Now we would like to move on to the second part. The other Tetsuya Nakano, Executive Officer and Vice President in charge of Finance and Investor Relations, will present the results. Thank you. Now, we would like to move on to our results to explain about the other third quarter results. Please look at page two. So today's message, there are five bullet points. The first one is that in the third quarter, we increased sales and profit again. Second, despite the ongoing impact of increased costs of raw materials, logistics, and personnel, we are controlling the rising general and administrative expenses while maintaining the GP, gross profit margin, by steadily increasing prices. Four, we are working to strengthen profitability from the next fiscal year onward as a step-by-step measure to address the cost increases.
The third point, structural reform will continue in the fourth quarter and beyond. We will accomplish the phase one goals of the MTP, which was as I mentioned earlier. The FY 2021 full-year forecast remains unchanged. Lastly, the share repurchase announced on May 10, 2021, reached the maximum amount of JPY 40 billion by January 31, 2022, as scheduled, and is completed. All repurchased shares are scheduled to be retired within that fiscal year. Please move on to the next page. The third quarter financial results digest. Four points. On a cumulative basis, the profit increased by JPY 59.2 billion, and the business profit by JPY 8.4 billion. The sales increased in all the major segments, but the cost increases of raw materials, logistics, and personnel still exist.
Although in the Seasonings & Foods and frozen foods, profit decreased. While in healthcare and others, business profit increased under continued strong performance in Functional Materials and so on. In the Other segment, losses were recorded due to structural reform. Please look at page four. Cumulative summary as of the third quarter. The sales is JPY 154.2 billion or 107.5% of the FY 2020 results. Excluding sales of business and currency translation, organic growth stood at 6.8%, showing steady progress. The business profit, JPY 108.4 billion or 108.4% of the FY 2020 results. On a cumulative basis for the first nine months, as you can see in our results materials, the sales increased in all the other major segments.
In Healthcare and Others, it decreased. This is due to the sales of the animal nutrition. The business profit increased by JPY 8.4 billion, and in Seasonings and Foods and frozen foods, there were some positive impacts coming from price rises. On year-on-year basis, profit decreased. While in Healthcare and Others, the Functional Materials business, Bio-Pharma Services and ingredients business performed well with increased profit. In the other segment, there are some structural reform related losses, which I will come back later on. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent significantly increased until the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, there are some structural reform related costs expected to be booked. The next page is the waterfall chart.
First of all, you can see at the top the net impact of increase in the cost of raw materials, fuel, and food ingredients. It was estimated to be JPY -5.5 billion for the full year in the second quarter forecast, but the impact was approximately JPY -4.5 billion up until Q3. Price increases are continuing to trend at high levels. Due to this, as you can see at the bottom, the change in GP was negative due to the change in the GP margin. On the other hand, GP increased due to sales increase, which had an impact of JPY 22.9 billion, enabling us to achieve organic growth.
The progress in unit price increase in the international consumer business also exceeded the forecast as of Q2. On the other hand, we have been able to control marketing and other expenses while actively investing in them and measuring their effects. I think you can see from the market share of major products in the summary of financial results that we have achieved results for the products that we needed to recover. Moving on to the next slide. The graph at the bottom shows the full year forecast as of the second quarter. I will explain our approach to the full year forecast by segment, looking at the progress of the results in Q3, shown at the top.
In Seasonings and Foods, major markets of Southeast Asia have been brisk due to strong home use demand for seasonings and a pickup in the food service channel, leading to efficient marketing activities. Against the full year forecast of -JPY 6 billion, as of the third quarter, we were at -JPY 2.7 billion, which was greater or better than our forecast. On the other hand, in frozen foods, there has been a noticeable decline in utilization rates at some plants in North America due to the spread of Omicron since December. Although we have been able to absorb the impacts of increased raw material, fuel, labor, and logistics costs by raising prices and increasing sales, performance has been challenging due to missed opportunities and increased fixed costs due to lower utilization.
It is difficult to predict until when the impact is going to last, but the impact caused by the spread of Omicron was the only unexpected risk. In the healthcare and other businesses, the Functional Materials business is performing well against the backdrop of the growing semiconductor market. In the biopharmaceutical service business, the oligonucleotide field is growing steadily, and the overall business is progressing as planned. However, we are cautious about the forecast for the fourth quarter because we had shipments that exceeded normal levels in light of COVID in Q4 last fiscal year.
