 percentage points.

In terms of the first half results, adjusted operating profit was a record for Fujitsu showing an increase of 56.6% over the last year's first half. Page 4 shows the overview of financial results for each business segment. I will discuss the results for each segment starting from the next page, but this gives you overall view.

As I touched upon just now Service Solutions, our growth driver had higher revenue and strong pace of progress in profitability improvement. Hardware Solutions, both revenue and profit fell. As there was a pullback from last year's large-scale deals and the negative impact of the weak yen. Results in Device Solutions, on the other hand, benefited from the wean yen, both revenue and profit increased. The Intersegment Elimination and Corporate reduction in the inventories led to improvement in unrealized gains. From Page 5, we will show you the results of each segment.

Page 6 Service Solutions. Revenue was JPY 1,017.5 billion, increase of 3.4% from the previous year. Primarily in Japan, there were continued increases in demand for this transformation and modernization services, revenue from our business in Japan rose by 7% from the prior year. Adjusted operating profit was JPY 88.7 billion, up JPY 25.2 billion from the prior year . And adjusted operating profit margin was 8.7%, an improvement of 2.3 percentage compared to the previous year.

I will now explain the components of this increase in profit with a waterfall chart. Page 7 shows the factors that caused increases and decreases in adjusted profit. Operating profit in Service Solutions. Operating profit for the first half of our fiscal '23 was JPY 63.4 billion, and that is a certain point of examining the exchanges in operating profit in the first half of the year.

First factor is an increase of JPY 16.6 billion in adjusted operating profit for the impact of higher revenue. And the second factor is an increase of JPY 25.2 billion from the improved profitability. We continue to make progress in initiatives through productivity such as standardization in our development work processes and stronger management of profitability.

And in addition, in the regions and international, there was a positive impact from the carve-out of low profitability business, the gross margin improved by 2.6 percentage points. Third factor is decline of JPY 16.6 billion related to increased expenses, primarily investment in growth basis. We continue to actively implement investments in the direct growth of our business such as development of Uvance offerings, aggregation of knowledge to support the rapid growth in the modernization business. And the investment in employee training and development. Adding all this up, adjusted operating profit for Service Solutions was JPY 88.7 billion.

Page 8, I will now provide supplemental information about the factors in the previous waterfall chart. First, status of orders, which led to an increase in revenue. This page shows that orders in Japan fell by 1 percentage point. First of all, the private enterprise business segment, which were up 3% from the prior year, there was continued growth in the projects related to digital transformation, sustainable transformation as well as modernization for mission-critical systems, which continued to strengthen across a wide range of customers, including manufacturing, mobility, retail and distribution. And the orders were up 9% in the financial business segment. We were able to win multiple large-scale deals to upgrade the mission-critical systems for financial institutions.

In public and health care segment, orders fell 10%. This represents a pullback from the first half of last year when we received orders for large-scale multiple multiyear deals from the customers in the public sector. Mission-critical and other segment orders were up 11% from the prior year. We received multiple large-scale deals such as upgrade for mission-critical systems. We already foresee that we will receive multiple large-scale deals in the second half, maybe in the field of National Securities. Overall business in Japan is roughly at the same level it was in the first half of last year. We were significantly impacted by the pullback of the public and health care segment in the first half of 2024. From the large-scale contracts we won in '23 in the private enterprise, finance, mission-critical and other segments, we were able to suppress even the high level of orders received in '23.

We accumulated a large balance of orders, and we expect no major changes in the pipeline. We already foresee several large-scale deals in the second half of the fiscal year, and we expect to be able to continue the growth in sales revenue. Page 9 shows the orders in the international regions. The orders for the Europe and America's regions declined compared to last year. This represented a pullback from the last year to large scale. We anticipate receiving large deals in the second half of the year. Orders for the Asia Pacific region was up 25%.

