Yamaha Corp

TSE:7951

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q2

[Satoshi Yamahata, executive]

Good afternoon, first of all, thank you very much for participating in the telephone conference today. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to your continued support of Yamaha's business activities. Now I'd like to start the explanation on the results of the first half of FY March 2022. If you have our presentation material at your hand, please turn to Page 1. Here, we are showing the first half highlights. During the first half, the market conditions continue to recover and the revenue and profit increased year-on-year. In fact, due to the restrictions on the factory operations caused by the resurgence of COVID-19, the semiconductor procurement difficulties and the logistic disruptions, the supply shortages continued. However, thanks to the extra earnings we had during the first quarter, we could achieve the increase in both the revenue and profit for the first half of the year. As for the core operating profit, I will explain the details later. But despite the rise of logistics and procurement costs, we achieved a year-on-year increase due to the effects of the higher revenue.

Regarding the full year outlook, the market demand remains robust continually. However, since the supply shortages are likely to continue and even deteriorate, we decided to revise the full year projection downward. The main factors are the difficulties in procuring semiconductors, such as the sound generator LSIs and the prolongation of the logistic disruptions. We also revised the core operating profit forecast due to the semiconductor shortage which leads to us anticipating the lowered revenue and production and the rising logistics and procurement costs, which is affecting us more and more.

Now please turn to Page 3 for the numerical results of the first 6 months. The revenue was JPY 198.5 billion, which was an increase of JPY 33.7 billion from a year ago level. The core operating profit was JPY 23.5 billion, which was up JPY 10.5 billion year-on-year. In fact, the first quarter's extra earnings contributed very much. And if you just look at the second quarter alone, the profit decreased slightly year-on-year. Please refer to Page 4 for the analysis of the core operating profit in a comparison against the previous year. We were helped by the favorable exchange rates and the JPY 12.3 billion increase in the sales and production and the model mix improvement, which were especially remarkable during the first quarter.

In the meantime, the SG&A expenses were higher than the previous year, and the ocean freight charges increased very much. On top of that, we suffered from the increased cost due to the material procurement cost rise. So these were the negative factors. On the other hand, the Industrial Machinery and Components, IMC business and Others enjoy the profit improvement of JPY 2.9 billion due to good business performances. Therefore, all in all, we achieved a good profit improvement year-on-year during the first half of the year. Page 5 shows the breakdown by each business segment. The Musical Instruments achieved a remarkable increase in both the revenue and profit year-on-year. Again, the extra earnings in the first quarter contributed very much to this. The audio equipment shown in the middle of the slide, struggled very much during the second quarter. In fact, the demand was very good, but we could not supply as much as we had hoped. Therefore, the year-on-year performances were negative during the second quarter. But since we had the extra earnings in the first quarter, the revenue for the first half marked a positive growth, and the profit remained at the same level as the previous year. The IMC business and Others performed very well during the first quarter, and the same trend continued into the second quarter. So we achieved a year-on-year increase in both revenue and profit.

Please move on to Page 6 for the full year outlook. We are now forecasting the revenue to be JPY 390 billion, which is a JPY 17.4 billion increase year-on-year. We are actually helped by the favorable exchange rates. So if you would exclude the impact, it would be about the same level as the previous year. On the other hand, the core operating profit would be affected considerably by the rising costs but it would also be partially offset by the foreign exchange rates and the pricing efforts. So the core operating profit is forecasted to be only slightly lower or almost the same level as the previous year. Page 7 shows the core operating profit analysis in a comparison against the previous year and the previous projection. First, in a comparison against the previous year, the exchange rates would have a great tailwind effect on us. Another positive factor would be the increase in sales and production, along with the model mix improvement, including the price optimization. In the meantime, we would suffer from the ocean freight charges that are rising sharply, and the impact is estimated to be JPY 6.2 billion. There would also be the cost increase, which is mainly the increase of material procurement costs and some other costs that were booked as other expenses in the previous year.

While some improvements were made in the operations, in a net, it will be a cost increase of JPY 2.6 billion. Adding the labor cost, it would be a cost increase of about JPY 3 billion. In total, the cost increase would sum up to nearly JPY 10 billion. The SG&A expenses will also rise due to the recovery of business activities compared against the previous year. However, although the chart shows JPY 5.6 billion increase, the actual increase is about half of that. The remaining half is coming from various extraordinary factors in the previous year, including the other expenses. So the actual increase of the SG&A is estimated to be about half of this JPY 5.6 billion. As such, there are positive and negative factors. But all in all, the core operating profit is projected to be JPY 40 billion, which is almost the same as the previous year. Moreover, the bottom half shows the comparison against the previous projection. We did not change our full year projection after the first quarter because there were too many uncertainties then. So the previous one is the projection that we announced in May. Compared against that, the exchange rates are giving us an upside, but there are many more cost increase factors. The decrease in sales and production is due to the shortage of semiconductors and the negative impact is significant. Meanwhile, we try to save SG&A expenses by postponing some expense plans in an effort to offset the increased cost as much as possible.

