Good morning, everyone. My name is Hidetaka Shirozume, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Adeka Corporation. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to participate in today's briefing on the financial results for the Adeka Corporation for the nine months ended December 31st, 2025. Today's briefing will cover the following agenda items. First are the consolidated year-to-date results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. We registered JPY 296.7 billion in net sales, up JPY 400 million on a YoY basis, JPY 29.3 billion in operating profit, down JPY 700 million, JPY 30.3 billion in ordinary profit, up JPY 700 million, and JPY 19.8 billion in profit attributable to owners of parent, up JPY 600 million. Lastly, we registered JPY 196.9 in net profit per share, up JPY 8.4 per share. Next is an analysis of consolidated operating profit.
While higher sales volume and improvements in net pricing boosted results, an increase in fixed costs ultimately resulted in an overall YoY decrease of JPY 700 million in operating profit. Let's now look at the third quarter consolidated results by segment. Net sales declined, driven primarily by a significant drop in the polymer additives business. Looking at operating profit, a strong performance in the life science segment offset substantial declines in both polymer additives and semiconductor materials. I would now like to give you a more in-depth review of the results for each segment, starting with polymer additives in the chemicals segment. We recorded a YoY decline in net sales and operating profit. The primary factor behind the sales decline was sluggish market conditions associated with home appliances, EVs, and plastic-related products. On a positive note, sales of PVC stabilizers for architecture and infrastructure remained steady, particularly in North America.
Furthermore, progress was made with price revisions for plasticizers for industrial machinery and PVC stabilizers for automotive use, particularly in Japan. Lastly, a drastic decline in sales volume outweighed a slight improvement in pricing. Next are the results for semiconductor materials in the chemicals segment. Net sales and operating profit both experienced a YoY decline. While sales of advanced DRAM materials remained soft for the quarter overall, we saw an uptick in demand late in the third quarter as clients began ramping up volume production for next-generation memory products. Advanced photoresists performed well, driven by increased demand for EUV interconnect scaling and PFAS-free lithography products. While materials for advanced logic ICs were generally sluggish, progress was made in the evaluation of materials for next-generation products.
Lastly, while this business saw a significant boost from higher sales volume, this was insufficient to offset net pricing pressures and higher fixed costs during the cumulative third quarter year-to-date period under review, resulting in a decrease in operating profit. Next are the results for environmental materials in the chemicals segment. Net sales recorded a slight increase while operating profit was up. The primary driver for sales growth was our lineup of lubricant additives for engine oil, which performed well due to expanded fuel efficiency needs in the mobility sector across Asia and the U.S. Additionally, demand was particularly strong for special epoxy resins and photo curing materials for electronics, for example, electronic components and displays. Conversely, sales of reactive emulsifiers for architecture and infrastructure, especially for use in paints, were weak.
Lastly, higher sales volume and net pricing improvements alongside other factors successfully offset unfavorable foreign exchange impacts, ultimately leading to an increase in operating profit on a YoY basis. Next is the Food Products segment. Net sales were down slightly while operating profit decreased on a YoY basis. Sales were soft, especially as customers in China remained oriented to low prices, which impacted our shortening and margarine offerings in the category of products for breads and confectionery. In Japan, however, we continued seeing steady sales of high-performance kneading ingredients that help control temporal changes of bread dough. Our Deli Plants series of plant-based foods also performed well in the category of cafe and breads. Lastly, headwinds from lower sales volume were offset by tailwinds from net pricing benefits, resulting in a slight YoY operating profit decline.
Next are the results in the life science segment, which primarily consist of our operations at Nihon Nohyaku. This segment delivered higher net sales and operating profit. Here are the main factor highlights for sales. Japan saw a surge in planted rice acreage spurred by soaring rice prices, which drove strong herbicide sales. In Europe, sales of active ingredients for insecticides were strong, alongside strong demand for herbicides used on tree fruits and potatoes. We also saw strong sales of insecticides for vegetables and tree fruits in North America. Lastly, while a significant increase in fixed costs was a headwind, net pricing improvements and higher sales volume fully absorbed this impact, leading to a substantial YOY increase in operating profit. Next, allow me to walk you through our revision to the fiscal year 2025 consolidated financial forecast.