In Oceania, we were able to win multiple multiyear contracts from customers in the finance and retail industry. Page 10 shows the progress of Fujitsu Uvance, which we are positioning as the most vital area for the growth of the business. Orders received in fiscal '24 amounted to JPY 223.1 billion, major increase of 30% from last year. Below is the revenue. In the bar graph, deep blue portion depicts revenue from the 4 vertical areas, which are cross-industry areas. And the light blue revenues from 3 horizontal areas, which are technology platforms that support the cross-industry areas.

Overall revenue for the first half of the year was JPY 200.7 billion, up 31% year-on-year. Of these vertical areas grew by 93%, nearly double the revenue of the last year. The share of the revenue from Fujitsu Uvance in Service Solutions increased from 16% of the previous year up to 20%. For Uvance orders and revenue are in good shape and progressing at the strong base towards our targets.

On the right-hand side of the graph, there is a revenue target for both fiscal '24 and fiscal '25. Revenue target for '24 is JPY 450 billion, an increase of approximately JPY 100 billion from the previous year and the growth of 22%. Growth in the first half was 31%, slightly above our plan. We are seeking to achieve our target for Uvance revenue of JPY 700 billion in fiscal 2025, the final fiscal year of midterm management plan in which we seek to have Uvance representing 30% of the total revenue in Service Solutions.

Page 11 shows the status of the Modernization business. Revenue for the first half year was JPY 82.8 billion, a large increase of 69% from the previous year. The full year revenue targets shown on the right-hand side is JPY 200 billion, an increase of 69% from the previous year. Therefore, for the first half of 2024, Modernization business has progressed according to the plan. Excluded from this figure, our revenue that will overlap with Fujitsu Uvance and Hardware revenue from Modernization business. We will improve profitability through the knowledge aggregation and automation while expanding our digital transformation and sustainable transformation business.

Page 12 shows the supplemental information about the status of our efforts to improve profitability and the status of our growth investment. Increase in profit resulting from a profitability improvement in the first half of the year, was JPY 25.2 billion. The gross margin was 35.1%, improvement of 2.6 percentage points from the previous year. As shown on the graph, profitability is continuing to improve at a steady pace year after year. We are steadily continuing profitability improvement measures such as standardization of development, automation, bringing work in-house. In addition, improvement in monetary and profitability has also contributed to the improvement in profitability. Of course, customers have recognized the quality and the value we deliver. And another positive point has been that we have made progress on setting appropriate pricing. The impact of the business portfolio changes that we have done in the regions, international regions cannot be also seen here.

On the right-hand side, expansion of the gross investment was JPY 16.6 billion, representing a negative impact on the operating profit for the year. In addition to developing offerings for Fujitsu Uvance and knowledge aggregation to handle the expansion of the Modernization business. We have continued proactively, systematically the direct investment toward the business growth, such as investment in developing and hiring employees with special skills as well as strengthening security. The pillars of the growth in Service Solutions are Uvance, Modernization business and Consulting and we are moving ahead with investments to support the acceleration in expanding these growth businesses while keeping a close eye on the investment.

Next, Page 13, I will briefly touch upon the status of each subsegment in Service Solutions. First, Global Solutions, revenue was JPY 246.7 billion, up 13.3% from the prior year. On an adjusted basis, the subsegment posted an operating loss of JPY 6.0 billion. Revenue grew at a double-digit pace, primarily from Fujitsu Uvance. As for profit, however, because of a large expansion in investments for the growth business. The subsegment continued to record a loss. We accelerated the development of offerings in Uvance, primarily in the vertical areas. And we strengthening investment in delivery standardization, such as the expansion of the Modernization Knowledge Center. We are making progress as planned in dealing with the expansion of our offerings business. And the strong demand for digital transformation and modernization, we expect through the impact of a higher revenue and improvement in our gross margin in the second half, we should be able to achieve solid level of profit for the full year.

In the Japan regions, revenue was JPY 583.3 billion, up 2.1% from the previous year. Adjusted operating profit, JPY 91.4 billion, up JPY 19.2 billion from the previous year. Expansion of the modernization-related demand such as our digital transformation business and the mission-critical system upgrades led to an increase in revenue, mainly in customers, in mobility and finance sectors. In addition to the impact of higher revenue, we also continued making progress on improving profitability. Adjusted operating profit margin had a significant 3 percentage point improvement from the prior year to 15.7%.

