Good afternoon. This is Makoto Shibuya, CFO. Let me present today using the material titled Presentation Materials for Financial Results for the Third Quarter ended December 31st, 2025, which is available on our website. Slide four shows a summary for the nine months up to Q3. Profit for the period came to JPY 80.4 billion at JPY 4.3 billion year-on-year. This is 70% against the full year forecast of JPY 115 billion announced at the beginning of the fiscal year. Core operating cash flow was a net inflow of JPY 93.6 billion, 67% against the full year forecast. The stock price has been rising gradually since November, and our market cap finally exceeded JPY 1 trillion. We will continue to progress towards a JPY 2 trillion target in the next stage.
To summarize Q3 results, the trend was generally unchanged from up to Q2. Segments that have been gaining strength, especially Energy Solutions & Healthcare, Chemicals, Aerospace, Transportation & Infrastructure, are making strong contribution to profit, in some cases involving asset replacement. On the other hand, segments working on business rehabilitation, such as Automotive, Metals, Mineral Resources & Recycling, have yet to achieve profit growth. The outlook for the full year is similar. With two months left in FY 2025, we will surely accelerate both forward-looking initiatives as well as rehabilitation efforts as we approach the final year of the medium-term management plan and towards the next stage. Let me provide further details starting with Slide five. Slide five is the PL summary. Gross profit increased JPY 10 billion year-on-year to JPY 270.6 billion.
Newly consolidated subsidiaries contributed significantly to the growth. The positive impact was diminished by the decline related to coal mining interest in Australia, among others. Please refer to slide nine for a breakdown by segments. SG&A increased by JPY 25.9 billion year-on-year. Approximately 90% of this comes from the acquisition of new consolidated subsidiaries. Other income expenses, which is where one-time gains and losses come in, include gains on the sale of gas retail business in Africa recorded in Q3. Share of profit or loss of investments accounted for using the equity method came to JPY 31.2 billion, almost unchanged from the same period last year. With all that, consolidated profit for the period came to JPY 80.4 billion. Slide six shows a summary balance sheet.
Total assets at the end of Q3 came to JPY 3,431.5 billion at JPY 344.2 billion from the end of March. About 50% of the increase came from acquisition of new consolidated subsidiaries. About 25% was due to foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations. Total liabilities came to JPY 2,327.1 billion, increased JPY 247.4 billion from the end of March due to new borrowings, acquisition of new consolidated subsidiaries, and foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations. Total equity attributable to owners of the company came to JPY 1,057 billion, up JPY 88 billion from the end of March. Despite dividend payments and the share buyback, the total exceeded JPY 1 trillion, thanks to accumulation of profits.
Slide seven shows key financial indicators and the forecast for the end of the current fiscal year. Some of these numbers have been revised in light of latest results. Slide eight shows cash flow. Cash flow from operating activities was a net inflow of JPY 75 billion, thanks to Core operating cash flow despite an increase in working capital. Cash flow from investing activities was a net outflow of JPY 76.6 billion, mainly due to new investments. As a result, free cash flow was a net outflow of JPY 1.6 billion. Slide nine to 11 show results and full year outlook for profit by segment. Slide nine shows gross profit. We maintained the full year forecast of JPY 380 billion, which we revised with Q2 earnings. Slide 10 shows year-on-year difference in profit for the period by segment.
Slide 11 shows the full year forecast and current outlook. First on Slide 10, let me go segment by segment. For Automotive, automobile sales businesses in Latin America, including the dealership business in Brazil, made strong progress. However, segment profit increased only slightly due to weak performance in the domestic dealer businesses and delayed recovery in the used car sales business in Australia. Aerospace, Transportation & Infrastructure was up year-on-year, thanks to growth in defense-related and aircraft-related transactions and gains from the partial sale of rail car leasing business in North America in Q2. Energy Solutions & Healthcare was up significantly. This was mainly due to new consolidations and increased transactions in the energy saving service businesses in North America and Australia, contribution from solar power generation related business, and gains from the sale of gas retail business in Africa. For Metals, Mineral Resources & Recycling, profit decreased significantly.
Market prices of coal declined from a year ago, and there was not sufficient production volume or efficiency to offset that impact.