Yet all in all, the sum of increased costs will be too large. So we came down to a JPY 7 billion downward revision of the full year forecast. Now considering the fairly good level of production and sales, you may wonder why the profit had to be dropped so much from the initial forecast, but it is mainly due to the sharp rise of the ocean freight charges and the material procurement costs. We have been procuring many materials in the market using the spot price, and that led to a substantial increase in the cost. Due to such reasons, we had to lower the core operating profit forecast considerably. On Page 8, you can see the breakdown of the outlook by business segments. The Musical Instrument segment is expected to achieve the revenue and core operating profit that are almost the same as the previous projection. In a year-on-year comparison, we are expecting both the revenue and the profit to increase. I will explain the details later. But in short, the decrease of Digital Music Instrument sales due to the shortage of components were offset by the increase of acoustic musical instruments such as the pianos, the wind instruments and the guitars, resulting in the business sales growth. On the other hand, the Audio Equipment segment will be affected by the semiconductor supply shortage in all areas of the business. So we are projecting both the revenue and profit to drop sharply year-on-year. Also compared against the previous projection, we are now anticipating a substantial drop of the revenue and the profit, especially the profit would decrease tremendously year-on-year. And this is the greatest reason why we had to revise our full year forecast downward. As for the IMC business and Others, the automobile components and electronic devices are performing well. So we are continually expecting the revenue and profit to grow year-on-year. So the greatest concern is the older equipment. Compared against the previous forecast, the revenue projection is lowered by JPY 18 billion, and the profit projection is lowered by about JPY 7 billion. Such severe projections were included in the revised forecast. Now let me move on to give you the overview of each segment and the updates. First, Page 10 shows the overview of the Musical Instruments segment. During the first half, the revenues increased in all the product categories. Even though we faced the supply shortages, the Pianos, the Digital Musical Instruments and the Guitars continue to see very strong demand, and our sales performances were good. Even the Wind, String and Percussion instruments, which struggled very much last year due to the prolonged suspension of school brass band activities began to see the sign of recovery in the U.S. and Europe, and therefore, achieve the sales increase.

Although there were different levels of market recovery in each region, the sales increased in all the markets. Regarding the full year projection due to the supply shortage, the Digital Musical Instruments are likely to face constraints in the growth recovery. On the other hand, the Pianos, the Wind, String and Percussion instruments and the Guitars are expected to achieve sales increase. Also in all the regions, a good recovery is expected, except for the Digital Musical Instruments. The next page shows the performance is a major product category. The pianos were affected a little in the production in China due to the power outages and shortages, which led to the operational level lower than our plan, but the overall business performances were steady and good. The second quarter also achieved a positive sales growth year-on-year. So we revised the full year forecast upward. Meanwhile, the forecast for the Digital Musical Instruments was revised downward. In fact, following the great year-on-year growth in the first quarter, the second quarter also achieved a good growth of 8%, but the supply shortages are likely to affect the business in the second half. Therefore, we are now forecasting the full year sales to be about the same level as the last year.

As for the Wind, String and Percussion instruments and the Guitars, we're expecting the full year growth to be about the same or slightly higher than the previous projection and thereby expecting double-digit sales growth continually for both.

Page 12 shows the performances of each region. Japan was affected by the fourth and the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second quarter sales were down year-on-year. On the other hand, in North America, there are still some in-transit products, and the second quarter sales grew well. Therefore, we decided to revise the full year forecast upward a little. And it is likewise in Europe. In China, since we are manufacturing the products locally, the supply shortage is directly linked to the sales decline. Therefore, the second quarter sales were down year-on-year. Also for the full year, we are now expecting the growth to be 3%. In the other regions, we achieved positive sales growth as shown here. Next, I'd like to introduce you to some of the new distinctive products that we launched during the second quarter. One of them is the Bösendorfer Grand Pianos, 230 VC, which is the latest model of the VC series. Another one is the casual wind instruments, Venova. This Tenor Venova is in addition to the Venova family following the Soprano Venova.

The electronic drama kit is something like a fusion of electronic drums and acoustic drums, which the look and the sound are so much more closer to the real drums. Page 14 shows some of the design awards that were given to Yamaha. Next, I'd like to explain about the Audio Equipment segment. As you see, the semiconductor procurement difficulties are affecting this segment very much, especially the AV products were affected by the operational restrictions of main factories overseas, such as in Malaysia before getting further impact from the semiconductor supply shortage. The sales already declined year-on-year in the second quarter. The PA equipment still had some inventory, so it performed well along with the demand recovery. The ICT equipment faced some supply shortage, which was a negative factor for the category, but the sales were driven by a robust demand. During the first half, we could ship and sell as much as we did in the well-performing previous year. As for the full year projection, again, there will be a substantial impact from the semiconductor supply shortages. So we are anticipating the AV products to suffer a big drop of sales. The PA equipment will also face the supply issues and the difficulties in the second half, but we are expecting the full year sales to be about the same as the last year.

