Thank you very much for joining us today. I am Hidehito Takahashi, CEO of Resonac Holdings Corporation. I'd like to talk about the progress toward Resonac's ideals. We are making steady progress in three important initiatives explained last year. Today, I'd like to talk about the progress as well as future specific efforts. First initiative: aggressive investment in growing semiconductor materials business. With enhanced investment in AI semiconductors, we aim to accelerate growth and lead the market. Second, accelerate creation of co-creative innovations. We are integrating the R&D and further activate the co-creative innovations with internal and external partners. Last is the corporate culture reform and human resources development. We are strengthening the organizational foundation to support the growth by fostering co-creative talent. I will explain the details of the progress based on this agenda. Before talking about three initiatives, let me explain Resonac's ideal.
Our purpose is to change society through the power of chemistry. To realize this, four values are defined, including passionate and results-driven, agile and flexible, open-minded and open connections, and solid vision and solid integrity. In order for two integrated companies to co-create and promote transformation, we believe the fastest way is to incorporate new common values or purpose and value, and to develop new corporate values. To solve problems, we will try to become the co-creative chemical company connected and resonates with the various people. We would exert our strong points fostered as a Japanese chemical company and by incorporating advanced management methods, including portfolio reform. We will try to become the global top-level functional chemical company.
Our ideals for 2030 are to become a company that can compete on the world stage and a company that contributes to a sustainable global society and a company that develops co-creative human resources representing the Japanese manufacturing industry. In addition to portfolio reform and establishing the CXO system, we are focused on the corporate culture reform and human resource development. By concentrating management resources on the semiconductor materials business, we are trying to increase our growth in this area. To achieve these targets, we are continuously working on the establishment of the world-class revenue base and the improvement of the business portfolio and promotion of innovation and strengthening of the business foundation. Let me first talk about the progress of the first initiative, aggressive investment in growing semiconductor materials business. This graph shows the semiconductor demand up to 2028.
As you can see, the market is expected to grow beyond JPY 800 billion in or by 2028. The driver is AI-related demand with the 31% CAGR growth expected. We believe that this is a great opportunity as the demand for the AI-related semiconductors increases, and we will try to expand our businesses. In addition to materials for the conventional semiconductors, we have wide-ranging semiconductor materials that can be used for processors for AI. In the case of a processor for AI, the number of parts and components would increase, and with the bigger semiconductors, the demand for the materials will expand. We have a high market share in Non-Conductive Film and Thermal Interface Materials. To steadily respond to the growing demand, we are promoting about JPY 16 billion investment to expand our capacity.
Let me now talk about the Thermal Interface Material or TIM and Non-Conductive Film (NCF), which is driving our business for AI processors. Both come from our original technologies and cannot be easily imitated by others and have high reliability and superior functionality. By deepening these technologies with our technical insights and customer voice, we will try to maintain a strong competitive advantage. In the semiconductor industry, major companies such as Google and Amazon are actively developing original AI semiconductors. At the same time, required data processing capability is increasing every year, and as a result, the package size is expected to become larger. With this trend, the conventional wafer process productivity will worsen. Therefore, it is indispensable to shift from wafer process to panel process.
To respond to these market trends, we will deploy the product lineup covering all stages from front-end to back-end processes and co-creation activities together with other companies. The progress of the second initiative that is to accelerate the creation of the co-creative innovations. First of all, let me talk about how we are strengthening the R&D foundation. To accommodate various internal and external needs, we started to integrate the R&D functions which had been disparate and try to improve efficiency and competitiveness. We would integrate the core competencies such as elemental technologies for material design functions concerning product characteristics and common platform, including computational science and informatics, material analysis, and others. Starting with the common themes with electronics business, we would improve the efficiency of collaboration among functions and build a foundation for future generation market opportunities. Next, let me talk about the Power Module Integration Center.
This works as a hub connecting the company with outside. It is structured to accelerate the co-creation with customers and to accelerate the customer's adoption of materials. Last year, we established the structure shown on the right to enable trial manufacture implementation, performance evaluation, and verification and simulation in an integrated manner. This enhances collaboration further, utilizing common platform and functions. By improving the functionality of various materials for power module for EVs and through the combination of the materials, we will try to offer convincing and satisfactory solutions to customers. Through those activities, we will promote the cycle of co-creation with customers and contribute to the growth of the overall industry.