As for others, at EA Pharma, an equity method affiliate, and which is a JV with Eisai, in order to strengthen the management base and make further contributions to patients, Eisai and the company have discussed and decided on structural reforms, including a review of the development pipeline and a special second career program. Going forward, we will be able to concentrate our management resources on promising pipelines. Due to the recognition of structural reform expenses, Business Profit came in negative. Some additional expenses are expected to be booked in Q4 as well. Based on the situation in each segment, although there is a risk related to the impact from Omicron, the management view is that it will be possible to achieve the Business Profit target of JPY 120 billion as a whole. As you can see on the last page.
As you can see when you look at the results for Q3, we were able to achieve an increase in gross profits due to the increase in sales. If you exclude the impact from the equity pickup that was mentioned earlier, we were able to see an improvement from Q2 due to higher unit prices and so forth. Even against pre-COVID fiscal year 2019, profitability enhanced. Lastly, although it's not included in this presentation, if you refer to the Tanshin, the summary of financial results, the effects of asset light measures through structural reforms are steadily occurring in total assets. I am convinced that we will be able to achieve the financial KPIs by completing the structural reform measures and working on organic growth. Although brief, that is all from myself regarding the overview for the third quarter.
Thank you, Nakano-san. Now we'd like to move on to Q&A session.
I'd like to explain how to ask a question. When you have a question, please push Raise Hand button on the screen, and we will call on you, calling on your name. Please unmute, and then ask your question. Those overseas can ask their questions in English, and we will answer using simultaneous interpretation. Please cooperate with us by asking one question at a time. Please forgive us that we might not be able to entertain all the questions. Please push the Raise Hand button if you have a question. The first question is from Fujiwara-san of Nomura Securities.
Hello, this is Fujiwara of Nomura speaking. Hello. Thank you. I have a question. The raw material and fuel cost and the further price rises going forward. In the first half, cost was expected to continue to rise, but it can be absorbed by the price hikes. After some calculations, JPY 8 billion or so, the positive impact on the business profit, that's what you said in the first half about the expectation. Could you please elaborate on that? Thank you.
The fuel cost, fuel prices are starting to rise again. Based on that, especially the chemicals like ammonia, the prices there are rising rapidly. Going forward, the price increase of the fuel and raw material is expected to continue for fiscal 2022 for the full year.
We believe that it is a long-term issue. Basically, we would like to raise prices whenever it is deemed necessary. If you look at page 12 of your material, the initiatives against inflation and how to deal with inflation are described on page 12, as Mr. Fujii said earlier, based on such list and shared among us on a global basis, so that we can understand what is going on in the rest of the world. Based on such understanding, we raise prices. At this moment, I cannot give very specific answers, but we will continue to raise prices when it is necessary. The cost impact from the fuel and raw material might be bigger, but the sooner we start, you will raise prices, so you will have some positive impact on BP.
Is that the right understanding? Yes. Right understanding for the next fiscal year. As you can see for the third quarter, the Seasonings & Foods, we have been gradually raising prices overseas, leading to the increased profit, and we will continue such initiative.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Fujiwara. The next question is from Goldman Sachs, Yamaguchi-san.
This is Yamaguchi. Can you hear me?
Yes. Thank you, Yamaguchi-san. We can hear you.
I also have a question around seasonings and food. For seasonings, you have started to turn positive in profit growth. I want to hear about the backdrop. You were talking about unit price increases that are being implemented greater than planned. For sales expectations for major regions, I think your expectations were higher. Although you're short of your sales targets, why were you able to take these price increases so much? Also under Seasonings & Foods, for solutions, it is going for Quick Nourishment and so forth. You recorded a big decline in profits, and I don't think the reason is coffee. Can you speak to this? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Yamaguchi.