The ICT equipment enjoyed a very good performance during the last year. But this year, due to the supply shortages, we are anticipating the sales decline year-on-year. Page 16 shows the performance is a major product category. As for the AV products, in the previous forecast, we expected the full year sales to be about the same level as the previous year, but we drastically revised the forecast downward to nearly 30% drop year-on-year. Likewise, for the PA equipment, we had a projected 9% increase in the previous forecast, but we revised it downward to the level which is almost the same as the previous year. Similarly, the ICT equipment is likely to face continued supply shortages, so we are now projecting nearly 20% drop for the full year. Page 17 shows the performances by each region. As you see in North America, Europe, and the other regions, we had expected a big positive growth in the previous forecast, but now we must anticipate the drop of sales in all these regions, especially in North America, since the AV product mix is high, we are now projecting a 24% drop year-on-year. On Page 18, you can see some of the new products launched. In the PA product category, we launched these powered loud speakers. Also on the right, you see the new AV receivers. In fact, the timing that we switched to these new receiver models coincided with the supply shortages, so they ironically amplify the negative effect on us.

Page 19 shows the newly launched communication equipment series called ADECIA. Moreover, we are happy to report that in the customer satisfaction survey of Nikkei Computer Magazine, Yamaha was awarded the first place for 6 consecutive years. Page 20 shows the overview of the IMC business and Others. During the first half, the electronic devices, the automobile interior components and FA equipment performed well, and the segment achieved a sales increase year-on-year. Throughout the full year, this segment will also be affected by the semiconductor shortages and the customers' production volume declined due to the same reason as ours. We incorporated such negative factors in the full year projection, but we are still expecting the sales growth for the full year, helped by the first half's positive results. Next, I'd like to refer to other financial figures. Please turn to Page 22 for our balance sheet summary. Since we sold some of the shares of Yamaha Motors, the figures are reflected on the balance sheet. Please note the expected balance as of the end of March 2022. The cash and cash equivalents would increase substantially from the end of March 2021. This is linked to the noncurrent assets, which used to include the value of shares that we recently sold. Now the proceeds from selling their shares have become the cash, so almost the same amount has shifted from the noncurrent assets to the cash and cash equivalents.

Similarly, there are changes to the current liabilities and noncurrent liabilities. Almost the same amount was shuffled between these 2 due to the tax to be paid from selling of Yamaha Motor shares. Now the payable tax is included in the current liabilities. Moreover, regarding the total equity, there will be almost no change of the balance between March 2021 and March 2022, because the anticipated profit gain and the decrease in the holding of Yamaha Motor shares would be offsetting each other. Page 23 shows the capital expenditure and R&D expenses. We revised both of the forecast downward a little and these are the best estimate for this fiscal year now. Especially, we squeezed the capital expenditure in various areas last year. But as we are now investing in the necessary areas this year, it would increase year-on-year. Likewise, we are investing in the necessary R&D activities, so the R&D expense this fiscal year will be about the same as usual. Finally, as you see on Page 25, we are working on various ESG initiatives. We are especially focusing on contributing to the sustainability of the music culture and engaged in various activities. I wouldn't go into the details now, but we have paced the URL links on the slide. So please check them out later when you have time.

The one in the middle is the society-related initiatives. We expressed our commitment in WEPs, the Women's Empowerment Principles. Also our subsidiary, Yamaha Corporate Services was certified as a platinum company encouraging women in the workplace. Regarding environmental initiatives, we were certified by SBTi with 1.5 degrees aligned targets to reduce the greenhouse gas emission. Previously, the target was 2 degrees. Moving on, as shown on Page 26, we issued the latest annual report. We also won some awards through our initiatives as shown here. Finally, let me briefly touch on the appendix. Page 28 shows our results for the second quarter alone. As I explained earlier, we began to face the supply difficulties during the second quarter, especially the negative impact on the audio equipment revenue and profits were significant. So the total core operating profit dropped year-on-year. The following page, Page 29 shows the breakdown by each segment. As you can see, the negative impact on the audio equipment was truly significant. One last note on Page 30, the first half's P&L line items below the core operating profit are described here. Between the core operating profit and the operating profit, there was a profit from the disposal of fixed assets from the selling of a land in Sapporo according to the plan.

Also, during the previous fiscal year, we had a loss from the suspension of operations, which we booked as Others of the other income and expenses, but we do not have it this year. The changes to the financial income and expenses are related to the selling of Yamaha Motor shares. The full year P&L forecast is the extension of the P&L changes in the first half. That was all for a quick overview of Yamaha's first half results of the FY March 2022. Thank you for your attention.

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