In international regions, revenue was JPY 275.6 billion, down 4.4% year-on-year. Adjusted operating profit, JPY 3.2 billion, enabling us to post a profit for the first half, representing improvement by JPY 9.4 billion because of the negative impact of the carve-out of the low-profit German private cloud business, revenue declined. Excluding that impact, revenue was essentially unchanged from the previous year. In terms of the profit, the significant effect of the business portfolio transformation led to improved profitability.

Page 14. This page shows the other segments besides Service Solutions. First is Hardware Solutions. Revenue was JPY 456.6 billion, down 4.4% from the previous year. There was an adjusted operating profit of JPY 3.1 billion, representing a deterioration of JPY 14.3 billion from the previous year. In System products, in addition to the pullback from the large-scale business deals in the public sector from the previous year, weak yen led to higher component procurement costs, which resulted in decline in operating profit and revenue. In Network products, demand both inside and outside of Japan this year has been at about the same level as the previous year. On the other hand, we are continuing our investments in product development and preparing for the next growth cycle.

Below that is Ubiquitous Solutions, revenue was JPY 108.6 billion, down 16.9% from the previous year. Adjusted operating profit was JPY 11.3 billion, an increase of JPY 2.3 billion from the previous year. The decline in revenue was a result of the exiting of the business in Europe. As announced in the previous fiscal year, the business in Europe was a very competitive environment in which it was difficult to ensure profitability. It is for this reason that Fujitsu exited the business in April of this year. In terms of profit, exiting this business has trimmed losses or in other words, had a positive effect. Profitability improved to the point that exceeded the negative impact of the increase in cost from the weakened yen.

Page 15, Device Solutions. Revenue was JPY 147.4 billion, up 3.3% from the previous year. Adjusted operating profit was JPY 13.4 billion, an increase of JPY 4.1 billion from the previous year. The impact of foreign exchange movements in this segment was different from the Hardware Solutions and Ubiquitous Solutions. It had a positive effect on both revenue and profit for the exported products from Device Solutions, but results in the main business of the segment excluding the impact of foreign exchange movement was slightly lower than expected. The full-scale recovery in demand has been lower than initially planned, and it is expected to occur in the second half of the year.

Below that this, Intersegment Elimination and Corporate. There was adjusted operating loss of JPY 37.1 billion with decrease in expenses of JPY 11.3 billion compared to the previous year. In the first of the fiscal year, group-wide, business growth investment was slightly lower. In addition, last year's temporary accumulation in inventory assets for transactions at the Fujitsu Group was eliminated, resulting in improvement in unrealized gains and was another positive factor. The business growth investment managed by Intersegment Elimination and Corporate include advanced cutting-edge research, mainly in field of AI and quantum computing; and enhancements to our overall management's foundation. We will continue the planned implementation of these investments.

We have been advancing One Fuji program, the global group based ERP deployment project and investment to strengthen our management foundation. We plan to launch ERP system in the service solutions in Japan. In fiscal 2024, we will accelerate our digital transformation and further increase the speed and optimization.

Page 16. I will now take our first half operating profit, which I discussed up to now describe progress toward the full year target. The upper part shows total adjusted operating profit for the first half of the year JPY 79.5 billion, representing progress completion rate of 24.1%, JPY 330 billion. This is an improvement of 6.2% from the previous year. Looking at Service Solutions in the [ lower half ] operating profit progress made in the first half of the fiscal year was 31.7%, improvement of 5% from the previous year. As usual, operating profit skewed in the second half of the fiscal year, operating profit is slowly improving.

Page 17, this is related to the improvement of the portfolio and to improve corporate value. I will be basically touching upon that. For the first half of fiscal 2024, we recorded a loss of JPY 23.1 billion as adjusted item. This was mainly due to approximately JPY 20 billion cost of implementation of time-limited expansion of self-produced support system with a scale of JPY 20 billion, transforming our human resource portfolio.