To put it simply, let me talk about the main countries briefly. By product, for the seasonings part, for Ajinomoto, the food service channel recorded a pickup in respective countries. For Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, we have been seeing an increase in revenue. On a local currency basis, a high single digit growth was observed. Also, for flavor seasonings, a similar trend for Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, we're able to see a growth in revenue. Vietnam, there was intense competition, so sales declined. Overall, on a local currency basis, we were able to see high single digit growth. For menu-specific seasoning, for home use demand, we have been seeing an impact. For menu-specific seasonings on a local currency basis, we were able to see double-digit growth.
For cooking sauces, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, all recorded higher sales, and double-digit growth was recorded on a local currency basis. Secondly, for Quick Nourishment or processed food, we recorded a slight negative result. It's due to the domestic business and the soups business. Right after the launch, there was some fixed cost impact initially, which is the reason why there was a decline in profits. However, instant noodles overseas as well as straight beverages, ready to drink, the market was brisk. What was challenging was the soup product business and also the international powdered beverage business. Competition intensified pretty much, so we have been facing competition selling their goods at a cheaper price. Can you also say a word on solutions and ingredients for S&I? The business is on track.
For food services, compared to two years ago, the business is trending at around 90% of two years ago, but we are seeing steady recovery. Furthermore, for MSG and nucleotides, sales is steady and solid. Internationally, due to shipping issues, our competitor products are not coming in, and that is why demand for our products are growing greater. Also, for MSG, for major users, price increases should be realized going forward. Business is brisk. For nucleotides, our prices have not been falling that much. Thank you.
Miss Yamaguchi, thank you. Sumoge-san from Okasan Securities.
Hello, this is Manabu Sumoge of Okasan Securities. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you. Thank you.
Thank you. Slide seven. To the breakdown of the slide, I would like to have some clarification. Especially SG&A in the second half, JPY 16.5 billion, the decrease in profit. In the third quarter, it seems that the SG&A was not so big in the number, including some marketing. The cost will increase in the fourth quarter. There's some delay of the timing. The share increased without having such a big cost increase. Maybe that's the case. SG&A along with the profit, the schedule, could you please elaborate on that? As to GP, the margin, in the third quarter, the...
Are you satisfied with the GP margin in line with the plan? If you look at page 5, -11.8%, under that number, there's a box. Compared to the forecast as of second quarter, the marketing investment, JPY 11.6 billion or so, the increase. That was second quarter, and then now it is JPY 3.5 billion. Some of them will be in the third quarter. Especially as to the other seasonings overseas, as I mentioned earlier, that we have achieved rather efficient operation, effective operation.
It goes with the market partly. The marketing ROI concept is now being used, you know. The optimal media mix is now part of our strategy, and they are leading to the positive effects. The logistics, the JPY 8 billion in the second quarter forecast, but now it's the JPY 5 billion. The prices are rising. We are raising the prices, but it is online. Other JPY 6 billion, up until third quarter it is JPY 3 billion, and there will be some delayed emergence of the cost in the fourth quarter, but not as much as JPY 6 billion. Partly, it is due to the building of new business. There's costs associated with that. We are doing, for example, CVC.
We are narrowing down the our investment choices so that the current the use of the cost or budget is more efficient. Thank you.
As to marketing investment, I need clarification. The seasonings or the S&F is being operated very efficiently, and you mentioned the marketing ROI. Listening to you, in some, the areas, competition is intensifying. There are some concerns. Going forward, do you expect the organic growth is possible without using so much for marketing? Do you think that the top line can increase?
Well, it depends on the competition in each region, in the countries. We are going to control what we do, eyeing the situation in different regions and countries. Under the current MTP, focused businesses, for example, for those businesses, we will invest in marketing so that we will be strong number one company. That remains unchanged. That policy remains unchanged. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Sumoge. Next is Kawasaki-san from UBS. Next person is Yoshida-san from JP Morgan.
Hello, can you hear me? This is Yoshida from JP Morgan. Hello. Thank you for taking my question. I also have a question about the foods business. Earlier in the Q&A, there was you were speaking about a competition intensifying. In which regions and in which product categories are you seeing these trends? Can you talk about the reasons why? In addition to that, for home use demand, it is strong. For food services, recovery, you are starting to see signs of a recovery. Up until now, over the short term, it was about a short-term revenue decline likely to happen for home use products. Should we account for such risk?