Next, I would like to talk about our initiatives for sustainability. We are aiming to realize carbon neutrality and a recycling-oriented society and conducting technological development through industry, government, and academia collaboration. In the Keihin area, we are developing chemical recycling technology that converts used plastics into basic chemical materials, and we will contribute to a resource recycling-oriented economy. At the Oita Complex, we are promoting technology development to separate and recover CO2 from low-concentration exhaust gas to strengthen global warming countermeasures. Through these initiatives, we will create a sustainable future and achieve our long-term value creation. Next, I will report on the progress of the third initiative, corporate culture reform and human resource development. Our corporate culture reform and human resource development continues as we have consistently been explaining. There's no change in the overall direction.
Organizational and human resource reform requires time, and I believe it will take 10 years to complete this reform. So that each of us may personalize and practice purpose and values, we will deepen our shared values and develop human resources who can promote reform. We will aim to become a company where people work autonomously with a moderate feeling of tension and build a foundation that supports sustainable growth. The global HR initiatives that have entered full-fledged implementation last year will further be expanded and established this year. We will develop a global personnel mobility policy this year and aim to introduce a global internal recruitment system. As new initiatives in Japan, we will trial the Learning Festa and the in-house side job system.
The Learning Festa is a new form of learning that allows employees to freely choose and participate in training that they feel necessary for their own growth. Just as you would choose your favorite stage at a music festival, you can proactively choose the content you want to learn, and it also provides a place to interact with a diverse range of people. The in-house side job system allows employees to participate in projects in other departments for up to 20% of their time. By engaging in projects that interest them, it provides opportunities for growth and career development. Through these measures, we will foster a culture in which employees build their own careers autonomously, which will lead to corporate value enhancement. Through permeation and practice of our purpose and values, we aim to create a future of co-creation through dialogue, empathy, and autonomy.
In last year's survey, the level of implementation of our purpose and values increased by more than 10 points, reaching 60%. Last year, we provided employees with opportunities to explore their own aspirations through the Purpose Questing Café. This year, with the goal of practicing co-creation with values in mind, we will organize dialogue sessions at workplaces to further expand two-way communications. Furthermore, a total of 12,000 people participated in the global award AHA last year. This year, we will strengthen team matching and expand the circle of co-creation. Through these efforts, we will enhance the implementation skills of our employees and strengthen the foundation that supports sustainable growth. In this year's employee engagement survey, 57% answered positively that they would recommend the company as a great place to work to their acquaintances, an improvement of three points from the previous survey.
The response rate for the survey also improved to 88%. In particular, the results show that manager training has enhanced our organizational management capabilities, and the survey confirms an improvement in engagement scores. Also, it has become clear that the personalization of purpose and the implementation of values are strongly linked to HR materiality, such as cultivating corporate culture conducive to co-creation and developing self-driven professionals. Based on these results, we will further promote measures to achieve HR materiality. Finally, I'd like to touch on our approach to capital efficient management and business portfolio optimization. First, I'd like to talk about business portfolio reform. In order to improve the situation of being levied a conglomerate discount, we are steadily reviewing and reorganizing our business portfolio from the perspective of investors.
To date, we have realized the sale of 13 businesses with a total value of over JPY 200 billion to optimize our portfolio. These decisions are based on three criteria. The first is whether it fits our strategy. The second is profitability and capital efficiency. The third is whether we are the best owner. However, portfolio management is a never-ending effort. We will continue to review and optimize our portfolio to ensure we can respond flexibly to changes in the market environment. Our portfolio vision is to concentrate management resources on the semiconductor and electronic materials business and expand them as a growth business. For that, we will aim to achieve sustained growth of AI semiconductor products to drive cash generation expansion.