Chemicals was almost unchanged from a year ago. Ethanol prices were sluggish. There is an artifact of the special dividend from an investee in the previous year. There was also profit contribution from various trading businesses, as well as from the newly consolidated NIPPON A&L. Consumer Industry and Agricultural Business was down due to decreased transaction volume in overseas fertilizer business. Retail and Consumer Service was slightly down. Domestic retail business and marine products business remained strong, but wholesale business in Vietnam was down due to a temporary increase in costs. There was also an artifact of one-time gains booked in the same period previous year. For others, there was an artifact of a one-time gain in the same period last year on changes in equity following the public offering by SAKURA internet. Next, I'll explain full year forecast and the current situation on slide 11.
For Automotive, profit contributions are expected in Latin America from dealership business in Brazil, and distributor and dealership business in Panama. On the other hand, used car sales business in Australia is still on the way to recovery, despite improvement in profitability. We expect we may miss full year forecast of JPY 3 billion slightly. Aerospace, Transportation & Infrastructure is progressing firmly. Towards the end of the fiscal year, we expect to generate profit steadily. For Energy Solutions & Healthcare, we expect profit contributions mainly of energy saving service and new-energy businesses. We also expect profit contributions from the infrastructure development company in Australia. For Metals, Mineral Resources & Recycling, challenging situation is expected to continue, mainly in coal business. For Chemicals, steady progress is expected in line with the progress after the third quarter. At newly consolidated NIPPON A&L, battery materials are performing well.
For Consumer Industry and Agricultural Business, it is slightly difficult to achieve full year forecast. For Retail and Consumer Service, profit contributions are expected mainly from firmly performing domestic retail and marine products businesses, as well as partial asset replacement. Others are as described. Please refer to slide 12 for cash flow management. Slide 13 shows progress of investments and asset replacement. New investments, mainly in essential infrastructure, were JPY 112 billion after the third quarter, and will be JPY 200 billion for the full year on a cash outflow basis. At the end of this fiscal year, we plan to execute approximately JPY 300 billion of new investments, which is a half of MTP target of JPY 600 billion. The Sojitz growth story is described from slide 14 to 18th. As slide 14 to 16 show what we already explained, I'll skip explanation.
Please refer to the slides. Slide 17 is about infrastructure businesses in Australia we've been building up. By acquiring a 50% stake in UGL, transportation division in Australia, capable of providing end-to-end services covering operation and maintenance, manufacturing of rolling stock, and transport system development, we newly acquired rail operation capabilities in Australia. In recent years, our group participated in energy saving service business and infrastructure development businesses in Australia. We think Australia has area-wide infrastructure development environment, such as infrastructure demand driven by population growth, political and economic stability, mature public-private partnership infrastructure development model, strong Japan-Australia partnership, and strong policy execution capability of the Australian government. We will accelerate initiatives to capture growing infrastructure demand as a large Katamari revenue-generating clusters of businesses. We'll continue to work actively, mainly in Energy Solutions & Healthcare, and Aerospace, Transportation & Infrastructure. Slide 18 introduces co-creation with Royal Holdings.
When Royal Holdings faced with difficult business environments during the COVID pandemic, both companies started a capital and business alliance while strengthening financial base and existing businesses. Corporate value of Royal Holdings is rising significantly. During that time, seeds for future growth of Royal Holdings and Sojitz have been sown. We aim at further enhancement of corporate value through co-creation, leveraging complementary strengths. We will accelerate promising initiatives such as business development overseas and business expansion under the new hotel brand. Please refer to slide 19 for shareholder returns, slide 20 for commodity prices, foreign exchange, and interest rate, slide 21 onwards for segment information, and slide 36 onwards for supplemental information. Lastly, as I explained earlier, results for the third quarter for the fiscal year ending March 2026 were almost in line with the forecast in total, despite plus and minus by segment.
Many initiatives are progressing steadily amid uncertainty in business environments. We will create multiple Sojitz growth stories within explaining, and transform business structure and portfolio boldly in segments requiring restructuring. By doing so, we make efforts to become a company with sustainable and highly profitable clusters of businesses with a sense of speed. As I said earlier, our recent market cap exceeded JPY 1 trillion with your support. Aiming for double corporate value profit of JPY 200 billion, ROE of 15%, and market cap of JPY 2 trillion, we'll keep up the pace and work hard. I would appreciate your continued understanding and support. That concludes my explanation.