Panasonic Holdings Corp
TSE:6752
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Panasonic Holdings Corp
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I will present the fiscal 2022 first quarter financial results. First, the summary of the consolidated financial results. Overall sales increased from the same quarter of FY '21 due to the recovery of sales from the COVID-19 impact in Automotive and Appliances as well as sales growth in Industrial Solutions. Adjusted operating profit increased significantly from the losses in FY '21 Q1 due to increased sales as well as controlled costs according to the business conditions.
Operating profit and net profit increased despite the impact of onetime gains in other income and loss in FY '21 Q1. Free cash flow improved significantly from the negative in FY '21 Q1 through secured level of net profit as well as improvement in working capital, which more than offset inventory increase caused by semiconductor shortages and other factors.
Consolidated financial results are as shown. Overall sales increased to JPY 1,792.4 billion, up JPY 405 billion year-on-year. Adjusted operating profit was JPY 119.5 billion, a year-on-year improvement of JPY 125.4 billion from a loss of JPY 5.9 billion. Operating profit was JPY 104.4 billion, and net profit was JPY 76.5 billion, both representing improvements.
This is the sales analysis by business. Overall, sales increased by JPY 400.5 billion, up 29%. Among the increase, JPY 175.5 billion came from sales growth in businesses that captured opportunities, reflecting changes in society, such as air conditioning and indoor air quality, Home Appliances, Automotive Batteries and products for ICT infrastructure, continuing from FY '21. Automotive Solutions, Smart Life Network also saw recovery in sales, largely impacted by COVID-19 last year.
This is the operating profit analysis by business. Adjusted operating profit increased by JPY 125.4 billion, driven by businesses with increased sales. Among the increased profit from businesses that captured opportunities reflecting changes in society increased by JPY 61.3 billion, accounting for approximately half. Operating profit increased by JPY 100.6 billion overall from the increase in adjusted operating profit, despite such impacts as onetime gains in FY '21 from the establishment of a joint venture in other income and loss.
This is the results by segment. As shown, sales increased in all segments. Adjusted operating profit and operating profit also increased in all segments. The details are shown in the next slide. From this quarter, we are additionally reporting EBITDA figures, as shown on the right. This slide shows major increase/decrease factors by segment.
In Appliances, sales and profit increased due to stable sales of Home Appliances and Heating and Cooling Solutions as well as cost reduction efforts, including the control of sales promotion expenses, surpassing the impact of higher raw material prices. In Life Solutions, sales and profit increased due mainly to favorable sales of wiring devices in Japan and overseas, reflecting market recovery, despite the impact of higher raw material prices.
In Connected Solutions, sales increased, driven by Process Automation with favorable sales of mounting machines due to growing demand for ICT terminals and 5G-related equipment. Profit increased due to increased sales and the effect of fixed cost reductions in Avionics.
In Automotive, sales and profit increased overall. Sales and profit increased in Automotive Solutions, with growth mainly in in-vehicle infotainment, or IVI, with recovery in the automobile market and increased also in Automotive Batteries with growing demand.
In Industrial Solutions, sales increased with favorable sales of capacitors for automotive use, industrial use motors for labor-saving factories and power storage systems for ICT infrastructure. All of these factors surpassed the impact of the semiconductor business transfer. Profit increased due mainly to increased sales and productivity improvement.
Now I will explain changes in profitability structure in comparison to FY '20 Q1 prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 using 4 slides. First, a comparison from the company-wide perspective. As shown on the right, FY '22 Q1 sales recovered to approximately JPY 1,790 billion. This would be nearly the same level as FY '20 Q1, if we exclude approximately JPY 100 billion deconsolidation impact such as housing business.
In terms of adjusted operating profit, profitability has improved from 3.3% in FY '20 at JPY 62.4 billion to 6.7% in FY '22, JPY 119.5 billion, although sales was at the same level. We believe they reflect our steady progress in business portfolio reform and management structure enhancement under the current midterm strategy.
Next, a comparison of adjusted operating profit by segment. The left graph shows the transition and profit amount and the right graph shows transition and profitability. Profit amount on profitability outperformed FY '20 in all segments, except for Connected Solutions, which see the persisting COVID-19 impact. In particular, Appliances and Industrial Solutions drove company-wide growth in both absolute amount of profit and profitability.