In addition, through implementing optimum initiatives for graphite electrode business and completing the spinoff of the petrochemical business, we will steadily improve our profit margin and reduce net interest-bearing debt. Through these initiatives, we shall have synergistic effects of strengthened cash generation, improved profit margin, and debt reduction, ensuring multiple improvement and increased corporate value. Next, I will talk about our capital policy. The first is to prioritize investment in growth areas. We are allocating half to two-thirds of operating cash flow to capital investment, making concentrated investments in the semiconductor materials business, which is particularly profitable. With this strategy, we aim to optimize the allocation of management resources to growth areas and significantly improve profitability. The second is to focus on TSR.
For the time being, with the exception for strategic initiatives related to industry reorganization, we will refrain from capital raising that involves dilution and aim to expand capital gains. Based on this policy, we will maintain stable shareholder returns while also increasing shareholder value. Through portfolio reform and the promotion of capital policies, we aim to improve profitability and achieve an EV/EBITDA multiple of 15x . As a consequence of that, we shall aim to achieve a theoretical share price of JPY 10,000 and a market capitalization of JPY 2 trillion. Today, we have conveyed our proactive investment in the semiconductor growth areas, the acceleration of co-creation type innovation, and the progress we have made in cultural reform and human resource development, as well as our commitment to continuing to promote these measures.
In addition, we will actively take advantage of improved market environment and opportunities, pursue internal efficiency, and optimize our portfolio. By steadily advancing these initiatives, we at Resonac aim to achieve the sales and EBITDA margin targets set out in our long-term vision and to further improve our PBR as a result of increasing our corporate value. This concludes my explanation. Thank you for your attention.
Hello, everyone. I am Hideki Somemiya, Resonac Holdings Corporation CFO. Thank you very much for your understanding and support for our company. Following our CEO, Mr. Takahashi, I'd like to offer an overview of the Fiscal 2024 financial results. Please go to page 2. This shows the key takeaways. There are three major points that I'd like to share with you. First of all, driven by a strong performance of the Semiconductor and Electronic Materials segment, both sales and profit grew significantly year on year. Secondly, the 2025 core operating income forecast based on IFRS is JPY 98 billion. Thirdly, toward long-term growth, we are making good progress in terms of the financial indicators. We are aiming for further growth driven by our core semiconductor materials business. Let me now go into 2024 consolidated financial results. Page 4 shows 2024 consolidated results in comparison to 2023.
Net sales were JPY 1 trillion 389.3 billion, up JPY 100.4 billion, or 7.8% year on year. Operating income was JPY 78.7 billion, an JPY 82.5 billion improvement from the operating loss in 2023. Ordinary income was JPY 69.7 billion, up JPY 84.5 billion year on year. Net income attributed to owners of the parent was JPY 55.4 billion, up JPY 74.4 billion year on year. EBITDA was JPY 190.7 billion, up JPY 85 billion year on year, and EBITDA margin was 13.7%, an improvement of 5.5 points. Net income per share was JPY 307 . Cash dividend is planned to be JPY 65 per share. Page 5 explains the factors of changes from operating loss of JPY 3.8 billion in 2023 to operating income of JPY 78.7 billion in 2024. Operating income grew as much as JPY 82.5 billion year on year.
About half of that is because of the sales volume, which pushed up the profit by JPY 40.5 billion. Improvement impact of the semiconductor and electronic materials was huge, at JPY 46.8 billion, while mobility profit was down by JPY 7.2 billion because of the sluggish auto market in Thailand. Sales price pushed up the profit by JPY 21.9 billion. JPY 7.7 billion of that is in chemicals. The impact of the higher naphtha price in olefins and derivatives more than offset the impact of the weak graphite electrode market. As for the other segments, weaker yen and positive impact of the price revisions were main factors. Next, variable and fixed costs pushed down the profit by JPY 2.2 billion. In semiconductor and electronic materials, structural reform of hard disk media led to much lower fixed costs.