We have recently lowered guidance this month and are now projecting JPY 415 billion in net sales, a downward revision of JPY 26 billion. We are guiding for JPY 41.5 billion in operating and ordinary profit, each down JPY 1.5 billion, and JPY 25.5 billion in profit attributable to owners of parent, revised down JPY 900 million. These changes bring the earnings per share forecast down JPY 1.8 to JPY 257.7. Looking at the breakdown, the downward revision to the overall net sales forecast stems in large part from polymer additives. This weakness in polymer additives is also dragging down operating profit, further compounded by slight headwinds in our semiconductor materials and environmental materials businesses. That said, the operating profit outlook for the food products and life science segments remains unchanged. Let's now look at the results chronologically. Year-over-year, polymer additives within the chemicals business saw a JPY 5.9 billion decline in net sales.
While sluggish market conditions and intensifying price competition weighed heavily on results in the first three quarters, we anticipate a significant recovery in the fourth quarter. Operating profit followed a similar downward trajectory through the end of the third quarter. Although we do expect a reversal in the final quarter, we are driving this recovery through our high value-added products, including nucleating agents and high functional plasticizers. While we had high expectations for our novel clarifiers this year, full-scale expansion will be delayed until the next fiscal year. That said, our novel clarifiers are expected to be adopted after evaluation and prototyping with actual equipment, so we expect these to put a floor under our fourth quarter performance to some degree. Let's now turn to semiconductor materials. We expect net sales to increase sequentially each quarter.
As we enter the fourth quarter, we expect this growth trajectory to accelerate, propelled by new product introductions. While sales of new products for the generation change in memory were delayed, an upward trend is anticipated from the third quarter onward, partially reflecting a market recovery. Starting the next fiscal year, we will expand advanced materials that will contribute to the generation change in logic chips and next generation EUV lithography. Let's now turn to environmental materials. Given our third-quarter performance, which reflected the slowdown in the Chinese economy, we have lowered our net sales and operating profit full-year guidance. In the fourth quarter, the impact of the Chinese New Year and periodic maintenance will be factored in, but lubricant additives for engine oil and special epoxy resins for use in electronic components will continue to drive performance growth. Let's now turn to the food products segment.
Following our third-quarter results, we have similarly lowered the full-year net sales guidance. We expect consumers in Japan will remain budget-minded and that consumption will not grow in China due to deflation and the stagnant economy nudging demand toward lower-tier pricing. Despite these headwinds, we are focusing on our environmentally friendly plant-based foods and on overseas market expansion, driving both an environmental contribution and measures for high profitability. Last is the life science segment. Performance will remain steady in the fourth quarter, which is the peak demand season, but increases in fixed costs such as research, outsourcing, and new registration costs are expected to put significant pressure on profitability, though these have been factored into our forecasts. Demand for agrochemicals will increase in Japan and overseas.
We will focus on creating new agrochemicals and continue upfront investments in R&D, et cetera, strengthening our competitiveness by achieving both business growth and enhancement of R&D. Next is an overview of the progress we've made in the acquisition of own shares. Through the end of January, we have acquired a total of 3.24 million shares at a total cost of JPY 11.4 billion, meaning the buyback program is now 64% complete. We remain committed to these purchases through early June of this year, up to our maximum limit of JPY 18 billion. I would now like to discuss our dividend policy and the annual dividend forecasts for fiscal year 2025. Based on our payout ratio target of 40% or more, our current annual dividend forecast stands at JPY 104 per share. We are determined to maintain this JPY 104 per share threshold. Regardless of the final net income results.
Furthermore, as our share repurchases reduce the total number of outstanding shares, we will calibrate our dividend per share accordingly to ensure we maintain our minimum payout ratio of 40% or more. Next, we have provided some supplementary data for your reference. As you can see, our overseas sales ratio currently stands in the 54% range. We have also provided our consolidated financial performance trends on an accounting basis. We invite you to review this table at your convenience. Looking at the business goals for ADEX 2026 and the fiscal year 2025 forecast, hitting our initial operating profit goal of JPY 53 billion is going to be difficult. That said, we're putting measures in place to get as close to that number as we can while still delivering on our other KPIs.