Thank you for the question. For intensification of competition, we have been talking about this before, and the situation has not changed dramatically. One is Vietnam, and for flavor seasoning, and in Indonesia, flavor seasonings as well. We have been facing intense competition in these regions, especially for Vietnam. I have been saying that we have been facing challenges, especially for Vietnam. For the food service channel, there have been some local manufacturers who have been on the offensive, selling their products cheap. To that end, for food service products, we have been developing new recipes and have been selling them. We're competing head-to-head from that standpoint. For Indonesia, compared to the past, we are seeing increasingly intense competition with the global giant.
As an overarching trend for home use products, business continues to be brisk and food services is starting to show a recovery. Whether there is going to be a drop-off at some point in time in the future.
This is something that's hard to forecast due to Omicron and the spread of it. For Southeast Asian countries, the impact from Omicron is not as severe at this moment, but if it were to have an impact going forward, home use product demand will probably become stronger once again. That is a possibility. However, in some point in time, in the process of recovery, food service products, compared to two years ago, has not reached the same level of business. It's not 100% recovered. So by seeing more pickup in the business, we might see home use products drop off at some point in time in the future. But like we've been saying from before, to a certain degree, people are more health-conscious and in respective countries, there are working from home trends that are taking root.
We believe that the demand for home use products is stronger than before, and it is likely to become ongoing, which is our opportunity. Thank you very much. One more additional question I have for you is for Vietnam and Indonesia flavor seasonings where there's a price competition against the local manufacturers. In your future price increases, will this become an issue or not? Well, for cost, other companies are also facing the same situation, so, well, we would like to watch the competitive trends as we ensure that we continue to raise prices. Okay. Thank you very much.
Miss Yoshida, thank you. Takagi-san of SMBC Nikko Securities, please. Thank you. Here is Takagi speaking. Nakano-san, I might have missed it in your presentation, but up until the third quarter, all in all, in the big picture, against the full year result. I mean, the full year, the forecast, the progress is better than expectation. Am I right to understand that way? Takagi-san, thank you for the question. Yes, excluding frozen foods, though we are making good progress. So as to frozen foods, it is rather difficult to zero. So yes, there are some structural reform related cost, but all in all, JPY 120 billion is to be achieved. But not exceeding it? Well, we are. Well, there's some people say that the, though we are looking at it conservatively, but there's Omicron issue.
We are rather prudent, careful about the impact coming from Omicron. Also the prices which are on the rise for the chemicals and the raw materials and fuels. With that backdrop, we can achieve JPY 120 billion. Seasonings and healthcare, you are doing better than the plan at this moment, right? Yes. As to the seasonings and foods, especially for seasonings, the price hikes are being operated in a very good manner and the impact coming from it is very good as well. Yes. As to frozen foods, when do you think that the profit will be positive for the frozen food? In October, we raised prices, including the prices of retail products.
There is a cost is increasing, especially in North America. Personnel cost is on the rise. With these price hikes, though we are absorbing the impact coming from cost rise, but the only issue here is Omicron. The utilization is now becoming unexpected risk. Once it is gone, the sales is actually really good. Sales growth is rather significant, even with the lower utilization ratio. With that Omicron problem was gone, then the sales will even grow further going forward.
As to structure reform, we are making steady progress in reducing a number of SKUs and get a more concentrated, the production, resources. We are certain that the profitability will go up.
When you talk about the utilization ratio, you are talking about the number of workers, right? There's a shortage.
Yes.
Already you had an impact of that kind in the third quarter coming from Omicron, where the impact was evident in December. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Takagi. Next from, Mizuho Securities, Mr. Saji. Thank you.
I have a question about Bio-Pharma Services in healthcare and Functional Materials. I would like a brief explanation, please. In Q3 for biopharma, Bio-Pharma Services as well as amino acids for pharmaceutical and food amino acids saw a revenue growth but not profit growth. You're expecting JPY 1 billion decrease in profits. You were talking about a drop-off, but should we expect a decline of JPY 1 billion in the fourth quarter? For Functional Materials, JPY 2.7 billion revenue growth, and you ended up doing JPY 2.9 billion for the third quarter, and you didn't speak about the fourth quarter. Does this mean that risk trends are going to be ongoing for Functional Materials? Or are there any risks that we should be mindful of?