However, it was more than offset by the impact of increased variable costs due to the rising naphtha price in chemicals. Lastly, others pushed up profit by JPY 22.4 billion . Major factors include the product mix, improvement in semiconductor and electronic materials, and the absence of the one-time expenses related to hard disk, and also the impact of the lower headquarters cost under others and adjustments. Pages 6 and 7 are a breakdown of segment operating income changes. Those are for your references. Now, slide number 8 is the year-on-year comparison of sales, operating income, and EBITDA by segment. Major driver was much higher sales and profit of semiconductor and electronic materials. Innovation enabling materials and chemical segment also saw higher sales and profit, but in mobility, both sales and profit declined. Pages 9 to 12 show segment summary.
Starting with page 9, this is the semiconductor and electronic materials sales were JPY 445.1 billion, up 32% year on year. Operating income was JPY 62.9 billion, up as much as JPY 72.3 billion year on year. Reasons include the recovery of overall semiconductor demand and AI semiconductors' rapid market growth, which led to higher sales of materials, and also the significant recovery of the sales volume of hard disk media. Segment EBITDA margin also improved from 13% in 2023 to 26.4%. Page 10 is mobility. Net sales were almost flat at JPY 213.7 billion. Operating income was JPY 4.9 billion, down JPY 0.5 billion year on year. In automotive products, global car production gradually recovered, and there was a launch of products for new models, but sales declined due to the sluggish demand in Thailand, which is one of the important markets.
As for lithium-ion battery materials, weak consumer demand continued, but sales increased slightly with higher sales volume for EVs. Next, page 11 is innovation enabling materials. Sales grew by 5% year on year to JPY 97.2 billion. Operating income grew by JPY 2.8 billion year on year to JPY 10.7 billion. Price revision reflecting higher material costs and increased sales volume led to higher sales and profit. Last page of the segment summary is page 12 showing chemicals. Sales were almost flat at JPY 517.4 billion. Operating income grew by JPY 1.8 billion to JPY 9.5 billion. Olefins and derivatives sales grew on higher naphtha price, but first-half shutdown maintenance of petrochemical derivatives led to lower volume and profit declined slightly. In Basic Chemicals, sales were mostly flat. Operating income was down due to rising material costs of some products.
Lastly, graphite electrode sales declined due to worsening market conditions, but the operating loss was reduced due to the reversal of inventory write-downs last year. That's all for performance by segment. Page 13 shows the quarterly trend by segment. In Q4, because of the usual seasonality reflecting the lower inventory demand for smartphones and the increase of the fixed costs, headquarters costs at the end of the fiscal year, Q4 operating income declined Q on Q to JPY 19.9 billion. On the far right, differences between the full-year results and earlier forecast are shown. We are mostly on track, including higher fixed costs, and ended with slightly higher sales and profit. Page 14 shows the year-on-year comparison of non-operating income and expenses and extraordinary profit and loss. On the left, non-operating income and expenses improved by JPY 2 billion year on year.
Financing expenses increased with the debt refinancing, but tax-related expenses booked last year decreased. On the right, extraordinary profit and loss improved by JPY 8.4 billion year on year. Both in 2023 and 2024, there were large gains on sale of the assets and businesses, as well as impairment loss. This year's major gains include the sale of headquarters and former hard disk plant in Taiwan. Most of the impairment loss this year is related to graphite electrodes business. Major changing factor from 2023 is extra retirement payment. In 2024, loss decreased as last year's Taiwan hard disk number was big. Compared to the earlier net income forecast under non-operating income and expenses, there were FX gains, and secondly, the restructuring expenses expected this year were lower than expected. Also, tax expenses declined with reversal of tax effect. Page 15 shows consolidated balance sheet.
Starting from the left, total assets at the end of the fiscal year was JPY 2 trillion 125 billion, up JPY 93 billion year on year. Higher cash and deposit was the major difference, and free cash flow increased with the revenues from business activities. Cash and deposit increased by JPY 105.4 billion. Total liabilities were JPY 1 trillion 466.6 billion, up JPY 13.3 billion year on year, mostly flat. JPY 100 billion convertible bond issued this year is included in the interest-bearing debt. Total net assets grew JPY 79.7 billion from the end of last fiscal year to JPY 658.4 billion. Major factors include net income of JPY 55.4 billion, which led to higher retained earnings, and increased foreign currency translation adjustment due to weaker yen and lower retained earnings with dividend payout last year. Major indicators are shown at the bottom.