On the capital investment front for ADEX 2026, you can see here that our investments are heavily focused on semiconductor materials. We have also included the trends in consolidated performance. This concludes today's financial briefing on the financial results for the nine months ended December 31st, 2025. Next, as previously announced, we will proceed to the second part of today's presentation, focusing on the expansion of semiconductor materials. As you are aware, the semiconductor market is expanding rapidly, catalyzed by the proliferation of AI. As generative and physical AI advance alongside digital infrastructure, from cloud and security to data centers and communication technology, we are seeing a dual trend of semiconductor evolution and growing demand volume. As such, we anticipate that the demand for specialized materials will continue to grow significantly in tandem with these trends. Adeka's strengths are centered on our semiconductor ALD materials.
Within this scope, we specialize in synthesizing precursors that can be effectively liquefied and offer effective volatility control. While metals are naturally solids, we process them into reactive compounds such as chlorides, and then attach specific ligands to create high-performance ALD materials. This proprietary process is a cornerstone of Adeka's technology. Moreover, our film deposition evaluation technology ensures that we don't just manufacture materials. We validate their performance, which is a prerequisite for our being able to make proposals to semiconductor manufacturers. Through our film deposition evaluation technology, and by providing comprehensive analysis of film deposition quality, we have earned the trust of leading chip makers, fostering deep development partnerships. As highlighted here, photoresists and ALD precursors are key materials for enabling semiconductor integration, essential to both DRAM and logic ICs. At Adeka, our primary focus for these applications is the development of semiconductor ALD materials.
Specifically, we are deeply engaged in developing high-k materials, a critical component of transistor formation, alongside the broader materials and auxiliary components used to build these structures. Simultaneously, we are advancing our development of next generation low-k and interconnect wiring materials. Historically, our DRAM process development was driven by an internal focus on optimizing chemical properties while ensuring equipment compatibility. On the logic IC front, however, process development was traditionally led by equipment manufacturers, meaning there was limited scope for us to apply our core strengths in novel chemistries to semiconductors. Our strategic goal has always been to drive a game-changing shift by introducing these new materials into logic applications, and we believe the opportunity to do so has finally arrived. Looking at photoresists, our traditional focus has been on photoacid generators for chemically amplified resists, CARs.
Recently, however, there has been a rapid industry shift toward the combined use of CARs and metal oxide resists, MORs. We have firmly secured our position in this space and are currently in the stage of aggressively expanding sales. This slide outlines our roadmap for front-end process materials, where we are making progress as planned. We are successfully transitioning beyond our historical focus on materials for advanced memory nodes to target the advanced logic segment. Historically, our presence in the logic segment was focused on basic non-specialty materials. However, as logic architectures evolve, we are entering a new phase. We are successfully leveraging the proven reliability and technical expertise developed in our memory materials business to secure qualifications with leading-edge logic manufacturers. Furthermore, as the industry transitions to next-generation lithography, we are well positioned to capture the expanding market for advanced photoresist materials.
Looking ahead, we believe back-end materials will become a powerful catalyst for advanced packaging innovation. While we currently supply thermal interface materials, TIMs. The industry's true horizon is hybrid bonding, alongside the growing demand for adhesives in optoelectronics. By leveraging our core expertise in surface physics and resin formulation, we are developing special resins integrated with fillers and additives. Utilizing our polymer resins and our photo and thermal curing technologies allows us to expand our footprint in the market for back-end materials. As it pertains to hybrid bonding, we are targeting a solderless direct interconnect solution. By leveraging our special resins, we seek to ensure robust adhesion without the need for traditional solder. This material, developed in collaboration with Yokohama National University, reduces the complexity of back-end processes while achieving high performance and low power consumption in only one-tenth the space of conventional solutions.
Accordingly, we are making upfront investments in R&D to accelerate this roadmap. Our roadmap for back-end process materials, as detailed here, aligns with the strategies we've just discussed. Our primary objective is the development of materials for advanced packages. In tandem, we are aggressively pursuing opportunities in optoelectronic integration, with a specific emphasis on adhesive solutions. Lastly, I am pleased to announce the completion of our new research building at the Kuki R&D Center. We are currently in the outfitting phase, with the installation of deposition and analytical devices and equipment scheduled to follow. We expect the new research wing to be operational sometime between the second week of May and the month of June. We have provided several photos in this slide to offer a first look at the completed interior and exterior.
This center is a strategic investment designed to accelerate our material qualification process and deepen our partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers, ensuring we are well-positioned for their next-generation roadmaps. With the structural completion of the building, our focus now shifts to delivering the technical breakthroughs that will drive our roadmap going forward. This concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time.