In the following slides, I will explain the details of initiatives in these 2 segments. First, Appliances. Comparing the first quarter of FY '20 and '22. Upper left of this slide shows the sales composition ratio comparing FY '22 to FY '20. For the past 2 years, we have promoted business portfolio reform and made progress in shifting the business structure to Home Appliances, where we are competitive.
As a result, in terms of segment adjusted operating profit, both amount and the profitability, improved. Upper right graph shows the major increase and decrease factors from the perspective of business and region. Home Appliances drove the profit increase in Japan and China. In particular, in China, sales increased almost by 40% compared to Q1 FY '20 on the constant currency basis, mainly with refrigerators.
In Europe, air to water or our hot water heat pump system performed strongly, approximately 2.3x in real terms. Smart Life Network achieved higher profit, despite lower sales through structural reform and other measures. The bottom right shows our initiatives in China and Northeast Asia region as an example of efforts to enhance competitiveness, which CEO Kusumi emphasized at the CEO briefing in May 2021. We have achieved higher sales and profit by responding to China's expanding e-commerce and online market as well as enhancing product competitiveness through such efforts as to lower manufacturing costs.
Next, Industrial Solutions. Even under the pandemic, sales grew stably, and CAGR from FY '20 Q1 to FY '22 Q1 was 4.6%. Bottom left graph shows adjusted operating profit. Segment margin has improved to 9.7% from 2.1% in Q1 FY '20. We -- if we count only the products manufactured by Industrial Solutions, we achieved a double-digit adjusted OP margin of 11%. This improvement is due to the increased sales of key products and steady progress in business portfolio reform and management structure enhancement.
In particular, sales increased significantly for key products with growing demand for ICT infrastructure usage and by thoroughly enhancing product capability in products such as conductive polymer electrolytic capacitors, power storage system and industrial-use motors. In addition, portfolio reforms, such as transfer of semiconductor business and reducing operation of LCD panel business as well as management structure enhancements such as improving productivity, have contributed to higher profit and profitability.
Next is free cash flow and cash positions. As shown on the left, we generated JPY 71.1 billion free cash flow, mainly by securing net profit as well as improving working capital, which more than offset the increase in inventory caused by semiconductor shortages and other factors. FCF improved significantly from the negative in FY '21 Q1 impacted by COVID-19. The graph on the right shows the cash positions.
This shows the progress made in key initiatives set in the mid-term strategy in Q1 of FY '22. Management structure enhancement brought a total of JPY 15 billion contribution to profit improvement, which included JPY 8 billion in fixed cost reduction and JPY 7 billion in reduced losses in businesses with loss-making structures. We're making steady progress toward the full year target of JPY 20 billion.
Furthermore, in terms of the businesses with loss-making structures, towards second half, we expect the amount of loss to increase compared to FY '21, particularly in the LCD panel business due to the termination of business. Therefore, our full year forecast of 0 remains unchanged. As for business portfolio reform, we have already announced that we will make the Blue Yonder a wholly owned subsidiary as an investment for growth. This process toward the completion by Q3 of FY '22 is underway according to the plan.
In Automotive Batteries, the new production line in North American factory is expected to start operations in August this year. Finally, with regard to the profitability improvement of the Automotive business, as previously explained, adjusted operating profit increased to JPY 11.2 billion, which is an improvement of over JPY 40 billion from Q1 FY '21, mainly due to the increased sales. In conclusion, we are making steady progress toward the full year target of JPY 50 billion.
Next is Q1 results compared with initial expectations. The graph on the left shows adjusted operating profit in Q1. The vertical axis shows the comparison to the initial expectations, and the horizontal axis shows the difference from FY '21. Q1 showed steady results overall, mainly with the Industrial Solutions and Connected Solutions and other businesses almost in line with expectations.
On the right are the positive factors and the risks we should consider for the future business environment from the perspective of the impact on our performance. As positive factors, we can expect continuous expansion of investment demand in ICT infrastructure and labor saving at factories, mainly impacting Industrial Solutions. On the other hand, as uncertainties and risks, we assume a persistent impact on automobile production due mainly to the semiconductor shortages, delay in logistics, resulting from the port congestion and lockdowns at factories or other sites due to the respread of COVID-19.