For Functional Materials, continues to be brisk, especially for this business. At this point in time, we are not expecting any major negative risks. For profits that have not really been up that high for Bio-Pharma Services, that is. For Bio-Pharma Services, shipping costs. Freight has been going up quite a lot. Unrealized losses have impacted us partially for the third quarter. Over the medium term or over the full year, this will level out. We don't view this as a big issue. For Bio-Pharma Services, last year in Q4, we saw quite a lot of shipments being made. From our point of view, we are looking at this Q4 in a conservative way.
For Bio-Pharma Services, are you doing a little bit better than planned? Is that the way I should view this?
For oligonucleotides, we continue to see brisk shipments. Yes, we are performing well from that standpoint.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Saji. Morita-san from Daiwa Securities.
Here's Morita speaking. Just a quick question, small question about the next fiscal year. This year because of the pandemic and the organic trend is rather difficult to see. For the new fiscal year top-line growth, will it continue more than the mid-term guidance that there was some upside. What will be for the other new business area, the growth rate will be the high single digit based on the results of this fiscal year. I think this is a very sensitive part. Internally, we have not finalized our numbers yet.
What is clear is that against the MTP, we have focused the KPIs like ROIC target and organic growth. For next fiscal year, we will continue to work on that and achieve the targets. The Nishii-san and the heads of the foods and the pharmaceutical businesses have consensus on that. At this moment, we think we can do it, and that remains our targets. I understand that you're saying that the next fiscal year you can increase profit. What is the risk factor from the CFO point of view? What are the risk factors? What are the chances in the next fiscal year?
When it comes to challenges, over several years, healthcare and others have been growing very steadily, and we would like to continue to grow it. We talked about marketing and efficient marketing, the deployment both at home and abroad. We would like to improve the profitability of the foods business. Well, risk side, as I mentioned earlier, sometime there will be some drop-offs. Recessionary developments could happen sometime next year. Thank you. Thank you, Morita-san. We are drawing close to the ending time, the next person will be the last question. From Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, Tsunoyama-san. Thank you for taking the question. This is Tsunoyama. I just have one question. For business profit and operating profit, and what goes in between, what deviates from your plan? -JPY 6 billion is your full year expectation.
For Q3, it was plus, what, JPY 13 billion. For Q4, you're expecting some recognition around structural reform charges, I believe. Is that enough? For structural reform, can you speak to anything in particular that you can share with us today? Thank you. Well, in the previous outlook, about JPY 10 billion worth of structural reform related expenditures is what we are planning for. That's what we said. Along with this plan, we are implementing measures. There are no major changes to our plan. Partially, we have been making accelerated efforts. Based off that, according to the progress we actually make, we will make disclosure on items that we can share. Furthermore, for the equity pickup related structural reform measures, this hits the business profit. We have been having discussions with Eisai.
For the future, we have been taking structural reform efforts upfront. That's what we decided on. Structural reform efforts are underway. Thank you. Okay. You will in Q4, upon the progress you make. For other operating expenses, it is about -JPY 19 billion. Is that the way to look at it? Well, I would say that structural reform efforts are underway as planned. You're basically trying to ask whether our profit levels can be higher than expected. Like I was saying before, there are several risk guidance that we need to be cautious about. We are taking a cautious approach, basically. That's the way I would like to answer your question. I think you are accounting for some degree of expenses next fiscal year as well. Are there any changes to this thinking?
I believe there isn't, but is that the right way to look at it? Well, for divestments of business, we will proceed, but this engages with a counterparty. There are some deviations in the process. What we are working on is the same. We are focusing on making things move forward. Thank you very much. Thank you, Tsunoyama-san. This concludes the Q&A session. Finally, Mr. Nakano will say a word.
Hello. Thank you very much for joining us today, despite your tight schedule. Why we have not revised the forecast. As I mentioned earlier, I think the results are not so bad, and we'd like to continue to do a good job. If possible, we would like to increase our profit. That's all. Thank you. With that, we would like to close this results presentation meeting. Thank you very much for staying with us to the end, despite the last-minute change of the schedule. Thank you.