This is related to re-skilling and job posting system. In addition to this, we are implementing a time-limited expansion of self-produced supports for manager level employees without direct customer responsibilities to accelerate our productivity improvement and optimal position in human resources. The table on the bottom the slide shows adjusted consolidated results, adjusted items and consolidated results before adjustment for the first half of this fiscal year.

Page 18, I will now review the status of cash flows and balance sheet. Page 19, cash flows, excluding onetime cash core free cash flow was JPY 93.7 billion, an increase of inflows of JPY 2.6 billion. Towards the bottom of the table, free cash flow, including onetime cash inflow was JPY 48.2 billion, increase of JPY 13.5 billion from the previous year. This is part due to pullback from the cash outflows related to acquisitions made in the previous year.

Page 20 shows the status of asset liabilities and equity. I will omit the explanation. This concludes my overview of the financial results for the first half of the fiscal year. Though it is not in the slide, I will briefly comment on the progress. The results of the first half of fiscal 2024 were mostly in line with our plan. In each of the subsegments, result for Service Solutions show slight improvement mainly improved profitability. Hardware Solutions and Ubiquitous Solutions were basically in line with the plan, although there were some currency exchanges. On the other hand, Device Solutions, the recovery in demand for electric components has been a bit slower, we anticipated. So the results were below our plan. Overall, consolidated results were in line with our plan. Market demand for Service Solutions was also almost in line with our plan. The large-scale amount of orders for business in Japan for the first half was almost the same level of the previous year. Impact of the timing of winning large-scale projects from looking from the pipeline, expected business deals for the second half of the year, we did not see any major changes in the increase of the demand. We will continue to make progress on both expanding revenue and improving profitability to achieve our plan.

Page 22. This shows our financial forecast for 2024. Revenue is forecasted to be JPY 3,760 billion. Adjusted operating profit is forecasted to be JPY 330 billion. All of these remain unchanged.

Page 23, there's no change in the forecast. We will progress according to plan. On Page 24, it shows the breakdown of the business segment information and projections for the first and the second half of the year. I will just touch upon Service Solutions. The subsegment adjusted operating income of the first year shows JPY 88.7 billion. Second half of the year is an increase by JPY 17.5 billion at JPY 191.2 billion. The first half progress is improving versus the last fiscal year. And in the second fiscal year, it is forecasted to be slightly less than first half.

On Page 25, I will now explain the adjustment items and consolidated results prior to adjustment. As I have explained, there is no change to our adjusted consolidated results. On the other hand, as an adjustment item to the operating item, we are revising a onetime loss of JPY 20 billion recorded in the first half of the year. At that time, after taking into account tax effects, we calculate it will be a negative impact of JPY 14 billion. As I explained, in the first half of the fiscal 2024, onetime loss was due to cost related to expansion of the self-produced support system for transforming our human resource portfolio to accelerate transformation of our human resource portfolio. As an additional measure to top of the efforts, we have already been making on the job posting system and re-skilling. We implemented time limited expansion of the self-produced system, including that adjustment, the operating profit prior to adjustment is expected to be JPY 310 billion, which will be a decline by JPY 20 billion.

Page 26, core free cash flow and free cash flow for both projected to be JPY 220 billion. They remain unchanged. Although we anticipate onetime expenditure related to transforming our human resources portfolio in the second half of the year, there will be improvement in capital investment and other working capital for full year results. We anticipate that we will be able to achieve our initial plan.

Lastly, the first half of the fiscal year marked halfway point of our midterm business plan as the progress for the midterm business plan, there are some variations, but we believe we are progressing mostly according to plan. Particularly in our growth drivers, Service Solutions, we are seeing steady improvement in profitability as a result of our efforts, even as we're making progress in progressing our portfolio initiatives such as shift to Fujitsu Uvance.

Transformation of our business portfolio in one stronger growth power, we must have optimal human resource portfolio. We will have decisive actions as we mentioned today and that we will try to accelerate the human resource portfolio and business portfolio. We will continue to work to achieve the midterm management plan and sustainable improvement to our corporate value.

This concludes my presentation.