In addition, while raw material price hikes, including copper, the procurement is becoming difficult. We would take the countermeasures, such as material rationalization to offset such impact. Nonetheless, we will enhance our overall cost control capability in response to these uncertainties and risks maintaining the favorable result of Q1 and thus aim to reach above the level of FY '22 full year forecast overall.
This slide shows our planned schedule for IR activities going forward. The General Meeting of Shareholders held June 2021, the company's split agreement for the new group structure to start in April '22 was approved. In October '21, we will transition to a virtual structure based on today's announcement regarding the new structure. As for the disclosure, the announcement of the results will be made based on the new reportable segments from Q3 FY '22. In addition, we plan to hold briefings on individual businesses and ESG-related topics. Thank you for your attention.
Hirakawa from BofA Securities.
Industrial Solutions and Appliances exhibiting remarkable recovery. I have a question on these 2 areas. For Industrial Solutions, enhancing the product portfolio condenser, the storage system and industrial equipment. Within IS sales and operating profit, how much do those 3 product areas account for, is my first question.
My second question. Similar question actually. For Appliances, China attracting a lot of attention. But Japan, China versus the Rest of the World. In terms of sales and profit, what are the respective contributions?
Thank you for your questions. In Industrial Solutions, in the first quarter, JPY 360 billion in sales. So these 3 product areas don't actually account for large portions. There are lots of #1 products in the world. So we are mentioning these 3 as representative products. But the profit ratio of 10% is being achieved, thanks to the contribution of those 3 product areas, but I can't give you any further specifics.
Regarding Appliances, in terms of profit, big ones would be Japan and China in terms of geographical region. And future promising market would be Europe. TV business has been contained, but for heating and water, which are eco-friendly, we are expecting double -- doubling in terms of the business. So over the last 2 years, plus 3 years under mid-term plan, we have implemented various measures to address the losses. And therefore, excluding the impact of COVID-19, India being an exception, we expect things to improve. So in terms of market size, Japan, followed by China for Appliances and similar size in Asia.
Next question. We have Mr. Ono from Morgan Stanley MUFG.
Two questions, if I may. First, this fiscal year operating profit -- adjusted operating profit, you did not make any changes. Now the JPY 330 billion, that is the operating profit, when you formulated that the raw material price increase and the pandemic, the negative factors, I think were included the pandemic related, for example, last year, JPY 135 billion, and half of that actually probably is included only also for this year. The raw material maybe JPY 30 billion to JPY 40 billion probably are assumed. That is my understanding.
But Mr. Umeda up to Q1, when you see the progress and try to think about the second quarter risks, and based on your feeling, do you think that the raw material, the price hike that current level is that assumed? Or do you think that you would increase the higher risk in the Q2? And the same thing applies to the COVID-19?
Second question is that -- also related to the COVID-19 impact. The market, financial market is looking into the fact that many people are staying at home, and they're working remotely. That could be a benefit for the Appliances and that could push up the profit. That is the kind of a view. And when you see it from inside the company, people staying at home, the advantages, positive factors, is that very obvious in Q2 -- Q1, sorry? And do you think that, that would be coming down in Q2 and onwards? Could you talk about -- could you give us your qualitative evaluation of that?
Well, first of all, the JPY 330 billion OP, what kind of risks are included, higher price of the raw materials, about JPY 50 billion or more is expected for the full year. And that is probably something that we need to increase. And as for the pandemic impact, the big impact in our case, we are manufacturer. So the lockdown of plants is -- has a major impact for us. So the major plants in Malaysia, Vietnam, and smaller scale, but in Indonesia and the Philippines and India. So weekly -- on a weekly basis, the government provides the permission to operate the plant or will suspend operations.
So the manufacturing plants and also the logistics. When we formulated the plan, we cannot say that the risks are getting lower. And in Q1, of course, internally, there were some discussions as to the revision to the forecast. It is true, but as I mentioned, concerning those risks, they are not specific to Panasonic, but we would like to wait and see a little bit more. So we have incorporated maybe higher risks. That's the first point that I'd like to respond to you. That is based on my feeling.