After subtracting the cash and deposits from the interest-bearing debt, net interest-bearing debt was reduced by JPY 100.9 billion, with increased equity net D/E ratio improved significantly from 1.00 to 0.76. Equity ratio also improved from 27.2% to 29.7%. As usual, there is a footnote at the bottom. In calculating net D/E ratio, 50% of the subordinated loan is considered as capital based upon Japan Credit Rating Agency. Next, let me explain 2025 performance forecast.
Please turn to page 17, 2025 consolidated forecast. The forecast for 2025 is based on the International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, and assumes an exchange rate of JPY 150 to the dollar. We forecast sales revenue of JPY 1 trillion 422 billion and core operating income of JPY 98 billion. Core operating income is operating income plus non-recurring items, specifically other operating income, other operating expenses, and impairment loss added back.
This core operating income is broadly similar to operating income under Japanese GAAP, but the main difference is that IFRS does not amortize goodwill on acquisitions. For reference, amortization of goodwill on acquisitions in 2024 was JPY 17.2 billion. For more detail, please refer to the securities report that we will disclose in late March, which will include results for fiscal 2024 on an IFRS basis. You can compare with that, but just to mention, if you subtract JPY 17.2 billion amortization of goodwill on acquisitions from the core operating income of JPY 98 billion, you get JPY 80.8 billion, which is slightly higher than the JPY 78.7 billion in operating income for 2024 under the Japanese GAAP. Next, operating income is expected to be JPY 49 billion, affected greatly by non-recurring items.
Please note that equity in earnings of affiliates comes below operating income, so it's not included in this operating income figure. Income before income taxes is expected to be JPY 38 billion, and net income after taxes is expected to be JPY 27 billion, with net income attributable to owners of the parent expected to be JPY 26 billion. Key financial indicators include an EBITDA margin of 13.6% or 16.7% if our Olefins and Derivatives business, Crasus Chemical, is excluded. As EBITDA is not affected by goodwill amortization, there's almost no impact from the transition to IFRS. Basic earnings per share is JPY 144, and the dividend is planned to be JPY 65, the same as in 2024. Next, on page 18, I will explain the partial changes to the segments from 2025.
There are several changes, but the most significant is that the Olefins and Derivatives business, for which we are proceeding with the partial spin-off plan, has been separated from the chemical segment and made into a new segment called Crasus Chemical with its own name. Also, since the graphite electrode business and the anode materials business are being managed together from 2025, we have combined them into a graphite subsegment under the Chemicals segment. On the next slide, page 19, we show the forecast for each segment in 2025. In 2025, the Semiconductor and Electronic Materials segment is expected to continue to drive performance thanks to growth in the semiconductor market, including for AI, and strong shipments of hard disk media for data centers. The amortization of goodwill on acquisition by segment is shown on slide 31.
If you take 2025 IFRS-based core operating income and subtract the amortization of goodwill for each segment and compare that to the operating income by segment for fiscal 2024, then although it's a simplified method, you can see that we expect the Semiconductor and Electronic Materials segment to see a large increase in both sales and profit, the Mobility segment to see a decrease in both sales and profit, the Innovation Enabling Materials segment to see higher sales but lower profit, the Chemicals segment to see a decrease in both sales and profit, and the Crasus Chemical segment to see an increase in both sales and profit. Again, for more details, please compare with the results for fiscal 2024 on an IFRS basis that we will disclose in the securities report.
Finally, under the title "Towards Long-Term Growth," I'd like to give you the updates to our business portfolio strategy and review of our financial status over the past few years and present our vision for future growth. Please turn to page 21. First, I'd like to give a brief update on the partial spin-off plan for our Olefins and Derivatives business, which is one of the key elements of our business portfolio reform. This business began operating in January 2025 as a new company, Crasus Chemical, a company wholly owned by Resonac. The new company, Crasus Chemical, aims to be listed and spun off within two years of its establishment. As the next step towards this goal, we are planning to hold an analyst and investor meeting in the first half of this year to discuss the vision and strategy of the new company. Next, please turn to page 22.