The second point is the impact of the pandemic, people staying at home and is that benefit for us? Well, we need to respond to the customers' request. And our customers want to improve their home space and also their home -- housekeeping, that is something that they want to improve and make it easier. So we are focused on providing products to enable that and respond to such needs to improve the convenience of the housework. So the awareness, the way of thinking of the customers and what they want from us, how can I say this, they want more comfort, I think. So this situation due to the pandemic is, of course, not good for the society, but we responding to the needs and requests of the customers that is what we do. So that is not a benefit from the pandemic.
Well, we are under the state of emergency. And of course, we want to see the normalization of the situation as soon as possible. And that's something that we are thinking at our company. So rather than calling these benefits, we are just desperately trying to respond to the needs of the customers and requests of the customers. That's what we are focused upon. And what will be the result of that is something that we need to look into. I hope that answers your question.
Move on to the next questionnaire, which is Mr. Yasui from UBS Securities.
Yasui from UBS Securities. I hope you can hear me.
Yes.
I have 2 questions. First, about fixed costs. In your presentation, Slide 21, JPY 9 billion increase in fixed costs. Last year, you showed us similar slides for the full year. And I think fiscal saving amounted to over JPY 7 billion. So over JPY 72 billion, so JPY 72.3 billion reduction. The past and on Slide 7, sales almost the same, but profit increasing seems to be about of the same size. So I was wondering what you can tell us about the details of fixed cost reduction efforts. Personally, I expected the negative impact that the fixed cost is actually going up in reaction to last year.
My second question is with regards to the personnel assignment. Under the new structure, I don't have a good understanding of everyone shown there. So I was wondering if you can share with us some of the key aspects in nominating assigning certain individuals.
Thank you. About fixed costs, JPY 9 billion increase in semiconductor business, which existed last year, not the case this year. so about JPY 10 billion difference accordingly. So about JPY 19 billion fixed cost increase in reality. Of course, we're not trying to be stingy. While society is undergoing dramatic changes, we'll be spending where necessary. We will be expanding what is necessary. And therefore, on an apple-to-apple basis, JPY 19 billion increase. For the continuation of the enhancement of management structure, JPY 80 billion improvement is taking place about the sustainability.
Sales at the current size and over JPY 70 billion reduction. So in terms of how we spend money and how we hold events, we are getting a better idea of how to run those events and cost reduction efforts in fixed costs. In addition to that, we are trying to pursue the policy of spending where necessary just to eliminate the unnecessary costs. That's the very basic principle. So a big recovery of cost increase is not likely, but we're just spending where necessary. So we are trying to strike a balance between the 2. That's the thinking behind what you see.
And regarding our personnel policy, the new structure, we have the Nominating Committee, comprising largely of outside directors. The Compensation and Nominating Committees are making the decisions. So right people at the right place is all I can comment on. I hope that answered your questions?
Yes.
[Operator Instructions] Mr. Nakane of Mizuho Securities.
This is Nakane speaking. Can you hear me?
Yes.
One question. But the inventory is -- that is increasing, could you give us the breakdown by segment? And could you explain the background? And how much increase? Also, especially the Panasonic brand that you're responsible for Panasonic brand products, the lead time of the products after manufacturing them at factories and getting them to the customers' hands, how long is it becoming? So the reason I'm asking this question is that probably it will be very difficult to flexibly respond to the quick changes of the needs.
Thank you. As for the inventory, this is really the question of comparison at the -- compared to the 3 months ago, probably about JPY 80 billion plus inventory increase. Basically, in all segments, not really specific one excluding CMS, there are tens of billions of increase. The reasons for this is that finished products manufacturers, there's operation stopping, for example. So we have more materials or port congestion, the supply chain issues. And therefore, there are a lot of inventory at sea -- offshore.
So due to those factors compared with 3 months ago about the JPY 80 billion increase in inventory. So compared with the 3 months, maybe I can talk about the lead time in terms of the inventory days. The inventory days is about 46 days. So compared to 3 months ago, about 1 day increase. So special factors that I mentioned and exist and we try to normalize, but this is something that is likely to continue. So we have a little higher level, and we want to maintain this level so that we can respond to the supply needs to the customers. That is about the inventory and the inventory days. Thank you. I hope that answers your question.