Since we have updated the overall picture of our business portfolio at this time, let me explain it briefly. Our medium to long-term goals are, as Takahashi mentioned earlier, and this slide shows an overview of each business in terms of its current positioning and profitability targets. As you can see, the main driver of our growth is the semiconductor materials business, which is targeting an EBITDA margin of 30%, which remains unchanged. On the other hand, we are trying to bolster the mobility and graphite businesses in light of the rapidly changing market environment, so they are currently categorized as undergoing structural reforms. Three years ago, we said that we will aim for a 20% EBITDA margin in the mobility business, but we have revised our target to a more realistic 15%.
As already announced, for the life science business, we've completed the transfer of both the diagnostics and regenerative medicine businesses to the best owners. Next, I'd like to show you the trends of key financial indicators on page 23. As you know, our company was affected by the down cycle of the semiconductor market, and our business performance deteriorated significantly in 2023, with our EBITDA margin, the profitability indicator, falling to around 8%. In 2024, the semiconductor market entered a recovery phase, and since our company was able to firmly ride the wave of the rapid growth of AI semiconductors, EBITDA margin recovered to around 14%. EBITDA margin is currently around 17% if we exclude the Olefins and Derivatives business, which is undergoing a spin-off plan, so you can see that our earnings structure is becoming stronger.
In 2025, we expect both sales revenue and EBITDA margin to be roughly the same as in 2024, but we will continue to strengthen our structural reforms of low-profit businesses and review costs and pricing in order to achieve further improvements. In addition, we are steadily improving our ROIC, which is the capital efficiency indicator, and expect it to reach nearly 6% by 2025. Next, I'd like to touch on the improvement in our balance sheet. Please turn to page 24. The balance of interest-bearing debt at the end of 2024 is just over JPY 1 trillion, and if you look at that figure alone, there's been no significant change since the end of 2020, immediately after the acquisition of Hitachi Chemical.
On the other hand, we have bought back all of the preferred stock, which had a balance of JPY 275 billion four years ago, so the total of interest-bearing debt and preferred stock has actually decreased by JPY 314 billion. Furthermore, net debt, which is interest-bearing debt minus cash and deposits, has decreased to JPY 725.4 billion at the end of 2024, and the net D/E ratio and the net debt to EBITDA ratio have decreased to 0.8x and 3.8x , respectively. So the reduction of debt has progressed steadily, and the quality of the capital financing structure has also steadily improved, with the ratio of fixed interest rates rising from around 50% at the end of 2023 to over 80% at the end of 2024 due to refinancing and the issuance of convertible bonds.
Looking ahead, we'll continue to manage our debt levels appropriately, not only from the perspective of financial soundness, but also from the perspective of laying the foundations for the next major action. Also, we will continue to keep the net D/E ratio below 1, and although just a rough guide, we will aim for a net debt to EBITDA ratio of around 3. We believe that these levels are well within reach thanks to the improvements I have just explained, as well as the conversion of convertible bonds and cash flow that we expect in the future. Finally, please turn to page 25. This shows our profit growth outlook using EPS, or earnings per share. In 2024, our EPS was JPY 307 . We believe that there are two major drivers of future EPS growth.
The first is profit growth in the semiconductor materials business, which we have positioned as core growth business. Even during the 2022-2023 downturn, we have steadily continued to invest in growth while adjusting the scale and timeframe for such investments. Going forward, we will further accelerate the reaping of benefits from our growth investments and realize profit growth. The other factor is a decrease in non-recurring losses, such as impairment losses. As is factored into our 2025 forecast, the one-time losses associated with structural reforms and business portfolio reorganization are currently pushing down final profits. By carrying out appropriate structural reforms regarding past investments and avoiding losses on new investments, we will achieve a structure where business growth is firmly linked to EPS growth. Based on these two points, our target EPS is JPY 500.
If we assume that the PER is 20x the current level, this would indicate a share price of JPY 10,000 that Takahashi said we will aim for. Page 26 and beyond are the appendix, so please refer to them as necessary. That concludes my explanation. Thank you for listening.