Mr. Ezawa from Citigroup Global Markets Japan.
Ezawa From Citigroup. I have one question about your management policy. Including CEO Kusumi, for the last 2 or 3 months, you have been interviewed by news media. But as far as the securities market is concerned, not much presentations. In your presentation today towards the end, you did show us the Investor Relations meeting schedules. The individual business briefings are mentioned. What are you going to be explaining at those briefings on individual businesses? What areas, in other words, to be covered in those meetings? It says that the overall strategy next May to June. But when -- so what are the things that will be covered in this overall policy, but not in the individual businesses briefings? In the market, there is a very strong view looking for your briefings. So what are your plans going forward regarding the business briefings?
Thank you for your question. The request from the securities market, we are well aware of that. So as we have been saying since the last meeting, the annual IR schedule is being presented in May of next year on our IR Day, and we are thinking of announcing our management policy starting in October of this year, although it's not yet an independent company under the new structure that we announced today on a virtual basis. The mid- to long-term strategies will be considered, studied. And therefore, regarding our comprehensive management policy, you will have to wait until next May.
As for individual businesses, what are the topics that we have in mind? In terms of businesses, the process is still underway. We would like to have a very detailed briefing for better communication with you and our initiatives in ESG areas. In other words, the social changes are what we are considering to cover a bit more broader than individual businesses. Under the new structure in October, we are thinking of these briefings in the second half of this fiscal year.
Follow-up question, if I may. The Blue Yonder in CNS, the explanation about that. The Panasonic Connect Company's cash flow and balance sheet, would you be talking about those aspects as well? And regarding ESG-related topics, you have announced the new structure with many management personnel covered in your announcement. So how would the corporate governance change under so many people in the management? Would those be covered in your briefings as well?
Regarding Blue Yonder, on many occasions, our CEO Kusumi are covering part of CNS business and also that will have overall implication to Panasonic Group overall and the supply chain overall as well so as to eliminate the waste and unnecessary inventories. So of course, CNS would be part of the briefing, but we believe something more broad can be covered as well.
Regarding the governance. Under the new management, you said that there are many people in the management, but each business has a sizable business, holding versus operating company. And I think it's better to say that we are thinking -- we are -- to further promote the operating company systems. So the governance would be through the BOD structure. So we'll be trying out various ways under this virtual system to see how they work. And in May of next year, we should be able to give you the outline of our governance structure as well.
Unfortunately, we are running out of time, so we can take one more -- one last question. Mr. Katsura of SMBC Nikko Securities.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Sorry, just one point. In the appendix, the Page 1. I'd like to ask a question. Sorry for the specific question. Automotive, in comparison to the previous quarter, here, year-on-year, the Automotive and Batteries and Solutions, they are improving. But the Q-on-Q view, the Automotive Solutions and Batteries, what are the directions for each? The background for this question is that the other day, TDK talked about the battery material, the hiking of the price and the profitability being impacted was mentioned. So Tesla-related business when you consider the future, I'm sure that there is a new agreement, so the -- how you allocate the material cost and so forth. So any changes or improvements or Q-on-Q comparison is what I'm asking.
Thank you for the question. Well, first of all, if I may talk about more specifics with the absolute numbers, Automotive Solutions and Tesla batteries. In Q1 sales, about a little less than 60% is Automotive Solutions and a little more than 40% is Batteries. That is the absolute figure. And as for the profits in Automotive segment, Automotive Solutions is a little more than 20% and Batteries is a little less than 80%. So that is the allocation or the percentage of the profit.
Now you were asking for Q-on-Q. So sales and profit, both of them, Automotive Solutions is a little less than 60% and the Battery is a little more than 40%. So higher sales and higher profit. So as of now, as a major trend that is 60 to 40 is the ratio that we have. Now the raw material price is increasing. This has to do with the contract with each customer. So that is something that I cannot really comment on.
So in Batteries business, what I can say is, as I mentioned, the new production line in the United States will be starting in August. We are making preparations for that. So we would make that a preparation so that we can increase the sales and also harvest the profit. So it's no longer in deficit or red numbers. So that is how I hope you understand this. Thank you.
With that, we would like to end the Q1 briefing session of Panasonic. Thank you very much indeed for your participation.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]